Council Conservatives Need to Learn Math

Jane Prendergast of the Enquirer reports about the rhetoric on the budget coming from the 5 conservatives on Cincinnati City Council and they just don't understand math or logic, but logic and math don't get you votes.

None of them have put forth a way to cut the $33 million deficit for 2012. None of those on council last year in this group put forth a way to actually balance the budget.  They have ideas, but they can't seem to bother naming the cuts needed to reach the required $33 million.

Instead, as Jane lists out, each of the 'fiscal five' have pet projects each wants to cut or have hollow ideas that have finite dollar values to be considered serious..  None of this ideas add up to anything close to balancing the budget because none do anything to cut the Police Department.

This is where the math comes in. The same 5 refuse to have property owners pay 10 dollars per 100,000 more to take the $33 Million down to $29 Million. So, they cut revenues, again, for the property owners who want the police coverage, which the 5 won't cut along with the revenue cuts. If you subtract from revenues you need to subtract from expenses.  Subtracting from revenues doesn't increase revenues.  That's magical math normally reserved for princes and frogs, but I guess for conservatives, property owners are like neo-feudal lords that actually believe in magic that can turn tax cuts into instant money to pay for more cops than we actually need.  Luther would be proud, I suppose.

Of the pet projects, they one with elements on the table that could put a dent in the deficit would be Chris Bortz's thoughts, but his ideas rely on an unproven assumptions: that outsourcing will save money. He also wants to cut programs that don't cost much, but many would find go along way to help the police govern more effectively in the long run, like the Citizen's Compliant Authority.

The rest of the council members either have hot button issues that add up to service cuts that don't come anywhere near $33 million or they rely on the pie in the sky word "merger", which does nothing now. Mergers are ideas to dangle in front of the ignorant voter, but the semi-smart voter knows none of the merger ideas can be worked out in time before council is required by the Charter to pass a 2012 budget. City/County merger ideas are actually good thoughts, but they are long term issues that need much thought and discussion, something that takes time and focus, which isn't being started in an election year, just talking about. Mergers are not something you can use to plug short term budget deficits. That requires actual numbers.

So, I put forth the challenge to all 5 conservatives on council. If they are serious about governing, they do have the majority after all, then they need to create a budget cutting plan that adds up to $33 million in savings. This would be a real budget, not a pretend one. Pretending includes using "mergers" ideas or ticket amnesty. Anyone who does not have a concrete set of numbers that add up to $33 million is lying when they say they have a budget plan.

The only thing all 5 seem to be willing to do is what ever the FOP wants. None of them will say a word about cutting a dime from anything the FOP says it needs, but will cut they rest of the city's budget (CFD not included). Ghiz is the worst and she knows her hypocrisy and doesn't care. Her quote from the article is priceless:

"I don't care about fair," Councilwoman Leslie Ghiz said.

Supporting the FOP gets her votes. Governing the city and making cuts that are best for all workers and citizens doesn't get her votes. It is crass politics, but it is what she does.

Covedale Isn't a Seperate Neighborhood

I don't know what is wrong with being part of West Price Hill, but some residents wish to be recognised as a separate neighborhood called Covedale.  They've been denied that recognition by the City Manager.  Except for the ever variable property value game, I don't see any value in the distinction between West Price Hill and Covedale.  I don't know where the Covedale name stems from, but adding it for cosmetic reasons isn't worth the expense to the city.  Furthermore, the implications from a Community Council perspective is more troubling.

Data Comparisons Can Due Wonders

I don't know how long it would have taken, but some Cincinnati City Official found out that 400+ City of Cincinnati Employees have outstanding parking tickets to the City.  I can personally attest that a comparison like this wouldn't take long.  Say 15 minutes if you have two lists with compatible indexes.  A little longer if reformatting would be involved, but any database software and/or a spreadsheet tool would due.  Why wasn't this done before?  Why just now?  I think it would be a good idea for any government to compare any list of individuals who owe it money to those who are employees by such government. There may be laws against this in some jurisdictions, but if there are, they should be repealed immediately.

No Free Lunch for Cops

The People of Cincinnati should not be subsidizing private money making efforts of police officers. 100% of the costs of administering the off-duty private details should be paid by either the police or the private groups that are their customers. I find it amazing that most of the conservatives on council, according to the Enquirer, want the city to subsidize the private business interests of Cincinnati Police officers.

