A few months before the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities asked for its first tax increase in decades, its CEO proposed a policy allowing her to receive the same pay raise she gives to employees.
In January, Superintendent and CEO Amber Gibbs asked the board to sign off on a new policy manual, which included the provision that she would receive whatever annual cost-of-living increase she authorized for staff. She said it was a standing practice and should be set down in writing for transparency’s sake.
Two board members objected to that measure. They said the board ought to be the one deciding on any CEO pay raise. Gibbs’ contract didn’t come up for renewal until April.
“That’s setting your own salary,” board member Cynthia Schulz said at the board’s January meeting. “And that’s what the board does.”
Another board member, Mozelle Jackson, also opposed the cost-of-living measure as first proposed. She declined to comment for this story.
Ultimately the board approved the policy manual in January, but with the caveat that the CEO would receive the cost-of-living increase “unless otherwise determined by the Board.” Schulz cast the lone no vote, while Jackson supported the amended policy.
In April, the board unanimously renewed Gibbs’ contract through the end of 2030 at a salary of $201,571. That contract stipulates that the board would decide the CEO’s cost-of-living increase each December.
Cleveland Documenters took note of the cost-of-living discussion and preserved recordings of meetings in their coverage of the developmental disabilities board.
For the first time since 2005, the board is asking voters to raise property taxes, bringing in another $94.5 million to serve the board’s 15,000 clients around the county with developmental disabilities.
CEO cost-of-living raise a longstanding practice, agency says
Gibbs came up through the agency’s ranks to become CEO in May 2023. The agency’s communications director, Elizabeth Day, told Signal Cleveland in an email that Gibbs had been trying to memorialize a longstanding compensation practice.
“The CEO receiving the same cost-of-living increase as the rest of Cuyahoga DD staff is a practice that has been in place for many years and, in fact, is a common practice among County Boards of DD across Ohio,” Day wrote. “We realized it was not explicitly outlined in the policy manual and updated it to be transparent. Following the discussion at the Board meeting, the policy manual was approved by the Board.”
Schulz, who resigned from the board in May, said the board’s job was to maintain checks and balances under state law and general good governance practices.
“The board hires, fires and sets compensation for the top executive,” she said in a phone interview. “And that is so fundamental.”
Despite the disagreement over the policy manual, Schulz said she “100%” supports the levy. The agency’s current financial needs are driven by rising costs and not wasteful spending, she said.
How the pay debate unfolded
In January, six members of the agency’s board held their routine start-of-the-year meeting. They set their schedule for 2026 and reviewed an updated policy manual.
Jackson, who is no longer on the board, flagged the provision permitting the CEO to receive the same cost-of-living pay bump that goes to staff.
“The board may choose more, less, same, but that’s a board decision,” Jackon said at the meeting. “That’s not a given.”
Schulz agreed with her.
Gibbs told board members during the January meeting that the cost-of-living arrangement was already the agency’s practice. Cost-of-living increases typically go into effect at the start of the year, she said.
“I would like it to be transparent to the public that this is how it currently works,” Gibbs said.
A compromise was proposed: adding language to the manual specifying that the CEO receives the cost-of-living raise unless the board decides otherwise.
Jackson voted for the amended manual. Schulz did not. In subsequent meetings, Schulz said she wanted her objections specified in the meeting minutes.
“It is important for this to be on the record for my own protection,” Schulz said in March. “Because by law, this compensation decision is a statutory obligation of the board.”
“It is on the record of the January meeting and the February meeting and in multiple emails that you sent to me,” Gibbs replied, speaking over her.
Schulz voted in favor of Gibbs’ contract extension in April. She left the board the following month.
She told Signal Cleveland that she needed more time to tend to her other obligations. Schulz is the author of a book about raising children with developmental disabilities. Her adult daughter has a rare genetic condition, and she is working on a conference for families of those with the disorder.
Agency seeks its first levy in two decades
The board of developmental disabilities has stayed afloat with proceeds from a 2005 tax levy. An arm of county government with its own board, it has a budget of more than $177 million this year. Each of Ohio’s 88 counties maintains its own board of developmental disabilities.
The agency spends 81% of its levy proceeds paying caregivers who tend to children and adults with developmental disabilities, Gibbs told Cuyahoga County Council members recently. The federal Medicaid program covers the majority of the costs.
Gibbs said that the agency has stretched its levy dollars for longer than expected, but now runs the risk of exhausting its reserves. More people are using the agency’s services, and a change in state law gave caregivers a raise, she said.
County Council is expected to vote in July to place the property tax levy on the ballot. It is expected to cost a homeowner $6.56 per month for every $100,000 in property value.
With voters’ daily expenses rising, the agency faces a political challenge. In the May primary, half of the developmental disability board levies failed, Gibbs said.
“While we believe that we will have a very supportive community, we know that we need to get information out to people about why this is so important,” she said, “even though it’s a difficult economy for people with rising gas prices and grocery prices.”
