Earlier this week Cleveland voters approved a half-percent increase in the city’s income tax. How will that money be spent?
Raising the income tax rate to 2.5 percent is expected to generate an extra $80 million annually when it kicks in January 1. Cleveland City Councilman Tony Brancatelli says council will begin calculating how the additional funding will be allocated during budget reviews in March.
“We’re really going to focus around policy and outcomes and really figure out how we want to measure. When you look at departments like our health department, what is going to be our inspection rate? Are we bringing on the additional lead inspectors needed to keep up with our lead crisis and dealing with our lead poisonings?
"A lot of that is going to be around data and records, but it’s also going to be around human capital.”
The extra funding will also be used to pay for police department reforms, street repairs and youth programs. This was Cleveland’s first income-tax rate increase in 35 years.
