Cleveland Heights council presses administration for detailed budget book, timeline to close 2025 temporary budget

Cleveland Heights City Council members spent the bulk of their Jan. 6 committee-of-the-whole meeting focused on the city's temporary appropriations and the process for producing a full 2025 budget. Councilors asked the administration for a detailed, department-level budget book, November and December financials, year-end fund balances and schedules that show how personnel and capital numbers were calculated.

The discussion centered on two separate but related items on the agenda: an ordinance to repeal and replace parts of the 2024 appropriations ordinance for the period Jan. 1'March 31 and a separate ordinance creating appropriations for Jan. 21'Dec. 31, 2025. The mayor repeatedly emphasized the legal distinction between the two documents. "An appropriations ordinance is not a budget. It's based on a budget," the mayor said during the discussion.

Councilors said they need more transparent detail before they can move from the temporary appropriations step to a full-year budget. Councilman Josh (last name as in transcript: Petros) urged a complete set of departmental schedules and comparisons to prior-year actuals, and Councilman Larson said the packet should include the October, November and December financials and the city's unencumbered 2024 year-end balance. Members asked for an explicit breakdown of how projected revenues were calculated and a departmental reconciliation showing items currently outside department totals (for example, hospitalization and other cross-fund items).

Several councilors also asked about personnel assumptions. Council members asked for the Archer salary-study results and an estimate of likely salary or contract increases (including possible outcomes of the service workers' contract that expires March 31) so they could see the budgetary effect of any planned raises or additional hires. "Every single number that actually shows up, there needs to be some schedule for that," Councilman Larson said.

Council members asked for a clear capital schedule showing which 2024 capital projects are complete, which should carry forward into 2025, and the real-dollar costs for each item rather than rough estimates. Councilman Cobb and others asked about high-cost items such as vehicle replacements and whether any purchases are time-sensitive.

To help validate the city's figures and advise council, members discussed an outside accounting firm engagement the council is finalizing. The firm'which council authorized to review the city's 2024 finances and advise on budgeting'was described in the meeting as nearly under contract; councilors said they want the firm to review the current materials and, if possible, present an analysis to council in January. Council members asked that the firm'when engaged'be asked to clarify how much deficit (if any) would be fiscally prudent and to flag risks in the administration's projections.

Council set a near-term timeline for additional work: council members asked the clerk to compile a prioritized list of the items they said are required to make the temporary budget workable and asked to use the upcoming Jan. 14 finance-committee meeting (and a committee-of-the-whole option if necessary) to catalog what information the administration already has and what remains outstanding. The mayor said he will assemble the requested spreadsheets and supporting materials and indicated some items may be handled through leadership meetings with department directors.

Why it matters: councilors said the city needs a complete, comparable budget book so they and the public can see prior-year actuals, departmental totals and the administration's assumptions about revenues, personnel costs and capital priorities. The council noted that without this information it cannot reliably judge trade-offs such as new hires, wage adjustments or large equipment purchases.

Council members identified these immediate deliverables: the city's unencumbered 2024 year-end balance; October'December 2024 financial reports; the results of the state 2023 financial audit (when available); the independent CPA review of the 2024 books; the Archer salary study; departmental capital request lists with real costs; schedules showing how revenue projections were derived; and clarification about roughly 50 unfilled full-time positions mentioned during the meeting and whether those vacancies produce savings carried into 2025.

The council did not take final votes on any of the above ordinance items at the Jan. 6 meeting; the mayor stated some pieces were presented as first readings and that additional committee work and formal readings would follow. Council members asked staff to circulate a prioritized checklist to the mayor and finance director immediately so the administration can begin delivering the requested materials before the Jan. 14 finance meeting.

For follow-up: the council scheduled a finance committee meeting for Jan. 14 to review the compiled requests and to establish a timeline for items that must be produced before council considers final appropriations for 2025.