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Finance director: 2025 budget structurally balanced; rainy‑day fund nearing statutory cap
Summary
Finance Director Mike Gentile told the City Council finance committee the city's 2025 budget is structurally balanced, with $2.12 billion in total resources, about 3% growth in general fund revenues and a rainy‑day reserve approaching the legal limit. He cited continued uncertainty from federal policy and population trends.
Mike Gentile, finance director for the City of Cleveland, told the City Council Committee on Finance, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion that the 2025 budget is the city's third consecutive structurally balanced plan.
"This year's budget totals $2,120,000,000 with $805,700,000 of that towards expenditures in the general fund and $806.7 million in revenues," Gentile said, framing revenues and expenditures as roughly matched. He said overall growth in general fund revenues is about 3% and that income taxes make up about 60% of city revenues.
Gentile noted the city's rainy‑day fund was budgeted up to about $67 million, close to a statutory limit he cited as $78 million, and urged continued growth of that reserve. He also said the city fully allocated available ARPA funds in 2024: "we were able to fully allocate the $511,000,000 in ARPA funds," which he said avoided returning money to the U.S. Treasury.
He told council members staff used "realistic but somewhat conservative estimates" to account for downside risks including possible federal legislative changes, population decline, and a still‑elevated inflation rate. Gentile cited unemployment changes in 2024 as a positive indicator but said federal uncertainty remains.
Council members pressed for additional presentation detail and documentation during the two‑week budget hearings, including a repeated request that future budget books include a column labeled "2024 budget" to allow direct budget‑to‑budget comparisons. Gentile said the 2024 budget column is not in this book but that the request would be noted for future books.
The committee took several follow‑up requests from members, including written breakdowns for internal service chargebacks and for a department‑by‑department list of previous‑year budget figures.
