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Answer: As the original supporter of the county policy to keep all county
controlled taxes below the rate of inflation I have consistently supported
that policy; have adopted it annually in every county budget policy goal
Resolution since then; have proposed it for the 2009 County Budget Policy
goal resolution and will continue to do so. Moreover, I have not only
supported this as a policy but I have consistently followed county policy
and maintained county budgets below the rate of inflation every year from
2004 through the present consistent with the policy first adopted by me
and then commissioner Phil Heimlich in 2003.
b) Will you work to decrease the size and cost of government in Hamilton
County? If so, please state specifically how you will do this.
Answer: Yes, I will do so, and I have a proven record of having done so,
including cutting $10 Million in expenses in 2007; $35 Million in expenses
in 2008; and cutting another $12 Million mid-term 2008, to maintain
balanced budgets in each of the aforementio0ned years without raising
taxes and including reducing FTE positions by over 100 in 2008 alone. I
have also proposed the following measures that are all working to keep
expenses down:
i) Monthly reporting on the budget in all departments tracking
spending by each department and individual county office;
ii) Placing a Freeze on unnecessary overtime expenses;
iii) Placing a Freeze on hiring, including replacement hiring resulting
in every position being scrutinized and eliminating positions
through attrition that are not needed;
iv) Enforcing a 6% across the board budget cut to maintain budget
balance;
v) Reducing spending on commodities purchases [bulk items such
as paper, pens, postage, etc.] by a minimum of 5%;
vi) Implementing the first county Managed Competition in county
Print Services;
vii) Pursuing a county Managed Competition in Fleet Services;
viii) Proposing new county Managed Competitions in Public Relations;
Human Resources; Finance Officers; and Budget Analysts
positions;
ix) Creating the county Cabinet of Economic Advisers to
recommend on ways to reduce spending and costs of
government;
The Board’s actions in 2007 were designed to address a difficult reality, that
being the need for additional and new jail space coupled with a very real
county budget shortfall that was projected [accurately] to result in the county
bond rating being reduced; the county reserve fund to be reduced to below
acceptable levels; and county revenues being inadequate to support basic
levels of priority county service. The decision to enact the tax without a
public vote was a difficult decision, but one taken in full public view, with
public notice and public discussion. My personal position on the need for the
commissioners to do this first surfaced in August 2006 in a guest editorial I
wrote for the Cincinnati Enquirer where I made the case for why the
commissioners needed to act in that fashion then, instead of seeking a vote.
I argued that if the 2006 tax which COAST supported was voted down it would
be impossible to get a tax passed in the future. I argued that the need for a
new jail was demonstrated [a position COAST also took with its support of the
2006 sales tax hike] and we, as commissioners, had both a duty to provide
adequate jail space and the authority to enact a tax, so to perform our duty
we needed to act that way. My two colleagues, who included one
[Commissioner Heimlich] who was running for re-election chose to “punt” on
the issue and put it to a vote instead of doing what needed to be done.
In 2007 our comprehensive safety plan would have raised the necessary
money to build a new jail. It also would have raised new money needed to
maintain and expand sheriff’s patrols to enhance safety; money to run and
operate the new jail being built; money for needed new juvenile facilities [50
new beds]; money to cover the full cost of county emergency
communications so the 48 small cities, villages and townships of the county
would not have to spend their general fund safety money to cover the cost of
a county responsibility [which is what is done today] and money for new
needed and efficient services to attack mental illness, drug and alcohol
addiction and to reduce recidivism. It was a 15 year tax that covered 30
years of expenses.
Our proposal and our action was supported and endorsed by virtually every
organization outside of COAST, The Green Party and the NAACP. All three
local parties endorsed it as did the Enquirer and every religious organization
and collaborative that weighed in on the subject.
What I found to be cynical; or what was done by people who thought they
could “get away with it”, was the dissemination of misrepresentations and
outright lies. People said the county had plenty of money to build and
operate a new jail. Among them was our county Treasurer Rob Goering and
County Commissioner Pat DeWine. Goering absolutely knew better. As
Treasurer he failed to collect over $80 million in taxes that were due in 2007
alone, greatly contributing to the county’s and to local government and
school district financial woes. As we have seen this year following $35 million
in cuts to balance the budget we have had to make another $12 million in
mid-year budget adjustments just to remain balanced. Those cuts have
resulted in the loss of the sheriff’s added Hot Spot patrols [including patrols in
Over the Rhine that reduced crime there by 50% in 2007. Crime has since
gone up in OTR with the loss of those patrols] and curtailment of other
routine patrol services by the sheriff. They also resulted in the closure of
three floors of the Queensgate jail.
