CLEVELAND — Cleveland City Council moved one step closer to formally approving Mayor Justin Bibb's proposed $1.9 billion budget during Monday's meeting.
Council approved a second reading of the budget, which includes over $710 million in General Fund spending. The final vote is expected to take place on March 20.
Budget hearings began on February 14 as councilmembers reviewed the 500-page budget document and met with every city department and division.
Unlike last year, Bibb plans to achieve a structurally balanced budget that would give the city a $225,000 surplus. Most notably, Bibb's budget calls for the elimination of more than 250 vacant positions in city departments, including 140 unfilled division of police jobs. The council noted that it has concerns about the administration's goal of getting 180 candidates through the police academy and hiring a total of 206 officers.
Council restored several eliminated positions, including six in the Cleveland Department of Building and Housing.
“We emphasized last year that Council members expected a structurally balanced budget,” said Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin. “We’ve added to the budget and then proposed several ways to balance it, but the administration has made cuts in contractual areas, and money left over from some earlier projects, so it remains structurally balanced.
According to a release from Cleveland City Council, members proposed several cuts, including eliminating open positions in various departments that have been chronically unfilled in order to reduce the budget. The Bibb administration found other places to make reductions, although the council says it plans on holding a mid-year staffing conversation with the mayor's office and examine the staffing levels at that point.
“They (Bibb Administration) emphasized at this time they didn’t want to eliminate some of the unfilled positions that were identified that would have reduced the budget," Griffin added.
Now that the second reading has been approved, Cleveland City Council can no longer make changes to the budget. It must "sit" for seven days after publication in the city's record, which is why it won't come up for a final vote until March 20.