Cuyahoga County departments have repeatedly paid for programs out of county money while grants and special revenue funds meant to cover those same costs sat unclaimed, according to County Council Vice President Yvonne Conwell. Now Conwell has introduced an ordinance that would require departments to draw down grant money every month and spend it before tapping the county general fund or the health and human services levy, with penalties on the table for those that do not comply.
Why Conwell Says the Fix Is Overdue
Conwell said the issue surfaced repeatedly as council worked to balance the budget over the past year, according to a report from cleveland.com. She said departments used general fund and health and human services levy money before exhausting available grants and subsidies, and she does not want the situation to repeat itself. The ordinance would add a new section to the county code that, according to County Council Attorney Mike King, largely codifies practices the county is already supposed to follow.
Under the proposal, county offices, agencies, departments and divisions would need to draw on grant and special revenue dollars every month. Spending requests would have to identify their funding source, and departments would be expected to make best efforts to spend grant or special revenue allocations before reaching for general fund or levy money whenever feasible. If a county payment is made upfront, the ordinance would require that money to be reimbursed back to the appropriate fund once grant dollars come in.
Penalties Could Include a Fiscal Takeover
The ordinance would let the county fiscal officer require a noncompliant department to adopt a remediation plan within 30 days, and the fiscal officer could take over that department's fiscal operations until the plan is in place. In more serious cases, the fiscal officer could refer the situation to the inspector general, internal audit, the Ohio Auditor of State or another investigative agency. The budget office would also be required to report grant and intergovernmental revenue received by each department to council at least quarterly.
King said the ordinance aims for greater transparency, stronger fiscal accountability for grant dollars and improved council oversight. County Executive Chris Ronayne has supported the ordinance change, and Budget Director Walter Parfejewiec helped draft the language. Parfejewiec acknowledged that grant dollars have sometimes not been drawn down on time, leaving the general fund and the health and human services levy to cover expenses in the gap.
A Real-World Example From Job and Family Services
Parfejewiec pointed to a prior-year case involving funding the county receives from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services for operations support, where county staff did not draw down that funding properly. The health and human services levy fund covered the costs until the operations support money eventually arrived. Parfejewiec said using general fund and levy money in these situations leaves smaller account balances earning less interest, and he argued the county should spend state or federal dollars before tapping county dollars. He said Conwell's intentions were warranted and that these steps should be carried out in a timely manner.
Existing Policy Already Requires Quarterly Drawdowns
The county's existing grant policy, approved by the Administrative Rules Board, already states that departments are responsible for continuous monitoring of the financial status of grants and are expected to ensure all funds are expended or encumbered prior to the end of the grant period, according to the Cuyahoga County Administrative Rules Board. That same policy says drawdowns must be completed at least quarterly and that departments should request advances from grantors when possible. The resolution approving the policy was adopted in October 2024, meaning the new ordinance would largely formalize standards that were already supposed to be in place.
The Ordinance Lands Amid Fresh Budget Pressure
The push for tighter grant discipline comes as the county works through its 2027 budget, which carries its own complications tied to the health and human services levy. The county's initial 2027 budget update did not account for any revenue from the newly approved levy, because that update was prepared before Nov. 3 election results were known, cleveland.com reported. As a result, the initial update projected a nearly $5 million deficit in the health and human services levy fund.
The levy, known as Issue 11, is estimated to generate more than $110 million annually for county services including child services, senior aid and homeless assistance, according to Signal Cleveland. County Council President Dale Miller has said the county plans to take a conservative approach to spending the new levy dollars and build reserves over its 10-year term, while also saying the new revenue would stave off practically all of $16 million in service cuts that had been proposed for next year.
Beyond the levy, the county's budget picture got a modest boost elsewhere. The county expects an additional $6.3 million in interest earnings on its investment portfolio in 2027, and Parfejewiec told council members that sales-tax collections have grown about 7% this year. Those figures, paired with tighter grant-spending rules, give council members more tools as they continue shaping next year's budget.