Opponents of our effort said in 2007 that the jails were not crowded and have
stated this year that there have been no prisoners early released, or
“processed only” as evidence that overcrowding was manufactured. Those
are outright misstatements. For the first half of 2008 over 2,300 prisoners
were “processed only” and while the number of early releases was down to
20% of the number over the same time period in 2007, there were,
nonetheless, early releases. That was before the budget necessitated closure
of Queensgate’sthree floors. Since then the numbers have increased
including male prisoners being among that number for the first time in
several years.
Some times, as an elected leader, you have to do things that are very
unpopular, but are necessary. We knew that what we had to do would be
unpopular. But it was necessary. And the extreme budget difficulties we now
face and their resultant negative impact on public safety bears out that we
did the right thing when we acted.
a) Are you willing to firmly commit that during the coming commission term,
you will not attempt to raise any taxes (including the sales tax) without a
vote of the people?
Answer: I am willing to commit that in the event we are facing the need
for a new property or sales tax that I will first consider placing it before the
people for a vote. That is always the preferable route. Not knowing what the
future may hold, including potential emergency conditions, I cannot
responsibly assert that in all cases with all taxes I would always, without fail,
require a vote of the people.
3.) How will you work to make Hamilton County more competitive for business
and families?
Answer: I have laid out a detailed and comprehensive agenda for growth
and positive change for the county. I am forwarding the Agenda to you as the
complete answer to this question. My Agenda, which the Cincinnati Enquirer has
variously described as “ambitious and Aggressive” and as “Lofty Goals” details the
steps I have begun to take, and with re-election, remain committed to implement to
make the county more competitive and attractive.
4.) What other initiatives do you propose to rein in taxes and spending in
Hamilton County?
Answer: i.) I have detailed the majority of other initiatives, besides what is
contained in my answer to question 3.) abovein answer to question 1.)b.), which I
incorporate here by reference in answer to this question 4.). Beyond that;
ii.) I believe we must continue to utilize the county Tax Levy Review
Commission to assess all tax requests and must go through that process in
every case a new tax is considered to ensure a complete public vetting of the
proposal.
iii.) I also support working very hard to stop state and federal
government from making new unfunded mandates and requiring state and
federal government to provide full funding for any new mandate.
iv.) I am also working hard to identify alternative means of
construction to keep the cost of the federal government mandated sewer
fixes in Hamilton County as low as possible and to require the federal
government to provide the bulk of funding. Our sewer system was rendered
obsolete by the Clean Water Act and the $3.5 Billion fix it requires will be
borne totally by local ratepayers unless we get state and federal help. It is
obscene to think that the United States government is racking up $ Trillions in
debt while spending $12 Billion a month to build up a new infrastructure in
Iraq yet the same federal government is suing its own citizens here in
Hamilton County to force us alone to pay to fix up our infrastructure just
because it is old.
5.) Will you oppose all efforts to provide any additional tax dollars to the National
Underground Railroad Freedom Center, holding them to their solemn promise not to
seek additional public funds after the initial construction of the Center?
Answer: Yes.
6.) Recently, the City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County voted to empower the
Port Authority to take property by eminent domain and give it broad new taxing
powers. Please provide your comments on this decision.
Answer: The city and county acted to reform the Port Authority in light of its
eight years of limited development success to make it a better development
authority and to let it operate as a true Port Authority when addressing the
opportunities that abound in Hamilton County from our location along the Ohio River
and the bulk terminal space that abuts the river; the Queensgate rail yard; the
convergence of interstate highways and air freight infrastructure at Lunkenand CVG.
One of the central planks in our strategy to grow Hamilton County out of its budget
crisis is to make strategic investments in development opportunities that will grow
the revenue base of the county without raising taxes. We cannot cut ourselves into
budget prosperity but instead must work to right-size the county while growing
business and jobs. The improvements we made to the Port Authority will position it
to do as much as $100 Million in bond funded development each year. That kind of
growth, annually, will grow the revenues of the county without raising taxes.
7.) Do you support or oppose efforts to use taxpayer funds for light rail or other
such transportation proposals such as those which have been defeated in the past?
8.) Will you oppose efforts to fund ”arts” projects or organizations with existing
tax dollars?
Answer: It really depends on a case by case basis. Some projects merit support
because they contain elements that result in gains for the region and taxpayers.
Others are simply a waste of public money. I would have to consider each such item
on its own merit.
9.) Various advocates for greater funding for “arts” in Cincinnati and Hamilton
County have recently begun to push for a tax-payer funded revenue stream
specifically devoted to funding their pet projects. Will you oppose all efforts to
establish a new tax to fund arts programs in the region?
Answer: I am unfamiliar with any such effort, or the details of the same. In
general I am opposed to new taxes unless absolutely necessary and for a critical
public priority such as safety or health. The arts do not fit that category.
Answer: Yes.
11.) What specific tax fighting credentials do you possess (i.e. legislative votes
against tax increases, public roles opposed to higher taxes and spending, etc.).
