CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cuyahoga County Council voted 9-2 to place a proposed tax increase on the March ballot to support health and human services.
All eight Democrats on council voted for the proposed tax on Tuesday, along with Republican Michael Gallagher. Republicans Nan Baker and Jack Schron opposed the increase.
If approved by countywide voters, the proposed 0.8-mill increase would go into effect in 2021 and would add about about $35 million more to the $244 million expected to be generated in 2020 by two taxes for health and human services.
The owner of $100,000 home would pay $41 more annually.
If approved by voters, County Executive Armond Budish and Council President Dan Brady have said the county would not ask for another increase when the other health and human services levy expires in 2024.
Budish’s administration proposes to spend the increased revenues on programs for the mentally ill, children and seniors, among others. No money would be used to deal with opioid addiction, according to Health and Human Services Director Walter Parfejewiec.
Budish and Brady have said the levy is needed to combat inflation, state cuts and a decline in federal grants. About $9 million of the proposed $35 million increase would be used for new programs, and $26 million would be used to maintain or expand existing services.
Brady during committee hearings cited Cuyahoga County’s high poverty rate and aging population in arguing for the tax.
“Without this levy, the county will fall behind and will be faced with a crisis before very long," Brady said Tuesday. "With this levy, we can get in front of our challenges.”
Councilman Dale Miller said: “My vision for our future is economic and social progress where anyone regardless of race or class or what neighborhood one grew up in can become healthy, well-educated and socially and economically successful...We can make progress towards this vision but only if we fund upstream programs.”
Baker said she voted against the increase, in part, because she was not convinced the programs it would fund are fiscally responsible. She said she supported an alternate plan, proposed by Schron, and earlier rejected by a majority of council, that would have allowed voters to decide between a smaller tax increase and the one passed by council Tuesday.
Schron said he opposed the proposed tax increase, among other reasons, for what appeared to be a lack of planning from the Budish administration. He cited the administration’s failure to provide council with a business plan or expected costs for a so-called kinship program that would place children in county custody with relatives rather than foster families.
Here’s how the Budish administration proposes to spend the $35 million:
•$6 million — Implement a kinship care program, in which relatives are paid to care for kids in county custody rather than traditional foster families.
•$5.1 million — Restore mental health crisis and residential assistance for the mentally ill. This would restore ADAMHS Board funding to the level it was prior to state cuts.
•$5 million — Maintain the current number of slots for children in the county’s expanded universal pre-kindergarten program
•$5 million — Cost of inflation for all health and human services expenses
•$5 million — Cost of health and human services currently paid for with the general fund