They do, it's been a few years since I looked at the financials but I do recall that they have a rainy day fund that's been building since coming out of the recession/raising the income tax, and it's never been touched since then, so far at least.

^ Good news there. I know they are 2019 figures, but does anyone have a feel for this year’s revenues? With Covid, working from home and a relatively quiet downtown, all my co-workers (who all live in Solon, Hudson, Perry etc of course) are falling over themselves to tell me how Cleveland is going to go bankrupt doe to lost tax revenue. 

4 minutes ago, roman totale XVII said:

^ Good news there. I know they are 2019 figures, but does anyone have a feel for this year’s revenues? With Covid, working from home and a relatively quiet downtown, all my co-workers (who all live in Solon, Hudson, Perry etc of course) are falling over themselves to tell me how Cleveland is going to go bankrupt doe to lost tax revenue. 

People working from home due to the pandemic are still paying income taxes to the city where their office is located.

This is 2018 numbers but look here:

 

http://www.city.cleveland.oh.us/sites/default/files/forms_publications/2018CAFR.pdf?id=137549

 

Go to pdf pages 61-62, or 60-61 if you use the printed page numbers on the bottom of the document.  Main thing to focus on is the general fund. They basically had $186 million at the end of 2018 "in the bank" with $67 million of that "Assigned." On the next page you can see that year's total general fund revenue was $600 million with expenses of $533 million. So they should be able to absorb a drop in revenue for a few years.

 

As far as income tax collections YTD 2020 vs the same point in 2019, that'd be an easy public records request, maybe I'll put one in. They aren't the fastest but they always get it to you (in my limited experience). There also could be a report out there online somewhere that already exists, or a news agency could have reported on it.

 

I do worry about the impact of if more people WFH going forward. Not a five alarm fire right now but it's a concern.

 

The real Ohio law is that the city you are physically located in gets the tax $, not the office address. There is temporary relief on this during COVID, but it could be an issue in the future. 

Edited August 17, 20204 yr by mu2010

Not sure what to make of this, but ... to me the number of real estate transactions in yesterday's PD seemed MUCH bigger thn usual.

 

https://plaindealer-oh.newsmemory.com/?token=8moVGugMv0QOA0X%2fwGO99n0EKxbSgwFbGXnjuYDcet5GvfqjDkreIm5rL%2fUnlxWK

 

45 minutes ago, Dougal said:

Not sure what to make of this, but ... to me the number of real estate transactions in yesterday's PD seemed MUCH bigger thn usual.

 

https://plaindealer-oh.newsmemory.com/?token=8moVGugMv0QOA0X%2fwGO99n0EKxbSgwFbGXnjuYDcet5GvfqjDkreIm5rL%2fUnlxWK

 

 

I don't know what to make of what you sent! What is that?? A newspaper?? Never seen that digital thing before. So I assume there were real estate transactions in there?

13 minutes ago, KJP said:

 

I don't know what to make of what you sent! What is that?? A newspaper?? Never seen that digital thing before. So I assume there were real estate transactions in there?

 

I'm assuming this is what it is:

 

https://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/2020/08/find-all-cuyahoga-county-home-sales-other-property-transfer-details-for-july.html

Here is a story from a couple of days ago: https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/weve-never-seen-a-situation-like-this-pandemic-pounding-clevelands-budget

 

Cleveland revenue is $13M short through July, compared to a year ago, which has been covered from the $43M budget surplus left over from last year. They are anticipating a total loss this year of $26-35M in income taxes, plus about $20M from lost admission/bed/parking taxes. Job cuts are still a possibility.

9 minutes ago, PoshSteve said:

Here is a story from a couple of days ago: https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/weve-never-seen-a-situation-like-this-pandemic-pounding-clevelands-budget

 

Cleveland revenue is $13M short through July, compared to a year ago, which has been covered from the $43M budget surplus left over from last year. They are anticipating a total loss this year of $26-35M in income taxes, plus about $20M from lost admission/bed/parking taxes. Job cuts are still a possibility.

 

Budget-wise, Cleveland is doing better than virtually every other municipality in the county. Those projected losses are way less than expected.

Edited August 17, 20204 yr by Clefan98

Just now, Clefan98 said:

 

 

 

Edited August 17, 20204 yr by Clefan98

2 hours ago, freefourur said:

I would almost assume that they do. The city tends to be very conservative with their finances, almost to a fault.

Coming into the year the budget carried over a $40 million surplus. The city has also stated they’re budgeted to withstand a 2-year recession without layoffs.
 

