Cuyahoga County Council adopts ordinance prioritizing municipalities in community development supplemental grants after heated debate

Cuyahoga County Council on Aug. 5 adopted an ordinance that gives priority to municipal corporations and townships when scoring applications for the Cuyahoga County Community Development Supplemental Grant (CDSG) program after an extended floor debate and a successful substitute amendment.

Council members debated whether the change would disadvantage nonprofit community development corporations (CDCs) and grassroots organizations; proponents said the ordinance codifies longstanding practice to protect municipalities that lack flexible funding. Opponents warned it could create perverse incentives if many municipalities apply.

The nut of the ordinance requires nonprofits that seek CDSG funds to include a letter of support from the municipal executive where the project is located, and it directs the Department of Housing and Community Development to prioritize municipal and township applications over nonprofit CDCs in the event of a scoring tie. Councilman Joe Jones offered a substitute amendment that preserves the tie preference but expressly allows the department to alternatively recommend dividing awards among tied applicants; that substitute passed on a roll call with nine votes in favor and two against. The final vote to adopt the ordinance as substituted was unanimous on roll call.

Council staff described the program's scoring framework during the debate: activity/program description (up to 35 points), activity impact (up to 50 points, which includes a 5-point bonus if a project is located in an equity zone), and implementation schedule (up to 15 points). The department's staff told council the numerical scoring and exact weights are established by the Department of Housing and Community Development and provided past scoring records on request.

Supporters, led by Councilwoman Pamela Simon (sponsor), said the change protects small suburbs and villages that have lost other streams of revenue and lack flexibility to fund projects, while opponents including Councilmen Martin Sweeney and Michael Hauser said the policy could undercut equity and disadvantage smaller nonprofit providers and CDCs, particularly those serving historically underserved neighborhoods. Council members repeatedly urged staff to provide a publicly accessible scoring breakdown and historical applicant data.

The ordinance text in the meeting references the original CDSG program that was funded with casino revenue and designed to complement federal Community Development Block Grant funding. Council members noted the program historically capped awards at $50,000 per project and that the total annual CDSG pool is $1,500,000, which—if every award were for the cap amount—would fund roughly 30 projects in a round.

Council directed staff to provide historical application and scoring data; during debate staff said those records are available for past years. The ordinance will be codified into the Cuyahoga County code as shown on the agenda. Implementation details, including how ties are handled in practice and whether awards will be split among tied applicants, will be reflected in departmental recommendations to council for each funding round.

Votes at the key procedural points were recorded: the Jones substitute that allowed the department to alternatively recommend dividing awards passed 9–2 (Councilman Hauser and Councilman Sweeney voted no); the final roll call on the ordinance as substituted recorded unanimous affirmative votes.

Council members and staff said they expect to continue reviewing operational details and data from prior rounds so that future rounds reflect the council's legislative intent.