The proposed 2026 budget for Cuyahoga County is partly built on a foundation of fiction, according to the very officials tasked with carrying it out.

In a damning revelation discussed Thursday on Today in Ohio , the county’s Sheriff’s Department has publicly warned that County Executive Chris Ronayne’s budget assumptions are disconnected from reality. While Ronayne claims his plan is balanced, the sheriff’s fiscal officers say overtime costs alone will blow a $13 million hole in the numbers.

As Leila Atassi explained Thursday, “Ronayne’s budget assumes the sheriff’s office will suddenly rein in its runaway overtime costs. But history doesn’t really back that up.”

She said the sheriff’s officials warned .. county council that “overtime costs are on Ttack to hit $23 million this year

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