FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE [CLICK HERE TO PRINT] Cleveland – August 31, 2023 – At its board meeting this week, the Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council (CBCTC) voted to oppose amending Cleveland’s City Charter to create participatory budgeting. The charter issue will appear on the November 7 ballot.  

The Cleveland Building & Construction Trades Council is the umbrella organization for more than 29-member unions and 12,000 men and woman working in the construction industry in Northeast Ohio.

Participatory budgeting “sounds like a good idea, a progressive idea, but it’s not,” said David Wondolowski, Executive Secretary and Business Manager for the CBCTC.  “I’m sure those behind the idea had good intentions, but the reality is participatory budgeting is a gimmick that presents a very real danger to a city budget that is already cut to the bone.  Further cuts could do irreparable damage to City services and public safety.”

The proposal would allocate money — starting at 1% and eventually 2% (that’s equal to about $14 million annually) of the city’s general fund — to projects voted on by a group of residents.

“That means $14 million in projects would be decided on by an undetermined and unelected group of people, creating a huge hole in the City’s general fund,’’ said Terence P. Joyce, Business Manager of Building Laborers’ Local 310.  “The City Administration has directors and finance staff that quite simply have better expertise to make budget decisions.  It is the job of City Council members to advocate on behalf of the residents and important projects in their neighborhoods.  

“As public servants, they have a sacred obligation to spend your money responsibility, run government efficiently and always do what is in the public interest and not the special interest,” he added.

Don Ols, Business Manager of Pipefitters Local 120, agreed, saying participatory budgeting will “pit different special interests against each other, and that process will likely favor residents in wealthier wards and have less engagement from wards where residents are financially struggling.”  

Wondolowski added that elections provide an opportunity to citizens to vote for the people they believe will best represent them in all actions impacting Cleveland city affairs.  

“That includes deciding what projects the city will pay for. Cleveland residents expect their elected officials to do extensive research on the best and highest use of taxpayer dollars, and to make decisions for the better of all residents. If that doesn’t happen, residents will let officials know, especially during the next election.”

He noted a number of reasons CBCTC is opposing the issue:

•    The proposal could harm the city’s ability to provide basic services, including hiring much needed additional police officers, funding EMS services and paying for departments that oversee public health and aging.

•    The $14 million for participatory budgeting is greater than what Cleveland now pays for the Building & Housing Department, which does inspections, enforces city codes and issues permits for projects. “Our members build projects, and we firmly believe city codes need to be enforced, and projects need to be permitted and inspected,” he said.

•    Union members living in Cleveland already participate in financial decisions by electing city council members and the mayor. Even after elections, our member residents continue to reach out to these elected officials to make their opinions and needs known.

•    If residents want more say about how tax dollars are spent, they can and should speak up at formal public and ward meetings with elected officials, contact elected officials at their offices, write letters to the editor and even run for office themselves.

“The last thing this city needs is another layer of bureaucracy that costs taxpayers, which is exactly what this charter issue would do: require staffing to support an 10-person steering committee, paying to set up an office to support the committee and paying each committee member an annual fee,” said Wondolowski.

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