Please cite specific public positions you have taken in the anti-tax/anti-spending
cause.
Thank you for affording me the privilege and opportunity of responding to the 2008
COAST Questionnaire.
Sincerely,
Todd Portune
President of the Board
Hamilton County Commission
After spending a year, 2007, largely getting the County’s house in order and
paving the way to provide the foundation for growth, change and positive
development, 2008 represents an exciting opportunity in the history of Hamilton
Countyto take dramatic steps ahead. 2008 represents the beginning of a new era of
collaboration and cooperation that grows and rebuilds Hamilton County providing an
exciting and positive future for the people who arrive here in order to live, work and
visit.
The budget goals, recently adopted by the Board, outline three primary areas of
attention for this year. They are:
1. Keep the County’s fiscal house in order and stabilize our budget, revenue
streams and reserves;
2. Continue the progress made in all areas of public safety and in particular,
complete the necessary reforms and advances that are required to solve our
corrections space and criminal justice problems; and
3. Attend to all of the things that affect quality of life and quality of experience
in the County.
In each of these three areas we must devote our time and attention. I propose
that we, through cooperation across party lines and with collaboration among all
governmental bodies locally and regionally and with our State and Federal
Delegations, develop a three-pronged policy, legislative and programmatic agenda
for the County.
Maintaining good fiscal health for Hamilton Countyinvolves much more than
watching the pennies that we spend. While fiscal discipline is one critical, primary
element of good fiscal stewardship for the County, it is not the only measure of our
success and cannot comprise the only element of our effort. Equally important is
maintaining a growing and healthy tax base; reducing the demands for public
service by improving the quality of life and livelihoods of others; strategically
investing in those businesses and other measures that create new business and
employment opportunities in the County and that generate greater returns on our
investments and reducing the costs of goods and services through smart and
effective decision making and via developing partnerships and alliances with other
governmental bodies in ways that increase returns or reduce costs. To succeed in
this area, we must:
1. Develop a strategy for business growth and investment byconvening
and empowering the County Cabinet of Economic
Advisors(first meeting scheduled for Monday, January 29, 2008). The
Cabinet must be given requisite staff and consulting support such that the
advisors may present an aggressive strategy of strategic investments that
are guaranteed to increase the County’s earnings on investments and that
are guaranteed to create a positive growth climate for business expansion,
retention, startup and relocation in those businesses that generate sales tax
revenues and put real estate to a higher and more productive use.
4. Maintaining good fiscal health also requires that the taxes and fees
paid by County residents be appropriate for the scope of services
provided but also not be at levels that are unaffordableand/or that are
similarly not established at levels greater than required given the specific
demands for services that are necessary. Essential elements of
understanding the operation of the existing tax and fee structure on County
operations, the delivery of services and the burden borne by individuals and
businesses, we must charge the County Tax Levy Review Commission
with the duty and responsibility to conduct such analysisand to report
back to the Board in time that we can utilize the report and recommendations
around budget deliberations for 2009 and beyond.
5. Such an effort further requires specific to the Metropolitan Sewer District that
we continue the parallel tracks of pressing for more cost efficient
alternatives to meet the Department of Justice requirements in the
Consent Decree order that governs the scope of work and the County’s
legal responsibility, and Hamilton County taking the lead in developing a
coalition of similarly affected jurisdictions around the country and
urging federal legislative intervention from the administration
and/or Congress to reduce the local burden and share of that burden
by local parties elevating the Federal Government’s responsibility in these
areas and resulting in contributions from the same that in turn reduce the
local contributions and make more affordable the rate increases that we will
have to seek in the future in order to pay for the full scope of work.
6. Maintaining good fiscal health and discipline requires that the County, in
addition to adhering to and enforcing the aggressive budget reserve policy
that we adopted in 2007, mandates that we develop still further policies
that limit expenditures and that work to grow revenues. Accordingly,
we must target as outcomes for the end of 2008;
7. Bringing the Riverfront Stadium fund into structural balance both short and
long term [the fund presently reflects deficit spending beginning in 2013 with
a total deficit approximating $191 Million]. Such an initiative will require
developing a plan of action that either reduces expenses or grows revenues
in favor of the benefit of the county. The effort could involve the pursuit of
naming rights sales for the stadium, the field, the plaza areas or other
elements of the stadium; and developing a stadium entertainment
authorityfor the purpose of marketing the use of Paul Brown Stadium in
ways that will regularly generate revenue to the benefit of the County. Our
goal should be to embark on a path the brings us in structural and ongoing
riverfront fund budget balance beginning in 2013.
