Dozens of residents and city officials discussed Akron's top issues in a community forum Tuesday.
Mayor Shammas Malik and members of his administration gave a presentation about the city’s proposed $798 million budget at East Community Learning Center in the city's Goodyear Heights neighborhood.
Attendees then gathered into small groups with city officials to give feedback on the budget and ask questions.
The groups each focused on one of the budget's four main priorities: public safety, core city services, strategic initiatives and fiscal responsibility.
Many people flocked to the public safety table to discuss the police and fire departments, as well as the police oversight board.
Rev. Joyce Penfield spoke in support of the oversight board's proposed budget increase.
“It’s really a good investment. It’s a great investment because it is helping to create a system of trust, we hope, a little at a time in the community,” Penfield said.
The board has requested a budget of $544,352, up from last year’s $414,000. An additional $150,000 for new software and independent legal counsel for the board are proposed under the mayor’s office budget.
Councilmember Jan Davis sat at the table across from Penfield. She expressed concern about funding a board that does not have disciplinary authority.
Voters approved a charter amendment to create the board in 2022, but members have said the amendment’s language is vague about its investigative powers.
Akron City Council rejected the board’s request to have subpoena power last year. Representatives from the police union have said broader investigative authority would conflict with the collective bargaining agreement.
“We can continue to add money, and add money, but if you have (a) charter, you have policies, procedures, union contracts that are all restraining forces to moving this forward, I’m having a hard time seeing where we should fund this,” Davis said.
The board needs to try to extend its powers through another charter amendment, Davis added.
“So here, we’re stuck with a board that you want us to fund; it (doesn’t) work,” she said.
John Williams, president of the Akron Urban League, agreed that the board does not have power but said it’s important to continue funding the work that it is permitted by the charter to do, such as data collection.
The board is requesting funds to purchase case management software.
“The committee has zero power, and I agree that they need to have power,” Williams said. “I will say, data collection and some of the other independent pieces that the committee needs to effectively do their job, in alignment with the creation of an additional … amendment, to give the review board more power, is needed.”
Penfield pushed back on Davis’ and Williams’ comments that the board has no power. The board’s police auditor, Anthony Finnell, is making recommendations to improve police department policies, she said.
“It has power in the fact that standards are being, are being challenged and implemented now, one little piece at a time,” Penfield said.
Housing, communication also discussed
Citizens discussed a wide variety of topics at the other tables, from lead abatement, litter, emergency communications and housing.
Georgann Mirgliotta attended the meeting to share her thoughts on homelessness and housing, she said.
While she does not live in Akron, she works with people experiencing homelessness in the city. She’d like to see more funding for homeless services because local shelters are full.
“There's nowhere for them to go. That’s an emergency. We need 24/7, 365 emergency shelter,” Mirgliotta said. “Not for them to stay for a long period of time, but to get connected with services so that they can move on.”
Mirgliotta appreciates the city funding an emergency overnight shelter, but that facility is only open during the cold months.
There’s a growing need for a permanent shelter, she said.
Summit County Continuum of Care Director Marquetta Boddie also attended the meeting. The county’s unsheltered homeless population recently increased by 300%, she said.
“There has to be more resources and more priority put behind homelessness,” Boddie said. “I think right now, we’re kind of talking about it as an afterthought, but when you start to think about federal funding being cut … it is a serious matter that we really need to start paying attention to.”
Akron budget overview
This year’s budget proposes a two-percent decrease in expenditures compared to last year. About 71% of the budget accounts for staffing, Malik said.
Amid looming federal and state funding cuts, the mayor said he is looking for other ways to save money and generate revenue this year.
“There will be this balance between delivering the highest service levels possible, while also being fiscally responsible,” Malik said during a presentation to Akron City Council’s budget committee last week.
The city has a forecasted $13 million shortfall of revenues compared to expenditures, due to its 2.5% income tax rate not keeping pace with inflation, he said.
“There will be this balance between delivering the highest service levels possible, while also being fiscally responsible.”Akron Mayor Shammas Malik
Although other Ohio cities have the same income tax rate, Akron is unique because 0.25% of the income tax funds is designated for community learning centers, a funding model approved by voters in 2003.
Additionally, 75 public safety positions previously funded by federal grants - $49 million over the past five years – will now be charged to the city’s general fund, Malik said.
The shortfall will be balanced with $8 million in interest earnings from American Rescue Plan Act funds and a $5 million draw from a portion of the city's income tax dedicated to funding police, fire and road improvements, Malik said.
“This is a budget that seeks to be more limited, while making a couple of investments where it is more targeted,” Malik said.
Akron City Council must pass the budget by the end of the month.
