CLEVELAND — The Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department is standing by its overtime use, with Sheriff Harold Pretel defending it and going so far as to file a lawsuit against Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne, who wants control over the department's purse strings.
“We’re going to pay the overtime one way or another because the positions must be filled,” Pretel said.
The sheriff filed the civil lawsuit earlier this week.
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We looked at last year’s overtime numbers for the sheriff’s department and found that six of the top earners banked more than $100K in overtime. One deputy retired in 2024 with nearly $200K in overtime.
We asked the sheriff whether he thought that seemed excessive.
“Excessive is a relative term, it does seem excessive based on their base pay as a starting point (when) you look at their overtime. But it’s demand-driven and contractually supported,” Pretel said.
According to Pretel, corrections officers have overtime built into their contracts, and those with seniority get first dibs.
Earlier this week, Ronayne said the sheriff's department overtime usage was being rubber-stamped.
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“We’ve got the way in which overtime gets authorized, I mean, who does this these days. This is a rubber stamp,” Ronayne said.
Pretel explained the rubber stamp and why the time slips weren’t signed.
“That caricature was probably well-intentioned by a sergeant who made that stamp. The sergeant felt it was okay to put that on there because it was him. The minute we found out about it we stopped that practice,” Pretel said.
Pretel says he learned about the rubber stamp last September, and an investigation found the overtime was appropriate and necessary, and that those time slips go through other checks.
“Just to make this a single thing about mismanagement or management deficiencies is really misrepresenting what the bigger problem is which number one independence to run the department and number two appropriate staffing for all those mandatory functions we have to staff,” Pretel said.
So what specific action by the county executive prompted the lawsuit?
“The transfer of the fiscal team is just something that I could not agree with,” Pretel said.
Pretel says that the function belongs with the sheriff’s department.
“It’s not political, it’s not personal,” Pretel said.
A statement from Ronayne’s office about the lawsuit called it meritless and a waste of taxpayer dollars.
“I think those words are somewhat inflammatory and inaccurate. I don’t think everyone has the depth of knowledge of not only the charter but the operation of the sheriff’s department,” Pretel said.
Earlier this month, Ronayne told News 5 he hired the sheriff, and he is someone he believes he should manage.
This issue has brought back up the discussion as to whether the sheriff should be an elected role.
“If the voters decided that, I would certainly support that. Right now, we’re talking about the independence of the sheriff’s department,” Pretel said. “Independence from additional control, additional oversight. Let’s say with operational matters, that’s probably the biggest concern.”
According to Pretel, if his lawsuit doesn’t go his way in court, there’s an appeals process.