Council Member Leslie Ghiz made a proposal to only charge police officers a much smaller flat fee for their private business enterprize's costs. This smaller fee would bar far not pay for the expenses incurred to administer the enterprise and Ghiz is seeking to make up the budget by cutting the Mayor's office and the Office of Enviornmental Quality by #100,000. Additionally she wants to cut the HEALTH DEPARTMENT by $200,000. Yes, it appears Ghiz favors police officers making money for themselves, (outside of their full time job to serve the pubic) over the health of the citizens of Cincinnati. I know she's a shill for the FOP, but I think this is taking things a bit too far. It was also really disappointing to see Chris Bortz and Wayne Lippert supporting Ghiz's plan to subsidize the police's private business. I don't see how this can be seen as anything other than a political ploy for an FOP endorsement. Winburn played it down the middle, and for some unknown reason abstained. Is he church a customer of the off-duty police enterprise?

Council Member Amy Murray Discovers Fire, Again.

I don't know what book of clichés Council Member Amy Murray dug this media stunt from, but man it is old. Having the story on WVXU is foolish for two reasons. First it is foolish the local NPR affiliate WVXU fell for this stunt. There are surely better news stories in Cincinnati. The second is that the average listener/reader of WVXU is going to trend more educated, and more likely to see this as a hollow stunt. The NPR audience would also be more concerned about how much more her plan would cost. She's a Republican and won't raise taxes, so how many jobs will she cut to make this happen? PayGo, Amy, Paygo. If she gets this story on local TV news, then Suburbanites will eat this up. Too bad they can't vote for her.

If Republicans Want to Help Voters, Then Include Auto Registratrion

Two local Republicans are pushing a bill to reduce the number of voters, yet claim this will prevent voter fraud. Alex Triantafilou, chairman of the Hamilton County Republican Party and chair of the Hamilton County Board of Elections thinks by making it more difficult to vote, it protects the right to vote. His logic escapes me and anyone else looking to increase voter turnout.

If Republicans want to make assure their identity, but also are for more people voting, then there two things they can do:

1. Investigate the 14% voter fraud in Indian Hill (I am half kidding on this.)
2. If they require a state ID to vote, make it law that anyone with a valid State ID is then automatically registered to vote and you stay registered to vote as long as your ID is valid. Why would they be against this, unless they really don't want more people to vote?

I'm not expecting either because the point of requiring photo ID is to reduce poorer, inner city, and minority voters. In other words, Democratic voters. Denying that is like denying water is wet or that Germans love David Hasselhoff.

Someone at the Enquirer is Pushing an Anti-Downtown Bias, Again

I think someone at the Enquirer needs to buy a map. This article, which is titled: Ham. Co. taxpayers subsidizing downtown parking, talks about how County Commissioners are considering selling parking garages, which are located Downtown. The article also talks about how those Downtown lots are cheaper than many other lots and some of those lots are required to be provided as part of the Stadium leases.

Monzel is quoted as saying they are "subsidizing" these spaces. Something he would say because he wants the cost of everything to go up. Monzel likely loves the headline, but based on quotes I read in the article I don't read him painting this as subsidy of Downtown. Still don't need a map, yet, just maybe they don't need to spin the story so much.  But, hold on a second...

What the writing of the headline (again which read "Ham. Co. taxpayers subsidizing downtown parking") forgets is that DOWNTOWN IS LOCATED IN HAMILTON COUNTY. Downtown is NOT some foreign country. Downtown is NOT in Kentucky. Downtown is WHERE THE HAMILTON COUNTY COMMISSION MEETS. Do the Commission members park in lots that the County owns when they are doing County Business?  I am betting they do.  I wouldn't be surprised to learn they get free parking in county lots.

The headline, whether intentional or not, states that Hamilton County Tax payers are subsidizing Downtown.  The grammar which the editor likely would point to may not have been intended, but I doubt that.  There was no need to state in the headline where the parking lots were located.  The context of the article did that quite clearly.  All you would have to do is drop the word "downtown" and it wouldn't have been a problem. (At least not the headline.)  There is an anti-City and specifically anti-Downtown elements in parts of the County and the headline makes a tax payer in Anderson Township or Montgomery (or even Westwood) more likely draw an unrelated conclusion that would build the anti-Downtown attitude.  Too many non-city and non-urban (in the case of the some parts of Westwood) still will bad mouth Downtown, but we don't need the local media giving them false impressions feeding their hate.