I’m not sure how deep a recession they budget for but I’m not an accountant  ??‍♂️

Edited August 17, 20204 yr by Enginerd

Edit fail ??‍♂️

Edited August 17, 20204 yr by Enginerd

58 minutes ago, PoshSteve said:

Cleveland revenue is $13M short through July, compared to a year ago, which has been covered from the $43M budget surplus left over from last year. They are anticipating a total loss this year of $26-35M in income taxes, plus about $20M from lost admission/bed/parking taxes. Job cuts are still a possibility.

 

I'm not sure services could get any worse in Cleveland.   I never really saw any uptick from the .5% income increase that Mayor Jackson promised.   I'd hate to see what it's like if they have to trim the many layers of fat.  

13 minutes ago, Cleburger said:

 

I'm not sure services could get any worse in Cleveland.   I never really saw any uptick from the .5% income increase that Mayor Jackson promised.   I'd hate to see what it's like if they have to trim the many layers of fat.  

 

How long have you lived in Cleveland? I ask because I've been here since 2007 and have noticed a huge difference in services. My street (w57) has already been swept and cleaned 3x this year. It's a welcomed service as our street hadn't been cleaned since 2015.

 

Also, the city used to only pave 50-60 residential streets per year. This year they're doing 112 residential, last year they did 108 streets, and next year jumps to 120. They haven't started on ward 15 yet, but drive over to Tremont. They're paving Jefferson, w5th and Lincoln right now.

 

There are 10,000 streets in this city, it takes time!

Edited August 17, 20204 yr by Clefan98

Just now, Clefan98 said:

 

 

 

Edited August 17, 20204 yr by Clefan98

19 minutes ago, Clefan98 said:

 

How long have you lived in Cleveland? I ask because I've been here since 2007 and have noticed a huge difference in services. My street (w57) has already been swept and cleaned 3x this year. It's a welcomed service as our street hadn't been cleaned since 2015.

 

Also, the city used to only pave 50-60 residential streets per year. This year they're doing 112 residential, last year they did 108 streets, and next year jumps to 120. They haven't started on ward 15 yet, but drive over to Tremont. They're paving Jefferson, w5th and Lincoln right now.

 

There are 10,000 streets in this city, it takes time!

 

Since 1990.   In my current location since 2008.  I've seen a street sweeper 1x this year.  I don't find sweeping the streets as a bar we should measure by.  3-4 times a year should be standard, and is in other similar-sized cities.  

 

We also have to pester them to empty the public trash cans and mow city owned lots.   Neighbors complain that calls to the waste department to get replacement carts go unanswered.   And for months the city has been sending the blue recycling contents to the landfill without informing residents.  

2 hours ago, KJP said:

 

I don't know what to make of what you sent! What is that?? A newspaper?? Never seen that digital thing before. So I assume there were real estate transactions in there?

 

This (Cuyahoga County transfers) from the Sunday paper is more than twice the number that is usually reported.

[img]

1 hour ago, Cleburger said:

 

Since 1990.   In my current location since 2008.  I've seen a street sweeper 1x this year.  I don't find sweeping the streets as a bar we should measure by.  3-4 times a year should be standard, and is in other similar-sized cities.  

 

We also have to pester them to empty the public trash cans and mow city owned lots.   Neighbors complain that calls to the waste department to get replacement carts go unanswered.   And for months the city has been sending the blue recycling contents to the landfill without informing residents.  

 

I had my replacement can ordered and dropped off in a week (May 2020). Sometimes people complain just to complain.

 

The process of recycling is a joke everywhere because the recycling centers only recycle about 3% of the contents. The other 97% goes from the recycling centers to the landfill. They only keep the super valuable stuff. 

 

This is true for every municipality. 

 

Consider the economics at stake here:

https://www.cleveland.com/community/2020/05/cost-of-recycling-in-brecksville-jumps-by-1800-percent-under-new-three-year-contract-with-rumpke.html

7 hours ago, Pugu said:

NYT article:  "The Recession Is About to Slam Cities. Not Just the Blue-State Ones."   

 

Where does Cleveland fall in terms of impact?  The article lists Columbus, but not Cleveland--very annoying. Am I missing it? Is the full data set shown somewhere else?

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/17/upshot/pandemic-recession-cities-fiscal-shortfall.html

 

I found the answer after digging around---not from Crains or the PD, but the Center for Cleveland:

https://www.centerforcleveland.org/blog/estimated-revenue-shortfalls-for-the-city-of-cleveland-from-the-covid-19-recession

 

It says, "Revenue shortfalls for the City of Cleveland are expected to be between $187M and $305M for FY2021, calculated for less severe and more severe scenarios. These amounts in percentage terms are 6.4% and 10.4%, respectively, relative to projected revenues without a global health pandemic and resulting recession."

 

I would have expected it to be much higher--but will gladly take these numbers over what I was expecting.

 

 

3 hours ago, Cleburger said:

 

Since 1990.   In my current location since 2008.  I've seen a street sweeper 1x this year.  I don't find sweeping the streets as a bar we should measure by.  3-4 times a year should be standard, and is in other similar-sized cities.  

 

 

 

Wow.  My street in LA has a street sweeper drive by every week.  But who knows if that will continue once the budget is trimmed. 

11 minutes ago, jeremyck01 said:

 

Wow.  My street in LA has a street sweeper drive by every week. 

 

LA has...leaves?

 

My street in Cincinnati has mature street trees and we get a single visit from the street sweeper per year.  The leaves pile up and compost under the parked cars for months and months.  

8 minutes ago, jeremyck01 said:

 

Wow.  My street in LA has a street sweeper drive by every week.  But who knows if that will continue once the budget is trimmed. 

Street sweeping is the biggest non starter for me.  I’d rather have better fall leaf collection (probably not an issue in LA).

 

Or.. give me one more plow in the winter.  One extra shift for CPP, CPD, CFD or EMS.  If city services were the NFL Draft, the street sweeper is Mr. Irrelevant.

31 minutes ago, jmecklenborg said:

 

LA has...leaves?

 

 

 Not as many leaves, but those really annoying orange nut things that fall from the palm trees all over the street and get stuck in your tire treads.  Not to mention that LA is still basically a desert, so it gets really dusty and dirty.

I don't live in a very upscale neighborhood in Chicago but they run street sweepers twice a week on each side of the street on opposite days. And ticket cars that don't move. To me it seems like a neccesity, an ounce of prevention to keep the sewers from filling up with trash and plastic...and ending up in lake Lake Michigan. People here litter like its 1970.

 

Even then I have to go down and clear the storm drain in front of my house once a week or it will clog and flood when it rains. You guys are lucky you have slopes and somewhere for water to run.

Hyland buys a German software ompany.  Fair use excerpt:

 

"Software developer Hyland said it has purchased German software developer "Another Monday" for an undisclosed price.

Westlake, Ohio-based Hyland said Another Monday is a robotic process automation (RPA) software developer that makes four products."

 

Robotics seems like  a good area to get into.

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/cleveland/news/2020/08/21/software-company-hyland-buys-german-software-devel.html?ana=e_ae_prem&j=90524973&t=Afternoon&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWm1FeFlUUTNPVEJoTXpNdyIsInQiOiJZclFVWFI1WW5PbGNDZDV1RlYxRlRWZjNhRThnVFM1ZkZCQklrSEhHNWpFXC9ZSDZBYVAyRVY0QnQ0UDh0ZThBZ2tmSkZXbTFYMzNnZFk3UForbVJsRXhIMUVVYzZ3d1JUcWhIYTRiT1A4cHdlRm9TNFZBMUtPN2NJUzFOcXBNVmQifQ%3D%3D

“At the moment, it’s difficult to predict the longterm impact of Covid-19 on downtown Cleveland’s office market or entertainment economy — and the subsequent effect on downtown businesses. But if anything, the pandemic has solidified downtown Cleveland’s position not just as an economic center, but also as a neighborhood.”

 

https://www.thelandcle.org/stories/with-less-office-workers-and-visitors-downtown-cleveland-businesses-adapt-and-lean-into-a-growing-residential-base

Interlake Steamship Co, a privately-owned Middleburg Heights company,  has ordered the first new ship built for Great Lakes service in 37 years. The keel was laid in Sturgeon Bay WI in June and it should be placed in service in mid-2022.

 

It will be Interlake's 10th ship, a nice sign of growth for Interlake.

http://www.interlake-steamship.com/media/newsroom/keel-laid-and-name-revealed-for-interlakes-new-great-lakes-bulk-carrier

 

There's an interesting interview with Interlake's president by the Port Authority:  

https://greatlakesforward.com/the-great-lakes-where-we-live-work-play/

 

^"Interlake Steamship Co, a privately-owned Middleburg Heights company,  has ordered the first new ship built for Great Lakes service in 37 years."

 

So what does Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding do when its not building ships for the Great Lakes--smaller river crafts? Or do they make ocean-bound vessels (for other customers)?

 

 

Possibly they use their drydock to repair existing ships?