5. Our efforts also require the completion of our work to develop the right
kind of facilities in use in our Corrections Divisionof the Sheriff’s
Department that account for the current overcrowding situation and the
pending loss of the Queensgate Facility. We have an economical
opportunity still at hand with the donated Sara Lee property in
Camp Washington. Prior to embarking on any new construction
program we must utilize the data developed by the Vera Institute in a way
that ensures any facility or facilities are constructed to address the needs
of our population. We immediately are impressed with the need of
secure facilities for an inmate population that presents higher
security risksthan can be safely accommodated at Queensgate. At the
same time we are impressed by the need for the development of a
facility that permits a Work-Release or Day-Release
componentgiven the high rate of employment among county jail
inmates. To properly construct such a facility[ies] requires:
a) a change in Ohio Regulatory standardsand as such part of our
work and policy or legislative agenda for the year must be
interacting with the Governor and state legislative leadership to
obtain revised standards of construction that are geared to our
situation and reality of funding.
b) Moreover, the legislative or policy agenda must also include
consideration of amnesty for old outstanding warrants of
minor, non-violent criminal activity. Most of those cases end
up dismissed anyway while costing our community greatly in the
form of crowded corrections facilities and unnecessary cost to the
system, to law enforcement and to the community through lost
productivity and lost employment.
c) On Saturday February 16, 2008, the City of Cincinnati will be
convening a Neighborhood Summit at which I have been asked to
present on the next steps in the wake of Issue 27’s defeat. I
propose the presentation of a complete plan by then that addressed
all issues.
6. Preserving the Peace and Security of the Publicextends beyond
traditional public safety issues of crimes, fires and medical emergencies.
In these days of the separate wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Global War
on Terror, we are affected in Hamilton County by the cost of service of our
men and women in uniform and through our statutory responsibilities to
help veterans and their families through the county Veterans’ Services
Commission. The needs of area veterans and their families have not been
thoroughly assessed nor provided for. Neither have we completed our
countywide responsibility in Homeland Security via county Emergency
Management. Both areas of county responsibility must receive priority
attention in 2008. As such I am proposing that we:
It is a simple fact that people will choose to live, work or visit elsewhere if the
quality of the experience in our county is substandard. In difficult budget times that
stark reality places a heavy burden upon the county. It demands of us an approach
that is creative, collaborative and cooperative. It requires full time and priority
attention as opposed to the philosophy of some which is to reduce what we do.
The measures of Quality of Life are showing up in the many community and regional
reports of key community indicators. They include our rates of people in poverty;
children who are hungry; number of homes in foreclosure and the rate at which
babies die before their first birthday. They include the performance levels of our
schools and students, including the numbers that graduate and those who drop out.
Performance measures include the carbon footprints we leave, the energy we use,
waste or conserve and the cleanliness of our streets, waterways, parks and
neighborhoods. They include the livability of our homes and the welcoming nature,
or not of our buildings and public spaces. They include the availability, accessibility
and affordability of our entertainment and culture. And they include the stability of
the family unit, together with the standard of living conditions and the economic
levels of attainment.
3. Making Certain that the Public’s Health and Access to Health Care
remain Priorities for Attention and that specific steps are taken to
stabilize and augment Access to Health Care and to reduce
specific Disease or Conditional concerns such as
Infant Mortality and SIDS by:
All in all this is a comprehensive Agenda filled with hope, excitement and promise.
Multiple Partners around the region are waiting for Hamilton County to take the
initiative and lead the way on numerous fronts. We have the capability of doing so.
The only question is whether we have the will. I believe we do and amexcited about
the possibilities for our success. With my colleagues’ capable assistance and with
the support and prayers of our citizens we will succeed.
Respectfully submitted,
Todd Portune
Christian Sigman
Eric Stuckey
Media contacts
This RESOLUTIONis adopted this 2nd day of October, 2008 for the purpose of:
1) repealing that RESOLUTIONadopted forty years ago on this same day of October
2, in year 1968, which established the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority
[SORTA], and 2) creating a new transit authority, to be named the Greater
Cincinnati Regional Transit Authority, a transit system encompassing multiple Ohio
counties and political subdivisions under authority of sections 506.30 – 506.47 of
the Ohio Revised Code, and further establishing the potential of said transit system
evolving into a multi-state Regional Transit Commission as permitted under section
506.80 – 506.90 of the Ohio Revised Code.
WHEREAS, Greater Cincinnati faces new ozone attainment standards under the
Clean Air Act; and
WHEREAS, from the creation of the combustible engine and the manufacture of the
first automobile it took until 2004 for gasoline to reach two dollars a gallon. In only
four years since the next two dollar increase in the cost of a gallon of gas occurred.
Some analysts predict that yet another two dollars increase per gallon of gasoline
will occur before the end of this year; and
WHEREAS the facts are that the era of cheap gasoline is over; and
WHEREAS, our growth and transportation policies must be based upon as new
reality requiring that we have multiple transportation options available to meet the
needs of area commuters, motorists and recreational travelers alike in our region;
and
______________________
Mark Mallory
Members of Council: