Cuyahoga County property owners will pay more in taxes after voters approved Issue 11 on Tuesday, Nov. 3, keeping health and human services programs funded for the next decade.

The levy passed with 61% support, according to unofficial results from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections reported by cleveland.com. The tally was 272,645 votes in favor and 177,893 against.

The levy will cost homeowners across Cuyahoga County an additional $87.50 per year for every $100,000 in home value, according to cleveland.com. That includes homeowners in Strongsville, North Royalton, Brecksville and Broadview Heights. The total annual cost for the Issue 11 levy comes to about $196 per $100,000 in home value.

What the levy funds

Issue 11 combines a renewal of the existing 4.7-mill health and human services levy with a 2.5-mill increase, bringing the total to 7.2 mills for 10 years. The levy is expected to generate about $261.5 million annually, according to cleveland.com. Ideastream reported the measure will add $111 million in new revenue to the county's Health and Human Services budget.

The money supports programs for children, seniors, people experiencing homelessness and low-income families across the county.

County Executive Chris Ronayne said in a statement posted Nov. 4 that the passage means the county "can continue to support critical services that protect children, help older adults age with dignity, provide behavioral health and addiction treatment, address homelessness, and strengthen families across our County."

Ronayne acknowledged the difficulty of asking residents to pay more. "We know that asking residents to support a tax levy is a significant request, especially at a time when many families are managing their own financial challenges," the statement said.

What was at stake

Without the additional revenue, Ronayne had said HHS-funded departments would have faced at least 8% budget cuts, according to cleveland.com. David Merriman, the county's HHS director, said at a rally in October that $16 million in cuts to HHS agencies would have been made if the levy failed, according to Ideastream. That would have come on top of $20 million already cut before 2026 began.

Among the proposed cuts that were on the table, according to cleveland.com: the Division of Children and Family Services had proposed eliminating $1.6 million for the Canopy Child Advocacy Center, which works with abused children. Homeless services could have lost $1.3 million. The Division of Senior and Adult Services had proposed cutting $670,000 from programs aimed at reducing social isolation.

Weaker support than past levies

The 61% margin was weaker than recent HHS levy results. A separate 4.8-mill HHS levy renewal passed with more than 71% support in 2024, and the 4.7-mill levy received 69% support when it was last increased in 2020, according to cleveland.com. The county's HHS levies have passed at the ballot box 10 times since 1984, including six with more than 65% of the vote, according to Ideastream.

The vote came as property tax fatigue weighed on voters across the county. Both Issue 11 and Issue 10, a separate developmental disabilities levy, asked voters to raise their own taxes during an election where affordability was a top concern, Ideastream reported.

Ronayne told Ideastream on Nov. 4 that he woke up with "an attitude of gratitude." He added: "Our voters get that when things are down, they stick up for their neighbors."