CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne says overtime in the sheriff’s department is being rubber-stamped and wants to rein in the sheriff. Now, the sheriff is threatening to file a lawsuit.
News 5 Investigators looked at overtime numbers for the sheriff’s department in 2024 and 2025.
The top six overtime earners in 2025 all made more than $120,000 in overtime, including Kyle Breiding, a deputy sheriff assigned to the Electronic Monitoring Unit.
Four others, Martin Greer, Davis Kipper, George Booth, and Rufus Lester, are all corrections officers.
Before retirement, Deputy Sheriff Joseph Perpar racked up nearly 200K in overtime. His total pay in 2024 was over $300,000, $125,000 more than Ronayne’s salary.
The county provided overtime databases and pay slips.
"And we have a system of checks and balances that is actually a rubber stamp, literally and figuratively, and no signature of management authority approval. We’ve got a problem,” Ronayne said.
Ronayne wants to take over the sheriff’s purse strings.
“I hired the sheriff. He’s somebody I believe I should manage,” Ronayne said.
Overtime numbers for the entire county in 2025 totaled nearly $40 million. Of that, the sheriff’s department's overtime was $27 million.
Some employees, including Greer, logged more overtime hours than regular hours.
“The overtime historically has been a problem,” Council Member Mike Gallagher said.
Gallagher says it’s been a constant struggle for years, especially in the jail with call-offs and holidays, and accelerated with deputies taking inmates to the hospital.
“Ideally, you get that done in jail. The problem with that is we don’t have a full-time doctor in the evenings and on weekends,” Gallagher said.
Gallagher reviewed overtime records for budget hearings last fall.
“Quite honestly I wasn’t overly concerned about what was on that sheet. I knew it was going to be high. Some of them were very high, but they’re following the rules that were negotiated. The contracts that were negotiated,” Gallagher said.
Now, the relationship between Ronayne and Sheriff Harold Pretel is strained.
So much so, County Prosecutor Mike O’Malley stepped into the fray and sent Ronayne a cease and desist letter saying he’s violating the county charter and Ohio law for taking over the sheriff’s payroll.
“What I would say to the prosecutor is to stay in your lane,” Ronayne said.
Ronayne responded in his own letter to O’Malley, arguing that excessive overtime strains the budget and raises concerns about employee fatigue and operational oversight.
“I think we have a county prosecutor who wants to go back to an old way system. Wants a separately elected sheriff, wants three county commissioners in separate elected offices, but that’s not what the voters of Cuyahoga County voted on,” Ronayne said.
Possible solutions?
Gallagher says one fix is having both sides come to the table.
He thinks another solution to the overtime problem would be to have a discussion at council with the sheriff about adding more deputies.
“And if you’re asking me what side I’m on. I’m on the side of the prosecutor and the sheriff because I think the sheriff should be independent,” Gallagher said.
The sheriff isn’t talking to News 5, and neither is O’Malley.
O’Malley appointed an outside law firm for Pretel to sue Ronayne.
“So here we are today fighting a public battle over something that could have been solved. I think quite honestly again and I’ll harp on it again should elect a sheriff. We wouldn’t be sitting here today, on the taxpayers' dime,” Gallagher said.
The outside attorney says a lawsuit will be filed soon.
Gallagher thinks one other solution to the overtime problem would be to have a discussion at council with the sheriff about adding more deputies.
Ronayne says he will fight for control over the sheriff’s fiscal operations and will iron it out in front of voters. He plans to work on charter amendments to finalize the roles and responsibilities of elected leaders like himself.
Past overtime issue
This overtime issue didn't start with Pretel.
In 2023, News 5 Investigator Scott Noll revealed a staffing shortage in the sheriff's department led to deputies being paid nearly $4.5M in overtime in 2022.
WATCH:
RELATED: Cuyahoga County deputies make millions in overtime as department deals with short staffing
Then, the top-earning deputy made more than $255,000 after earning $150,000 in overtime.
"There shouldn't be that kind of overtime available to these deputies. I think that is the simple, most-focused point that needs to be brought up," Laborers Local 860 Colin Sikon said.
Ronayne had just nominated Pretel as sheriff when that report aired in May 2023, and the county council told News 5 that they planned to ask Pretel about deputy overtime, recruitment and retention during the approval process.
Why isn't the sheriff elected in Cuyahoga County?
In the last few years, calls have been growing to return to an elected sheriff. Of the 88 counties in Ohio, Cuyahoga County is the only one that appoints the position.
In 2009, voters approved charter reform that took away the elected sheriff after a massive corruption scandal.
In 2019, voters gave the council final approval of the sheriff candidates recommended by the county executive.
It was intended to bolster council oversight, expand training and education requirements and limit the county executive’s control over the sheriff’s position.