3 minutes ago, Pugu said:

^"Interlake Steamship Co, a privately-owned Middleburg Heights company,  has ordered the first new ship built for Great Lakes service in 37 years."

 

So what does Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding do when its not building ships for the Great Lakes--smaller river crafts? Or do they make ocean-bound vessels (for other customers)?

 

 

 

https://fincantieribayshipbuilding.com/

 

7 hours ago, urbanetics_ said:

“At the moment, it’s difficult to predict the longterm impact of Covid-19 on downtown Cleveland’s office market or entertainment economy — and the subsequent effect on downtown businesses. But if anything, the pandemic has solidified downtown Cleveland’s position not just as an economic center, but also as a neighborhood.”

 

https://www.thelandcle.org/stories/with-less-office-workers-and-visitors-downtown-cleveland-businesses-adapt-and-lean-into-a-growing-residential-base

 

Nice little blurb buried in this article: 

 

"Geiger’s also plans to reopen its downtown storefront when the time is right. “Our optimism for the region and downtown Cleveland in particular hasn’t changed. ... It just needs to make sense business-wise,” says co-owner Gordon Geiger. “It’s all about traffic. What’s exciting is that residentially there are still buildings that are going online for rental, even now.”"

 

I think the last conversation on this forum was that they were closing down for good. That would appear to not be the case.

That's great to hear.

8 hours ago, urbanetics_ said:

“At the moment, it’s difficult to predict the longterm impact of Covid-19 on downtown Cleveland’s office market or entertainment economy — and the subsequent effect on downtown businesses. But if anything, the pandemic has solidified downtown Cleveland’s position not just as an economic center, but also as a neighborhood.”

 

https://www.thelandcle.org/stories/with-less-office-workers-and-visitors-downtown-cleveland-businesses-adapt-and-lean-into-a-growing-residential-base

 

I shudder to think what would have happened to downtown restaurants and shops if a pandemic had hit 20-30 years ago. I doubt any of them would have survived with only about 5,000 residents downtown.

https://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/oh_cleveland_msa.htm

 

The MSA civilian labor force fell bigly from June to July. This is the first time on record that there has been a June to July decrease, so it's clearly not a seasonal issue. Unemployment is down, but it must be a result of people either leaving or giving up looking for work since total employed is down and total non-farm jobs is substantively unchanged.

 

Hopefully someone has a more positive take on the numbers, but this looks pretty disappointing to me. The July numbers aren't out yet for most metros, but I'm interested to see how some more healthy economies compare.

My guess is that people stopped looking for work rather than moving out or we'd see a large jump in for-sale and for-rent housing inventory. And we're seeing the opposite.

Former Cleveland Browns executive to head Dan Gilbert-affiliated real estate company

 

https://www.cleveland.com/realestate-news/2020/08/former-cleveland-browns-executive-to-head-dan-gilbert-affiliated-real-estate-company.html

 

The Michigan-based Bedrock announced this week that Kofi Bonner would start in his new job on Sept. 21. Bonner was, until February, the chief operating officer of the Irvine, California-based development firm Five Point Holdings. He also had his own consulting company that worked on real estate products in San Francisco and Ghana.

 

Before that, the Ghana-born Bonner was the COO and executive vice president for the Browns and the first Black person to hold such a title in the NFL, according to a news release. He was with the team from 1998 to 2004 and oversaw the development of FirstEnergy Stadium.

...

Bonner will replace Matt Cullen as Bedrock’s CEO. Company Vice Chairman Bill Emerson has served as acting CEO in the interim.

Shiloh's bankruptcy is a sad loss.  In the days of high fuel prices, their weight-reducing technology for vehicles was inventive and promising.  Cheap fuel and a disastrous raw material purchase contract did them in.

 

https://www.csbankruptcyblog.com/2020/08/articles/recent-developments/new-chapter-11-filing-shiloh-industries-inc/

 

DiGeronimo Cos. buying Donley’s construction management business

 

Both of these companies have active projects. What impact is this going to have?

 

DiGeronimo Companies Growth Continues, Acquires Premier Construction Management (CM) Business from Donley’s

Edited September 3, 20204 yr by WhatUp
add info

Hyland Software buys Alfresco:

 

https://www.cleveland.com/business/2020/09/westlake-software-company-hyland-buys-boston-based-alfresco.html

 

 

Edited September 10, 20204 yr by skiwest

Cleveland helmet maker Team Wendy sold for $130 million
 

https://www.cleveland.com/business/2020/09/cleveland-helmet-maker-team-wendy-sold-for-130-million.html
 

Avon Rubber p.l.c. of Great Britain and its subsidiary Avon Protection Systems Inc. is buying the company in an all-cash deal, Team Wendy said.

 

Team Wendy was founded in Cleveland in 1997 by Dan Moore after his daughter Wendy died from traumatic brain injury (TBI) after a skiing accident.

https://www.cleveland.com/community/2020/09/voss-industries-seeks-revised-pact-to-bring-berea-more-jobs.html

https://www.cleveland.com/business/2020/09/step2-a-ne-ohio-toy-company-plans-to-hire-100-employees-in-cleveland-area.html

On 8/27/2020 at 8:19 PM, LlamaLawyer said:

https://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/oh_cleveland_msa.htm

 

The MSA civilian labor force fell bigly from June to July. This is the first time on record that there has been a June to July decrease, so it's clearly not a seasonal issue. Unemployment is down, but it must be a result of people either leaving or giving up looking for work since total employed is down and total non-farm jobs is substantively unchanged.

 

Hopefully someone has a more positive take on the numbers, but this looks pretty disappointing to me. The July numbers aren't out yet for most metros, but I'm interested to see how some more healthy economies compare.

 

Now that more July numbers are out, it looks like the trend of labor force decline from June to July was pretty broad but not universal throughout the U.S. Not really sure what that means for the local economy, but we're not the only ones in this boat.

I started reading an interesting article yesterday about how COVID is impacting businesses by business size. TransDigm was able borrow $1.5 billion in two Fed bond offerings, no strings attached, then laid off 3000 workers. Meanwhile the guy who owns a Dunkin Donuts franchise in the Galleria (TransDigm is in Erieview Tower) got $3,000 from the Paycheck Protection Program, which ran out almost immediately, spent on payroll and rent, and is now struggling to survive. I was reading it on cleveland.com and was AMAZED at the quality of the article. It was too good for cleveland.com. So I went to the byline to see who wrote it, and indeed it wasn't their article. It was by ProPublica.  Here's the ProPublica article here. The photos are different in the two articles---cleveland.com uses photos they themselves took instead of those in the propublica article.

 

https://features.propublica.org/cleveland-bailout/the-big-corporate-rescue-and-the-america-thats-too-small-to-save/

 

1 hour ago, Pugu said:

I started reading an interesting article yesterday about how COVID is impacting businesses by business size. TransDigm was able borrow $1.5 billion in two Fed bond offerings, no strings attached, then laid off 3000 workers. Meanwhile the guy who owns a Dunkin Donuts franchise in the Galleria (TransDigm is in Erieview Tower) got $3,000 from the Paycheck Protection Program, which ran out almost immediately, spent on payroll and rent, and is now struggling to survive. I was reading it on cleveland.com and was AMAZED at the quality of the article. It was too good for cleveland.com. So I went to the byline to see who wrote it, and indeed it wasn't their article. It was by ProPublica.  Here's the ProPublica article here. The photos are different in the two articles---cleveland.com uses photos they themselves took instead of those in the propublica article.

 

https://features.propublica.org/cleveland-bailout/the-big-corporate-rescue-and-the-america-thats-too-small-to-save/

 

That figures.  I thought the same thing.  Should have known that the article was too high quality to actually be a cleveland.com original.

On 9/13/2020 at 10:35 AM, Pugu said:

I started reading an interesting article yesterday about how COVID is impacting businesses by business size. TransDigm was able borrow $1.5 billion in two Fed bond offerings, no strings attached, then laid off 3000 workers. Meanwhile the guy who owns a Dunkin Donuts franchise in the Galleria (TransDigm is in Erieview Tower) got $3,000 from the Paycheck Protection Program, which ran out almost immediately, spent on payroll and rent, and is now struggling to survive. I was reading it on cleveland.com and was AMAZED at the quality of the article. It was too good for cleveland.com. So I went to the byline to see who wrote it, and indeed it wasn't their article. It was by ProPublica.  Here's the ProPublica article here. The photos are different in the two articles---cleveland.com uses photos they themselves took instead of those in the propublica article.

 

https://features.propublica.org/cleveland-bailout/the-big-corporate-rescue-and-the-america-thats-too-small-to-save/

 

TDG didn't write the law; they just took advantage of it.  You can make a lot of money doing that.

Anyone else noticed Erieview Tower clumsily photoshopped into the latest Progressive ad? Subliminal messaging??? ?
 

^interesting. Why would they do that? Does Progressive have an ownership stake in Erieview Plaza?

4 hours ago, Pugu said:

^interesting. Why would they do that? Does Progressive have an ownership stake in Erieview Plaza?

Paging @KJP