By: Leila Atassi

Aug. 18, 2016

CLEVELAND, Ohio If you live or work in the city of Cleveland, the proposed ballot initiative to raise the city's income tax from 2 to 2.5 percent should matter to you.

The issue will be presented to Cleveland voters Nov. 8. And city officials recently came before City Council to make their case for how they would spend the extra $80 million a year that the tax hike would generate.

Half of it would plug a shortfall in the city's budget next year. The rest, Mayor Frank Jackson and his administrators say, would dramatically improve services to the public and help fund the implementation of a federal consent decree governing police use of force.

But exactly what improvements should you expect to see if the income tax increase passes? Cleveland.com breaks down some of the highlights of the city's plan.

Next slide: Community Relations Department would tackle youth violence

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Community Relations Department would tackle youth violence

The ask: $263,000

The purpose: In perhaps the most promising effort yet to curb youth violence in the city of Cleveland, the Community Relations Department, under Director Blaine Griffin, has set out to streamline and harness the power of anti-violence efforts that had been operating with little or no coordination for decades.

The comprehensive strategy, under the guidance of the National Forum for Youth Violence Prevention, pulls together existing programs focused on the family unit, schools, community-building, and developing skills to help people overcome poverty. It suggests new ideas to fill the gaps in services to the target population and promises to help agencies develop better ways to track progress with data.

With additional income tax revenue, the department could hire a grant writer, an additional project coordinator, a risk-intervention specialist and a multi-lingual outreach specialist to communicate with residents who have limited English proficiency.

Next slide: Streets Department would beef up pothole repair

(Plain Dealer file photo)

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Streets Department would beef up pothole repair

The ask: $1.6 million

The purpose: This department promises enhanced services in three key areas: Street sweeping, leaf removal and yes, the scourge of all commutes -- potholes.

State budget cuts in 2011 resulted in the city eliminating its residential street sweeping program. To reinstate it, the department would need 12 seasonal drivers and six laborers. That would give the city the capacity to sweep all residential streets three times between April 1 and Nov. 20.

Additional funding would allow the department to service high leaf-generation areas in the city twice each fall.

And 31 seasonal employees would be carried over from the winter season to provide five pothole patching crews, in addition to the three existing ones, from April 1 through May 31 to tackle the damage incurred during the winter. In June, the city would reduce the number of pothole crews from eight to six for ongoing maintenance.

Next slide: Division of Waste would improve service overall

(Photo by: Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer)



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Division of Waste would improve service overall

The ask: $1.4 million

The purpose: Trash collection is one of those city services most people take for granted until the day it becomes dysfunctional. And that day seemed to arrive in Cleveland this year.

In January, city officials revealed that the city had paid trash collectors nearly $1.3 million in overtime last year to pick up the slack for co-workers who routinely didn't show up.

And City Council members said they believed the problems were symptomatic of staffing and equipment issues that had damaged morale in the department. They shared anecdotes in which trash-collection crews seemed so overtaxed, they often didn’t get to some routes until 10 p.m. And on a few streets, trash hadn’t been collected for weeks.

With additional income tax revenue, the department says it would hire 21 seasonal and 15 fulltime drivers, which would reduce the need for overtime, improve service to commercial properties, and shift the average time when trash is picked up from 6:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Next slide: Building and Housing would address blight

(Photo by: Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer)



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Building and Housing would address blight

The ask: $1.98 million

The purpose: Complaints over the lack of building and housing code enforcement in Cleveland seem as perennial as the grass.

For years, Cleveland City Council members have skewered city housing officials for taking too long to condemn or demolish decrepit structures and failing to hold slum landlords accountable or crack down on violations that contribute to the overall sense of blight in the neighborhoods.

With a couple of extra million dollars in the budget, the department would hire 13 residential building inspectors to perform systematic inspections of all rental properties, inspect permits faster and more frequently and work in tandem with the Health Department to identify and abate lead-paint hazards.

The department also would hire more staff, including a paralegal and legal secretary in its prosecution section, to free inspectors from having to perform clerical duties that have distracted them from their primary work.

Additional staff also would be added to perform elevator and HVAC inspections.

Next slide: Health Department would alleviate backlog of lead poisoning cases

(Photo by: Thomas Ondrey, The Plain Dealer)



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Health Department would alleviate backlog of lead poisoning cases

The ask: $402,000 general fund; $155,000 capital

The purpose: Health Department officials said they would hire three more investigators to deal with the city's backlog of lead poisoning cases – a problem illuminated by a Plain Dealer series last year.

Having more lead investigators, support staffers and a data entry specialist would help the department keep up with the 400 new lead poisoning cases it receives each year. It also would give the city a chance to address some of the 1,200 cases involving children with lower lead levels before the children suffer cognitive impairment, city officials have said.

The team also would benefit from increased funding for building and housing inspectors, who would, in turn, beef up inspections, flag chipped paint as a likely source of lead and refer the cases to the Health Department for further investigation.

The additional money would get the city three additional lead investigators – up from one – and a data-entry coordinator for the lead poisoning program to ensure efficient processing of lead inspection activities into state databases.

The funds would cover a receptionist and general support staff to take as many as 7,000 complaints a year, freeing inspectors from handling those calls.