I have repeatedly written about the need for headline writers to be VERY CAREFUL when they are writing.  People far too often only read the headlines and don't pay attention to the grammar subtleties.  Furthermore those who read the article are greatly influenced by the headline.  People might think Monzel bad mouthed Downtown if they read that headline.  I didn't read that in the body of the article, but you could have that impression.  I don't doubt Monzel has a disdain for Downtown, which his votes in the past have shown, but we don't need bias in our headlines.  Save that for the Editorial page.

Also, shouldn't the lead of the article been about parking rates at some county owned lots are going up?  That was buried.  That's odd.

Census Numbers Conflict With Voter Registration

Bill Sloat at the Daily Bellwether is reporting on a key problem with the 2010 Census numbers.  Sloat reports the Adult vs Child population breakdown from the 2010 Census.  The total City of Cincinnati Population listed is 296,943 of which 231,237 are adult, aged 18 or older.  That leaves 65,706 children.

Now, let's compare this to the last few years totals of registered voters:

Year	Registered Voters	%
2010	209,259	90.50%
2009	225,680	97.60%
2008	229,413	99.21%
2007	212,303	91.81%
2005	212,202	91.77%
2004	215,454	93.17%

The % above is based on registered voters divided by the 2010 adult population of 231,237.

So, a few months before the Census time frame (April 1, 2010) we had approximately 98% voter registration. I had no idea we did that well. Similarly, seven months later we had 91% voter registration, a large drop, but it continued the normal drop from a presidential election, yet still very high.

What gives? We obviously don't have that high of a registration rate. We obvioulsy don't have that much voter registration error or fraud, no matter how many Republicans want claim such. We know both points are true because the article points out that similar rates can be seen county wide.  We also know this to be valid if we look at some other municipalities within the County.  As an example take Cheviot, not known as a liberal bastion, which has a 2010 population according to the census of 8,375 with 6,547 adults aged 18 years or more.  The voting registration for Cheviot in November for 2010 was 5,293 or 81%.

So, I'm sure that Republicans are thinking, hmmm, that is 10% lower than Cincinnati, must be something fishy going there.  Well, before you worry about Cincinnati, you might want to take a look at Indian Hill.  The Village of Indian Hill (actually a city) has a 2010 population of 5,785 with adults over age 18 totaling 4,221.  In the November election Indian Hill had a voter registration of 4,797.  If you know your math, and I know you do, that would equal a registration rate of 114%.  Sure, 500 kids could have turned 18 after April 1st, 2010, but before election day and they all could have registered to vote.  I doubt that.

No, I'm not claiming voter fraud is occurring en masse in Indian Hill, nor am I saying our Board of Election is careless. Instead I suggest the census numbers are wrong. There is little doubt that the entire county was undercounted.

FOP Contract: The Song Remains The Same

The City Manager and FOP leadership have reached a deal to extend the current contract through the end of 2012, including a pay freeze.  The City Council and the FOP rank and file must approve the extension.

I guess this is the easiest solution. The FOP gets to keep its rules that make it nearly impossible to fire bad cops, and other structural benefits. The City gets the pay freeze, which will take some future pressure off the budget, and marginally reduce the future need for police layoffs or other consessions.

This in no way solves the budget problem that will loom for the City at the end of this year for 2012, but it makes it a little better.

CPD Reminds Me Of Egyptian Politics

We appear to have chaos in city government all over the impending retirement of Police Chief Tom Streicher, who leaves his position in a month. The city has been conducting a national search for going on for a new chief, but it has been suspended, because City Council is considering a police merger with or partial outsourcing to the Hamilton County Sheriff's department.

So now we have various factions fighting over what happens. The FOP is fighting back against the impending change and fear the Hamilton County Sheriff, who for the lack of a better analogy fits the "Muslim Brotherhood" roll, but his operations are cheaper and more flexible to manage.

Thankfully we don't have any actual violence in the streets, but we lack much protest either way.

We need a City police department. The Cincinnati Police Department should remain a viable organization. Giving up on it means the City's safety will be at the whims of a different elected official with too many constituents who don't care much for the crime in Cincinnati, as long as it stays in the City. We have a horrible contract with the FOP, however and that is costing us far more than it should. Sounds like we have a great city council campaign issue to discuss, but one that will be twisted into a litmus test by the usual players.

The Entire County Should Unify In Telling Mike Brown to Shove It.

There are few things that Hamilton County voters can agree on, uniformly, but I am hoping we can all unite in telling Mike Brown "No new scoreboard for you!" Yes, the County must help maintain Paul Brown Stadium, but only what needs to be replaced. The scoreboard works just fine.  If Mike Brown wants luxury, he can pay for it himself. If he doesn't like that deal, then he can pack his bags and move the team.

I am serious. If any Tea Party person is serious about what they say, they should be the FIRST group to support the County playing hard and fast with Mike Brown. We don't need professional football. We do need public services. Brown has become a parasite.  He must pay his own way, and he has the ability to do so and still make himself plenty of money.

A unified front is the only way the public can succeed.  We need every County official on the same page.  We don't need Joe Deters out there shooting his mouth off about contracts, in hopes of currying favor with Brown.  One voice must speak and tell Mike Brown what he is going to get.  That voice must not waver, must not cave into the fear of losing the team.  Instead, that voice should publicly announce what it will pay for and then pay nothing more and "if Brown doesn't like the deal, he can move the team."

A way many people can show their personal displeasure is for current season ticket holders to give them up and buy Reds season tickets instead.  Show Mike Brown how sports teams can work well with the County and get support from the public.  Let us use the power of the purse to force Brown to either comply or just move.  I think local bars would do better sales with 65,000 more fans going to their neighborhood bar on Sundays to watch better football on TV, anyway.

Stop buying Bengals jerseys and hats and anything that will make Brown any profit.  Show him that the Customer is what matters.  Tell him to shove it.  If he wants your business, he can beg.

Norwood Republican Candidates Announced

Citizens For a Better Norwood, a pro Norwood PAC, list Norwood's Republican candidates for City offices for the 2011 elections. They report that as soon as the Democratic endorsements are announced, they will be published.

I don't know anything about Norwood politics or even it's form of government, but I can glean from this listing that they have a combination of at-large and district representation. It is more interesting that they have other city wide offices other than Mayor. Those talking about changing Cincinnati City government structure should look how there's works. Norwood is not known as having a history of good government, so I hope those looks at Norwood are skeptical. Why Norwood still exists is another mystery. They should have been annexed by the City long ago.

When, Where, and How Did Monzel and Hartmann Discuss Dismissal?

So, let me get this straight. Republicans Greg Hartmann and Chris Monzel held a vote without notice to fire Hamilton County Administrator Patrick Thompson.

Did they use smoke signals to plan this out? Did they send carrier pigeon messages back and forth scheming such a plot?

I'd like to know what kind of meetings they had on this topic. When did they have them? Where did they have them? Did they give fellow commissioner Todd Portune ample or at least any notice they were planning on meeting to discuss staffing choices? It is my understanding that staffing decisions can avoid sunshine laws by holding such discussions in executive session. The question is, can you have an executive session without informing all of the members of the commission about such a meeting?

Few will question the Republicans, they get to do what they want and ignore the laws they don't like.

CityBeat's Kevin Osborne has more, especially the categorical comment from Monzel that Brad Beckett will NOT get Thompson's job. The county is safer and less scum like without even the potential of someone like Beckett having such a job hanging over our heads. I really hope Kevin got that quote on tape. I don't trust Monzel to do the right thing, especially in light of the secret planning and/or meeting with Hartmann. Expect more shady dealing from the Terrible Two on Commission.

Search For Cincinnati Police Chief Has Begun

The Cincinnati City Manager, Milton Dohoney, has begun the search for a new police chief. There are many requirements listed in the article from the job posting, but there are a few other key requirements I would like to add:

• Don't currently or have ever worked for the Cincinnati Police Department, or for that matter any police force in the metro area.  We need some new blood with an outside perspective.
• Be open minded. Be willing to protect the citizens from bad police officers or poor actions.
• Don't be a big bigot.
• Don't be a white guy. (Yep, I went there.  We need a woman or a minority to help break the culture clash we have where much of the police force clashes with much of the public.)

None of these requirements are likely legal, so it is a good thing I am not the person doing the hiring. We need change in the long term mindset of our police department and that begins with the police chief. We need someone from outside the department at a minimum. If we hire from within, we will be doomed to more of the same.

Mayor Mark Mallory To Be on TV; Ghiz is Pissed

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory reportedly will be featured in the reality TV show 'Undercover Boss', where he goes to work along side city workers, but does so in disguise. The rumor mill indicates that his disguise includes dreadlocks.

This is great. We need all the positive promotion of the City we can get. Hopefully we'll see city workers doing a good job, not asleep on the job. Getting good attention for the city is the job of the Mayor. If he can get a spot on a nation TV show, all the better.

In what sounds like a plot line from an episode of the television show Parks & Recreation, council member Leslie Ghiz is the party pooper. Here's some of what WVXU reported:

"I shouldn't say shocked, because nothing he does shocks me," Ghiz said. "The bottom line is he's nobodies boss, that's the funny part about all this. The only people who answer to him directly are the people who work in his office."

Ghiz says she is working on a motion with at least one other Council Member to find out if any city money was involved and how much employee time was devoted to the project.

She may also ask the show's producers in her words, "to cease and desist" from airing the mayor's episode.

I'm at a loss on why Ghiz is not talking about another TV show airing where Four Cincinnati Police officers are on the job during the filming. Were police department funds used to film that television program? If that question is not included in the motion to investigate the Mayor mentioned in the article, then there would be few in Cincinnati that had earned the title of hypocrite better than Leslie Ghiz and the other mystery council member(s). If you don't want to investigate a pro-police show, but do want to investigate a show showing non-FOP worker, then I think a clear bias and contradiction can be exhibited.

I'd also like to know the legal basis Ghiz would use when she is asking anyone outside her limited purview as a council member to do anything. She's only the boss of her small staff, after all.  I'm no lawyer, but I would say other than asking as private citizen, Ghiz has no authority to send a 'cease and desist' letter on behalf of the City of Cincinnati.  If I was a producer of the show, I'd laugh if I got such a letter from her or any other council member.

I'll speculate on the "real" reason Leslie Ghiz is pissed about the 'Undercover Boss' episode featuring the Mayor. I would guess jealously. Could it be that someone still hasn't gotten over the rejection from the reality TV show 'Bridezillas'? You can't already be married and appear on that show. I thought that was obvious...

Husted's First Act of Partisanship as Secretary of State

In lightning speed Republican Secretary of State John Husted overturned his predecessor's ruling without much time to review the issues. It is sad to see that he is more concerned about getting a Republican in office than seeing the votes of people counted. It has been a sad history for Republican officials who tend to care more about the candidate's situation, than the voter's rights, unless they are Republican voters or Democratic candidates.

This action puts the Hamilton County Board of Election in a bind and does nothing to solve the situation.  It shows inexperience and partisanship played a bigger role in Husted's act than the desire to find a resolution that complies with both justice for the voters and with the order of a Federal Judge.  We can expect Four years of Republican favor in our election.  Too many blows to fair elections will crumble our Democracy.

City Council Approves Budget, Ghiz Throws a Rock in a Glass House

The Cincinnati City Council finally approved a budget for 2011. The deal nearly fell apart after Cecil Thomas and Charlie Winburn temporarily pulled their support over curtailing the Marijuana ordinance. I'm not actually clear what the budget could do to actually repeal the ordinance. I am inferring that they cut the budget for enforcement of the law, but did not overturn the law. The details of the whole plan are quiet sketchy and clearly Thomas and Winburn didn't understand it and only relented after some lobbying from the Mayor. If they did actually repeal the Marijuana ordinance, that's the one good thing to come from this mess.

Leslie Ghiz spewed a gem

"'There are five members of council who won't part with a thing,' she said."

by "thing" I presume she means the non-public safety workers. Trash Collectors must be things in her world. Things can be dumped in the hands of the private sector to be consumed and destroyed. Cops and Fire Fighters are not things in her world. They are gods, that must be appeased all costs. They are not be touched. Not one god can lose their job. That would bring an end to all that is holy. By holy in this case I mean endorsements and conservative voter support, which for some reason isn't considered sacrilegious, even in the slightest. Leslie shouldn't complain about not cutting 'a thing' when there was massive chunk of the budget she refused to cut, even though the evidence shows they should be. I guess she has the "do what I say, not what I do" part of being a mother down pat.

City Council Found a Way to Punt, AGAIN!

Call it election year gaming,call it gutless, but after basically no one on Council could agree on an honest budget, we got a budget that repeats last year's short term thinking. We punt.

Terrible idea.

In other words we got a big pile of steamy poop.

Politics rules again. Fear of the FOP and Fire Fighter's unions ruled, again. We had multiple council members willing to fire all of the garbage collectors, but not touch the CPD or CFD staff levels at all. That is not honest, that is appeasement to special interest. Refusing to raise fees for trash collection because you want to push through an ideological concept, isn't responsible governance, it a political ploy.

A handful of social service cuts (Pools, school nurses) and a cut to Police overtime, which a couple of years ago wasn't even used, and then the city raids other funds for a ONE TIME FIX.

What that means is unless money falls from the sky, we will be right back where we are this time next year.

We are unfortunately going to get 10 months full of bullshit and hollow political stunts where Ghiz and Winburn will promise the moon and the stars, then in the case of Ghiz put forth no plan and in the case of Winburn be the person who made the steamy pile of poop we got this year, happen again.

Monzel ends his tenure as a City Council member without contributing anything to the City.

As for the rest of council, I am disappointed. The only one making a strong case was Laure Quinlivan. She stood up to the FOP and Fire Fighter's union, pushing both union's leaders to get ejected from Council Committee meeting for disruption. Her ideas were good, but I think her lack of political experience showed in her in ability to muster public support for her plan to cut the excess police staff, something we should do.

There are now clear issues for candidates to run on for election next year. The problem is that few candidates will have the guts to discuss those issues honestly and specifically.

If anyone is paying attention, they might spend some time learning about the candidates and voting for people who would not be afraid to actually make real choices and not use hard economic times to push through selective ideological ideas.

A Piece of Coal For City Council

The City will not be getting a nice gift wrapped 2011 budget under the tree this year. Instead we get more bickering, contradictions, and lack of planning. I think it is time for the mayor to come in and knock a few heads together, assuming he still has any pull left. If not, we will headed towards a New Year's Eve showdown.

I still don't understand how Leslie Ghiz can be out to protect police and fire union jobs, but more than willing to crush the unionized trash collection workers with the effort to outsource trash collection. I can understand how she might believe ONLY police and fire functions should be provided by the government, a position held by extreme right wing politician, but why the hypocrisy in support for only some union jobs? If she is wiling to outsource part of city services, why not outsource it all? Why have a government at all? (Yes, I am asking rhetorical questions.)

Ghiz and others on council are using the budget crisis as cover to push their goal of outsourcing many government run public services. This has been a long standing political point of many Republicans, and trying to force it through now is far more distasteful then trying to offload the patrol function of the police on the Sheriff. At least the plan to outsource police patrols was vetted with the Hamilton County Sheriff and current police would have good opportunity to keep a job. No plan would exist with the outsourcing of trash collection.

The Enquirer Editorial Board is not pleased with the city council's lack of progress.

What a Fucking Circus, What a Fucking Mess

I am not sure if I have ever seen the Cincinnati City Council be more like a three ring circus, but Tuesday's antics rank up there with the most pathetic in my memory.

Today we don't have any better action.

Where were all of these new plans six months ago?

I have to just ask everyone on Council to please just cut the crap and layoff the Police and Fire Department staff that have been called for in the City Manager's plan. No more false promises,  no more gimmicks, no more pie in the sky dreams.

Gutting all of the rest of the City Services will not erase the city's problems, instead they will get worse. Protecting specific voting blocks(FOP Boosters) is not going to win anyone more votes. None of the other plans are thought out enough to actually work. We are heading into a grandstanding zone when there are about 9 days to get this done. Some of these plans have ideas worth exploring, but that should have been started last December when the new Council began it's current term. We now will face an election year with every candidate promising magic beans in every pot. I'd like some truth and honesty from the current council. There is some there, but not 5 or 6 votes worth.

The worst idea I heard, was the idea to borrow capital funds. Who in the right mind wants to punt layoffs another year? Oh, Monzel was part of that, go figure.

I really wish ego wasn't such a driving force behind so many on council. If the egos were checked at the chamber door, why might not have all of these last minute half-assed plans that don't even add up.

Side Note: Is Charlie Winburn a 7 year old kid? He seems to like to pretend that math is not real and you can not cut anything or get more revenue yet still make the budget balance. If he is planning on performing an exorcism on the City Budget, I really hope he can get it broadcast on local TV. That would be entertainment.

UPDATE: My reading on the capital funding was wrong, updated above.