The City of Cleveland has capped its
new domestic partner benefits at $100,000 or 15 workers, gay
bi-weekly The Gay People's Chronicle reported.
The city's 19-member council
overwhelmingly approved domestic partner benefits for its employees
on July 20, recognizing for the first time its own domestic partner
registry, which came online in 2009.
A last-minute compromise cut off city
workers who had not entered into a domestic partnership before May 1.
Couples added after the deadline will pay roughly $8,000 a year.
Ward 3 Councilman Joe Cimperman
sponsored the legislation.
Rob Rivera, president of the Cleveland
Stonewall Democrats, said cost weighed heavily in the compromise.
“My understanding is that the
concerns of the administration and some on the council were financial
in the face of budget cuts from Governor [John] Kasich's
administration,” Rivera told the paper. “The most important
thing for now to focus on, is they got it through with only one 'no'
vote, and we and others plans to continue to meet with council
members and the administration to get this expanded at the earliest
possibility to all employees.”
“I am confident we can do that,” he
asserted.
(Related: Cleveland
to pay nearly half million dollars to settle 2014 Gay Games lawsuit.)