The capital costs include the purchase of five machines to conduct lead investigations and vehicles for inspectors.

The department also would hire two registered sanitarians, who would conduct training sessions on state regulations for food safety.

Next slide: Police would strengthen ranks to meet ‘community policing’ goals

(Photo by: Lonnie Timmons III, The Plain Dealer)



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Police would strengthen ranks to meet 'community policing' goals

The ask: $6.56 million

The purpose: Partly to comply with a federal consent decree governing police use of force, the Cleveland police department is seeking $11.7 million over the next four years to add 120 new positions.

The multi-year request asks for 90 new patrol officers, 25 sergeants, four lieutenants and one captain to be spread across all five policing districts and specialized units. A staffing plan submitted by the police department calls for restructuring to emphasize community-oriented policing, better response times, officer training and increased foot patrols.

More than half of the requested money would be spent in the first year, with the hiring of 50 patrol officers and additional sergeants to bring the supervisor-to-patrol officer ratio from 1:6 to the nationally recognized standard of 1:5.

The first-year budget also would call for 12 additional radio dispatchers.

Next slide: Fire would keep better records

(Photo by: Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer)

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Fire would keep better records

The ask: $480,000 general fund; $480,000 capital

The purpose: Compared to the police department's wish list, the fire department's ask is somewhat meager – a point of contention among some City Council members, who believe the city should take advantage of the tax revenue to strengthen the firefighting ranks.

The department would hire five dedicated administrators to take the place of uniformed personnel who had been handling budget issues, grants, purchasing and other administrative concerns.

Councilman Martin Keane took issue with the proposal during a hearing in July, arguing that overtime costs and “brownouts” – station closures because of staffing or budget problems -- could be minimized if the department trained and hired more firefighters.

But Chief Angelo Calvillo, pictured here, contended that staffing is adequate, and that brownouts were more a function of firefighters calling off on holidays when they were scheduled to work.

The capital expenses include the proposed purchase and maintenance of a new record management system to keep track of data on response times and training records.

Next slide: Emergency Medical Services would reduce response times

(Photo by: Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer)

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Emergency Medical Services would reduce response times

The ask: $5.68 million

The purpose: The city's Emergency Medical Services would use this money to hire 60 paramedics and eight dispatchers with the aim of reducing response times from an average of nine minutes to six minutes and 43 seconds.

The division also wishes to hire four additional captains to directly oversee field operations. Currently, one captain is stationed in the communications center and another covers the entire city.

EMS also would buy five new ambulances.

Next slide: Recreation Department would improve programs, security at rec centers

(Photo by: Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer)



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Recreation Department would improve programs, security at rec centers

The ask: $2.42 million

The purpose: The city's recreation centers are critical to keeping youth off the streets and engaged in safe activities after school and during the summer months. But the conditions, security and programming at the facilities have been a sticking point for City Council members in recent years.

With the new funds, the department would be able to post at least two fulltime instructors at each rec center to improve the quality of programs, offer more organized games, extend hours at some facilities during the summer and minimize the number of cancelled programs. Currently, each rec center has only one instructor, who often is also responsible for staffing the front desk.

To free those instructors from that duty, the department would hire junior clerks to greet patrons and handle clerical work. And each rec center and outdoor pool would have year-round security. Currently, only 13 officers provide security at the city’s 21 centers.

Fitness equipment at the nine rec centers that have it also would see much needed repairs.

Next slide: Department of Aging would improve senior housing programs

(Photo by: Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer)

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Department of Aging would improve senior housing programs

The ask: $252,000

The purpose: With this money, the department would hire an administrative manager and program coordinator to work on home repair programs that increase safety for older residents and allow them to live in their homes longer.

The department also seeks money for an additional social worker and a grants administrator, who would ferret out new revenue sources to further enhance services to older adults and residents with disabilities.

Next slide: Department of Park Maintenance would mow more lots, clean up dump sites

(Photo by: Chuck Crow)

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Department of Park Maintenance would mow more lots, clean up dump sites

The ask: $468,809

The purpose: The tax revenue would give this department greater capacity to clean up about 600 illegal dumping sites per year and extend employment for a team of seasonal workers by an extra seven weeks to mow vacant lots a fourth time during summer months.

Next slide: Animal control would perform more spay, neuter procedures

(Photo by: Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com)

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Animal control would perform more spay, neuter procedures

The ask: $700,388

The purpose: Cleveland breaks ground next month on a $5.3 million kennel, and the extra tax revenue would go a long way toward filling out the new facility with staff. Animal control officials also said the additional resources would allow the kennel to perform at least 800 more spay and neuter surgeries per year on site.

Next slide: Department of City Planning would overhaul zoning code

(Photo by: Leila Atassi, cleveland.com)



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Department of City Planning would overhaul zoning code

The ask: $367,400

The purpose: City officials for the past year have been talking about overhauling the city's antiquated zoning code to eliminate unnecessary hurdles that impede development and could stunt the city's renaissance. But the update would require a dedicated, fulltime zoning administrator to manage zoning changes and zoning map amendments.

The department also wants to hire an architect to provide quality in-house planning and design services that could also be offered to the city’s customers outside of City Hall. Currently the city relies on consultants for its design work.

(Photo by: John Petkovic, The Plain Dealer)