CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cuyahoga County budget deliberations boiled over this week as councilmembers clashed over a $2.4 million proposal to hire more juvenile probation officers, prompting debate over the use of opioid-settlement dollars and allegations of backroom dealing.

Council Members Michael Gallagher, Sunny Simon and Michael Houser sought to provide $1.2 million per year to the juvenile court to hire 15 additional probation officers. It’s a recommendation that came out of a special advisory committee council created to address juvenile crime.

Simon called probation officers an “essential” function of the court – one that can reduce adult crime and the jail’s population on the back end.

“This is where it starts,” she appealed to her colleagues. “This is how you do that.”

The trio

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