HamCo's Budget Woes

By now, we all know the story: the County faces a $31 million shortfall in 2009. The Board of Commissioners has determined, apparently, that the only way to fix this is to cut spending. But that seems to be looking at problem from only one of two possible angles. Why aren't we having a discussion about increasing revenue?

There are two ways to generate a significant amount of revenue for the County's general fund. First, the Board could raise the sales tax. Popular? No, of course not. But perhaps better than laying off hundreds of our neighbors. Second, the board could eliminate the "property tax rebate."

What is the property tax rebate? It's a commitment made to voters in 1996 that if a sales tax increase to build the new stadia were approved, 30% of the funds from the increase would be returned in the form of a property tax rebate. Commissioner Pepper has made it clear that we're not allowed even to discuss the rollback of the rebate. But other than to point out that the promise was made, he doesn't really say why. Presently, we redistribute about $19 million in sales tax revenue to property owners.

Let's look at the promise. It was made over 12 years ago. Bill Clinton was President. The economy was great. Local governments had tons of money to spend. No one on the Board then remains on the Board now (in fact, at least one was voted off because of the stadium deal). Many residents of HamCo now weren't residents then (like me). Many who were residents then have moved away. How long does a promise (one that was not written into the referendum and with no legal backing behind it) bind a county? All the way to fiscal insolvency?

We are no longer in a position to redistribute wealth through the "property tax rebate." It's time to seriously think through these issues, even if the solutions are politically unpopular in the short term.

What's the right answer?

• A. Slash $31 million from the budget, closing Queensgate (leaving the Sheriff, rather than our judges, to decide which accused individuals remain in jail pending trial) and laying off hundreds of our friends, relatives, and neighbors?
• B. Raise the sales tax rate?
• C. Roll back the property tax rebate?
• D. Secede from the Union. Start printing money like it's Mardi Gras!

I'm curious as to whether I'm the only person who thinks it's insane for our local leaders to bind themselves to a commitment made nearly a decade-and-a-half ago.

We Are The Champions

The UC Bearcats--that's right, the UC football Bearcats--are the champions of the Big East Conference.

Today's win by Pitt over WVU means that UC would win any tiebreaker, should it lose tomorrow's game with Syracuse at Nippert. Of course, Coach Kelly insists that his team will be ready to play tomorrow.

Who's going to Nippert tomorrow? And who will follow the Bearcats to their bowl game (probably Orange but perhaps Sugar) on January 1, 2009?

In Thanksgiving

I am thankful I am a gay man living in this time . . . . .

Gobble, Gobble!!!

Happy Thanksgiving Day!!

Support the Underdog--Give to the Freestore Foodbank!

Cincinnatians love underdogs. (And hot dogs. But that's another post.) Our favorite historical Reds and Bengals teams are teams that overachieved. Neither UC nor Xavier spend nearly as much on their athletics departments as do bigger schools, and that's why we get so excited when they're able to compete with the Big Dogs.

Our love of the underdog is another reason to support the Freestore Foodbank this season. I'm not sure if you've given this much thought, but when the Foodbank predicts "record need," it's not because the stereotypical homeless person is going back for seconds. It's because record numbers of people--the real underdogs of life, if only temporarily--need help.

Some of the people who need help this year are probably in your neighborhood. They're the couple with kids who was struggling to just get by, but is now in dire straits since one of the parents lost his or her job. It's the single mom or dad who lost one of his two or three part-time jobs. It's the senior citizen down the street who's desperately trying to avoid having to make a choice between buying groceries and filling prescriptions. Most of these people aren't chronically poor or low-income, but are caught in the harsh vice of these tough economic times. They'll go--reluctantly--to the Foodbank to get through the next few months, and then get back on their feet. These same folks, a year or two from now, will be generous donors to the Foodbank once they're able.

Your love of the underdog should also inspire you to help the Cincinnati Blog in its efforts to do well in the Battle of the Blogs. Hard to believe, given this stature Griff earned for this blog, but we really are the underdogs. Look at our competition, most of which has oodles of donors at its disposal: The Dean requires registration to comment on his ramblings, so he's got the email addresses of everyone who's ever commented at the Beacon, and he's using them. Alex Triantafilou, in addition to being of counsel to one of Cincinnati's largest firms, has the HamCo GOP email list at his disposal--and he's purportedly using it. David Pepper (besides receiving all those royalties from the sale of Dr Pepper*) is an associate at one of America's fifty largest law firms. And now we're in the hole--someone just added $5,000 to Pepper's tally! (Great work, Commissioner!!!) Here at the Cincinnati blog, we don't require registration for comments and we're decidedly middle class.

So click on this link to help two groups of underdogs: people who really, really need and deserve your help this season, and we humble Cincinnati bloggers.

And let me add this to my fellow lawyers: if you're at a firm where you're getting a bonus this year, you need to spend some of that money to reduce your tax liability. What's better than a charitable contribution to the Freestore Foodbank? If you're a solo practitioner or a small-firm attorney who's settling a case or collecting fees in these final six weeks of the year, same thing--got to burn some of that cash, or you're gonna get hosed on April 15th. So get yourself a deduction: you know you want to. (Check with your accountant, of course. I'm not a tax lawyer and don't pretend to be one.)

Once more: the Freestore Foodbank.

*Really. It's a law. Anyone with the last name "Pepper" automatically gets five cents for every can of Dr. Pepper sold.

A Little Bluer: Coates Defeats Groppe

The Hamilton County Board of Elections has finally finished the official vote count. In the race for Recorder, the Election Day tally had Republican incumbent Rebecca Groppe ahead by about 3,000 votes. But no media outlet ever officially called the race, as over 20,000 ballots (provisionals and last minute absentees) were yet to be counted. That meant that Democratic challenger Wayne Coates was very much still in the race.

Tonight, we know the outcome: Wayne Coates has been elected County Recorder, winning 50.34% of the votes cast in that race (a margin of about 2,500 votes). The Clerk's race also tightened, with Republican Patricia Clancy winning with 50.51% of the votes over Democrat Martha Good (a margin of 3,800 votes). I don't know enough election law to know whether either of these results triggers recounts, or the ability of candidates to request such recounts.

By all accounts, Ms. Groppe served the residents of this County faithfully while in office, and we wish her well. Wayne Coates brings a great deal of experience as a public servant to the post, and will no doubt bring fresh ideas. He'll need to, given the County's budget troubles. Coates is currently bailiff to HamCo Municipal Court Judge Ted Berry.

Where's the Beef Fraud?

Turns out "voter fraud" wasn't much more than concern trolling. (Enquirer article here.) Over 400,000 ballots cast, and only four raise possible issues?

While we're on the topic: let's give the HamCo Board of Elections a round of applause for running a fairly problem-free election. Other than some confusion early on Election Day regarding the ID requirement (some poll workers thought a valid driver's had to have an address that matched the poll book--that's not true, and the BoE spent over an hour on this point alone in training, and then called all the polling places once it became evident that some folks still didn't get it), we had a really clean, error-free election.

Time to gear up for City Council 2009. Anyone want to declare his or her candidacy in the comments?