Cuyahoga County voters will decide in the Nov. 3 election whether to hike property taxes for safety net and developmental disability services. They’ll also weigh in on two charter amendments that give County Council more sway on county boards and commissions.
The county is making its push to raise taxes while it faces pressures from inflation, rising foster care costs and federal work requirement changes to food assistance and Medicaid, Health and Human Services Director David Merriman told council in July. Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to place the tax increase on the ballot.
Meanwhile, the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities is seeking its first tax increase in two decades. The board serves roughly 15,000 people throughout the county.
Two other hot-button charter amendments — one restoring the sheriff to an elected position and another dividing up legal work between the prosecutor and law department — have not made it to the ballot. The deadline to decide on sending charter amendments to the voters is Sept. 4.
A proposal to raise the sales tax for the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority is headed to a countywide vote in May 2027. RTA’s board hasn’t yet decided the exact amount.
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County foresees decade of stability with HHS levy — and spending controls
If the HHS levy passes, homeowners would have to pay an additional $87.50 per $100,000 of property valuation per year, Merriman told County Council in June.
The 10-year levy would bring in an additional $111 million annually for county safety net programs, for a total of almost $262 million. The measure would renew the current 4.7-mill levy and increase it to 7.2 mills. All told, that higher levy would cost $196 for each $100,000 of valuation.
That money would keep the county’s safety net spending from going into the red next year. Currently, the county projects to end 2026 with just $3.2 in its health and human services fund.
Merriman warned in June that, without a levy, the county would have to reduce spending on such programs as universal pre-kindergarten, teen pregnancy prevention, re-entry legal help and permanent supportive housing.
The levy would put the department in the black for the next five years, Merriman said in July. After that, the county would need to use savings from those first five years to cover increasing costs over the following five years.
“With discipline, and if this levy is approved, we can get through the next decade of services and we can continue to provide the same level of support we provide now without cuts,” he said.
Council Member Yvonne Conwell, who chairs council’s HHS committee, said she would be preparing legislation to spell out how the county would spend levy proceeds.
Council’s only remaining Republican, Strongsville’s Michael Gallagher, joined his Democratic colleagues in voting to put the levy on the ballot.
He urged county officials to prioritize senior services and MetroHealth, the county hospital system that receives HHS dollars — especially if the county uses them in its levy campaign messaging.
“I can already see the helicopter flying in the commercials,” he said, referencing the hospital’s Life Flight air ambulance service.
Disabilities board asks for first tax increase since 2005
The county board of developmental disabilities has been making ends meet with revenue from a 2005 property tax levy.
But after the state raised pay for caregivers and more families signed up for services, the agency needs more money, CEO Amber Gibbs told County Council in June. The agency’s client population of 15,000 represents a 20% increase since 2005, according to a council presentation.
The additional 10-year, 2.25-mill levy would cost a property owner $78.75 per $100,000 in valuation. It would raise $99.7 million annually.
If voters don’t pass the levy, the agency would try again in 2027 and 2028, Gibbs said in June.
“Our reserve will be depleted come 2029,” she said. “So the end of 2028 is when we would have to make drastic cuts.”
Charter amendments boost council’s powers
Two county charter amendments headed to the ballot in November would increase County Council’s power on the boards and commissions to which the executive appoints members.
One amendment would give council the final say when the county executive tries to remove an appointee from a board or commission. Currently, the charter does not require council approval for firing board members.
The other amendment would give council the power to appoint four members to the nine-member Charter Review Commission, which proposes charter amendments every five years. The county executive would appoint four members, and one would be a joint council-executive appointment.
Under the charter as currently written, the county executive appoints all nine members. No more than five of them can be from the same political party, and only two can be county employees.
Council takes a pass on the sheriff for now
Two amendments that dominated council’s discussions over the last few weeks are not on the ballot, at least yet.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Council Member Martin J. Sweeney pulled his proposal that the sheriff be made an elected position again. He suggested it wouldn’t have won the votes it needed to make it to the ballot.
“It’s not going to pass,” he said. “The question was called. I’m gonna withdraw this piece of legislation and we’ll live to fight another day.”
A proposed amendment delineating the powers of the county law department and prosecutor’s office failed to win enough votes to advance to the ballot.
Council President Dale Miller said it was possible to bring that measure back at a special council meeting once Prosecutor Michael O’Malley and County Executive Chris Ronayne hash out their remaining differences over the proposal. So far, no meeting appears on council’s schedule.
