Have questions? Think we got something wrong? Send any enquiries on the meeting or these tweets to @cledocumenters or email us at lcaswell@neighborhoodgrants.org

Anyone else think the words “budget hearings” & “retreat” sound like they should never be put together? But we, @cledocumenters, and you! have tools to help make it less overwhelming. #CLEbudget #CLEdocumenters https://t.co/929hc3Zp8H

Journalist @RachelDissell created this Budget 101 guide for @cledocumenters & interested citizens of #Cleveland. This is the big-picture view of this process, happening now through February 26. #CLEdocumenters #CLEbudget

docs.google.com/document/d/1kx…

Step 1 of the budget process. @CleCityCouncil has obtained this document from the mayor. Here is the link to that report:
clevelandohio.gov/sites/default/…
#CLEbudget https://t.co/KQ0qdYFQ5Y

The agenda w/ page numbers so you can follow along:
2021 Budget for @CityofCleveland Dept of Safety, book pg 253; @CityofCleveland Capital Asset Plans, book pg 91; @CleCityCouncil 2021 Budget, book pg 82; @CityofCleveland General Fund 2021 Budget, book pg 69. #CLEbudget

Council President @kevinkelleyCLE wants this meeting to be a more informal discussion about the topics. No solid decisions are expected to be made.

Finance Director Sharon Dumas is presenting the data to Council on funding Public Safety. The 2021 Estimated Budget is $659M, $350M of which covers Police, Fire & EMS, 53.16% of the budget.

@CLEpolice spends about $650,000 per class to train 35 officers through the 7-month training. Three more training classes are scheduled for this year.

The City is moving forward with a plan to build a new Police Headquarters at E. 75th Street.

Public Safety Director Karrie Howard is explaining what funding provided in the past year, including PPE, and new roofs on several firehouses.

Howard says Cleveland Animal Care & Control was able to increase it's return-to-owner rates for pets by 5% in 2019.

Howard anticipates the city needing just over $6M to cover the costs of complying with the Consent Decree, which includes operating expenses, salaries & benefits for personnel required by the Decree like the @216cpc Community Police Commission, and the Police Monitor.

Topics of discussion happening around the budget include recruitment efforts, attrition of police forces, & hiring homegrown officers. Council President Kevin Kelley is concerned about consistent understaffing on the force.

Ward 10 Councilperson @HairstonCCC10 is questioning Public Safety officials about increasing recruitment & training classes. Officials say logistics make increasing classes difficult, but they are increasing social media, follow up, & school outreach to raise recruitment.

Public Safety Director Howard, "We [Cleveland] are ahead of many of these [Consent Decree] reforms." Ward 7 Councilperson @basheerj wants to see verification & data on this progress. He has also asked about the status of adding mental health professionals to policing.

Ward 1 Councilperson Joe Jones said he was pulled over by an officer last year wearing a "Blue Lives Matter" mask & notes that this is intimidating to Black citizens. Director Howard says there is no rule against this because it's technically not a political statement.

Ward 8 Councilperson Mike Polensek says the numbers he has read in the budget are "not sufficient" to combat the amount of violent crime in the city and specifically his ward.

Perspective: 6-7 police officers cost about $1 million to fund.

Follow up from Polensek: "This has to be a people's budget."

Several councilpersons have brought up Cleveland police "in the 1980s". This current Consent Decree is not CPD's first. In 1977 the Dept was found guilty of discriminating against minorities in employment. Here's the case: scholar.google.com/scholar_case?c…

Finance Director Dumas say that "Historically speaking, increasing the number of officers does not decrease the amount of overtime or its cost."

Today is Councilman @GriffWard6Cle's [39]th birthday.

The Council is now moving on to discuss it's internal budget.

Council CFO Va'Kedia Stiggers is reviewing the Council budget, including staff and communications.

The Council is now moving on to the Capital Assets Plans. City COO Darnell Brown is presenting.

Here's what Brown says is needed just to maintain the status quo: https://t.co/BtRIdE9C18

Brown says the City is working on creating a "degradation tool" so they can try to anticipate 2-3 years out where resurfacing and repairs will be needed in #Cleveland streets.

Councilpersons Griffin & Polensek asked about a program specifically for repair of red brick streets. At the time, one doesn't exist. Brown says the City prefers resurfacing entirely or spot repair from local funds. Polensek wants to keep those streets surfaced in brick. https://t.co/EKYQPC6mv0

The Council is moving on to the General Fund Budget with one of the city's long-time budget consultants. Last year the city stayed under budget by $22M.

The biggest revenue streams taking a hit from Covid are admission receipts, hotel taxes, and license and permit fees. Most streams are still well under half 2019 figures.

The @CityofCleveland expects to collect about $477M in income taxes this year.

Director Dumas is now reviewing estimates for money coming in and going out of the City's enterprises, including @clepublicpower & @portofcleveland.

Yikes. Cleveland's tax losses from Covid last year left the city $60M under projections. #CLEbudget

$10M will come from the city in 2021 to assist small business adapt to pandemic requirements & to provide rental assistance through Community Development programs. #CLEbudget #Cleveland #supportsmallbusiness

This concludes my coverage of the Cleveland City Council General Fund Budget Retreat for @cledocumenters & @NeighborUpCle. The budget hearings begin Tuesday morning. Visit the #CLEdocumenters website for ongoing coverage of the #CLEbudget process: cleveland.documenters.org/reporting/