Cuyahoga County Council Continues Pushback on Chris Ronayne's Garfield Heights Jail Plan

Cuyahoga County Jail You go directly to jail as ordered, but understaffing means the jail is red-zoned, with inmates left in their pods for 16 hours at a time. Lose two turns while you wait for someone, anyone to come to your cell. Credit: Tim Evanson

In a contentious committee of the whole meeting, Cuyahoga County Council members questioned County Executive Chris Ronayne’s plan for a jail in Garfield Heights, making it clear the two sides are at loggerheads over the plan.

Ronayne’s idea for a new facility cites best practices from Franklin County as a more humane form of incarceration and includes plans for a diversion center, sheriff office, healthcare housing, dispatch center and more.

But it’s the location, and price, that has council in opposition.

The purchase of 72 acres for the facility could cost more than $38 million, and estimates for total costs come out to around $750 million. The proposed plans for the facility include a 40-year extension of an additional .25% in county sales tax. The current sales tax rate of 8% will drop to 7.75% in 2027 unless new legislation is passed.

At Tuesday’s meeting, members raised concerns over the tax extension. Although Ronayne did not attend, officials like director of Public Works Michael Dever, fiscal officer Michael Chambers, managing director of Public Finance Bob Franz and managing director of Project Management Consultants LLC. Jeffrey Appelbaum — who serves as a jail consultant to the county — answered council questions.

“I do want to say that 40 years [extension], that to me, too, is a life sentence,” said District Four councilman Mike Tuma. “I don’t know if there’s any way of getting that to reduce somehow, even if you’re looking at that 30 years or 25 years. I don’t know if there’s any possibility of that. That just seems like an awfully long time to strap a future council and future administration with.”

With the extension, Cuyahoga County could generate about $60 million every year to cover the jail’s $750 million price tag. However, members also raised concerns about that number because inflation has risen since the estimate was made in October 2022.

Other economic concerns included issues surrounding the County’s funding capacity.

“We have approximately $1.2-1.3 billion between our general obligation capacity and sales tax capacity,” Franz said. “So, if we assume that these are a general obligation issue, then we’re looking at $500 million left in that, assuming static everything else.”

Councilmembers also questioned the necessity of the full 72-acre purchase. Some members pushed for the purchase of just 40 acres, the estimated minimum area required to build the jail. Although 40 acres wouldn’t fit Ronayne’s vision for the facility, there was support in the Council to try to start with just the jail and perhaps later expand.

However, Appelbaum pushed back against the idea, arguing that the Garfield Heights land would be the best option.

“There’s an advantage to continuing to get that acreage because that is less expensive than it is to actually have increased construction costs,” said Appelbaum. “There’s other relevance to what else you might want to do on property but just for these reasons alone, having the bigger property is important for the project.”

Construction of the jail also received opposition in the form of public comment at the meeting. Speaking about inmate deaths in Cuyahoga County, President and cofounder of BlackLives Matter Cleveland LaTonya Goldsby denounced the idea that a new facility will save lives.

“It’s not the building that’s killing people,” LaTonya said. “There’s a culture of toxicity that lives within and it has nothing to do with the structure itself. It has everything to do with leadership and management. And yet again, you all are here making decisions about our tax dollars without our consent.”

The Council will discuss the possibilities further before voting on the legislation in its August 1st meeting.

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