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Sales Tax Defeat

Dear Friends,

On November 6th, the voters of Hamilton County overwhelmingly rejected the sales tax increase that my fellow Commissioners attempted to unilaterally impose. The grassroots coalition that opposed the plan deserves a great deal of credit for overcoming the reportedly more than $1 million that the pro-tax forces spent on their campaign.

I think the voters made the right decision. Quite simply, the plan was too expensive (over 2.5 times more expensive than what was rejected last year) and would have imposed one of the highest overall tax burdens in the State. While a reasonable plan may have stood a chance of passing, the plan that was put before the voters was simply too expensive and too poorly thought out.

Now that the voters have spoken we have some hard work to do. But that’s ok. The easy solution for politicians is always to simply raise taxes and put the burden on the citizens. But the hard work is for government officials to set priorities and think creatively to solve problems. I am hopeful that now that the voters have spoken, we can all work together on some real solutions that both improve public safety and protect the taxpayers.

In addition to addressing the jail space issue, we also have to deal with some serious budget issues in the County. Unfortunately, over the course of the past year the majority on the Commission has refused to enact budget cuts that I recommended. Instead, they had planned to take $13 million from the sales tax and use it to replenish the general fund reserves. Now that the tax has failed, we need to take some tough steps to get the general fund back on sound footing.

As I outlined in last week's Commission meeting, here’s a few of the steps that we need to take right now:

• The first priority has to be to make the necessary cuts in the County budget so that we can either continue to house overflow prisoners in Butler County or fund alternatives that reduce or eliminate the need for these spaces while at the same time stabilizing the general fund. Making budget cuts is never easy, but if we believe that public safety is really a priority we will make the cuts we need to make sure that we still have these spots available. Right now we are renting space in Butler County for $55 (which, by the way, is much cheaper than the combined operating and capital costs in the proposal that was defeated). Legislation is pending in the Ohio legislature that will allow us to lease space in Campbell County, Kentucky which is available for $44 a day. You may have heard the threats that some are making to release prisoners. Here’s the reality-- it’s a question of priorities. I am introducing cuts that will allow us to continue to ensure that we have the space we need. It will be up to the full Board to determine whether public safety really is a priority and if they want to maintain these spaces or whether they want to spend money on other less important items.

• The simplest and most cost-effective thing we can do to free up more jail space is to end the practice of housing federal prisoners in our County jail. We have no obligation to house these prisoners for the federal government, and the federal government has made clear that if these prisoners are not housed here, they will be placed in a neighboring jurisdiction. Moreover, we lose money on these prisoners: we get reimbursed only $44 per day from the federal government, while we are paying $55 a day to rent spaces in Butler County. Last September, the full Board voted down the legislation I introduced to end the practice. I intend to introduce the legislation again next week. Let’s hope, this time, they listen to the voters and join me in putting an end to the practice.

• Use the Convention Center surplus for public safety needs:
There is a surplus in the fund that was created to renovate the convention center that is projected to amount to approximately $84 million over the life of the convention center bonds. Last year, the majority on the Commission, over my objection, voted to use the $2.3 million generated in 2007 to fund the Cincinnati Film Commission, the Northern Cincinnati Conventions and Visitors Bureau and additional marketing for downtown. State Representative Tom Brinkman with my support and the support of Councilmember Chris Monzel proposed state legislation to allow us to use these excess funds for jail expansion and renovation. Unfortunately, the majority on the Board refused to support the legislation and without the support of the County, such legislation stands little chance of passage in Columbus. Now that the sales tax is off the table, I intend again to ask the majority on the Commission to support this proposal.

• Process Reforms and Alternative Sanctions:
A number of the opponents of the tax increase pointed out that we could reduce the need for additional jail space simply by instituting reforms in the manner in which we process prisoners. For example, in just four years the number of people in jail awaiting trial increased from 37% to 81%. We need to seriously explore the idea of a night court that would allow us to try minor nonviolent offenders more quickly, thereby freeing up additional space. In addition, in February, I introduced a proposal that the full Commission has refused to act upon that would have opened up 245 jail spaces by punishing people in a variety of alternative settings. If this is implemented together with ending the housing of federal spaces, we will have enough space available to replace virtually all of the space we are currently renting from Butler County. Now that the election is over, there are no excuses for not moving forward with these types of low-cost, high impact solutions.

• County Budget Reform:
Because of some of the decisions that were made over the past year and because of some factors that are beyond our control, 2008 is going to be a tough budget year. Budgets are about setting priorities and we haven’t always done a good job of that in Hamilton County. I’ve been pouring through the County budget, line by line, and the budget I will introduce will contain some very substantive reforms and significant cost savings. It won’t be easy. Making budget cuts never is. But it is critical now more than ever, that we re-prioritize spending and make sure that we have our spending priorities in order.

The election is over. Now is the time for County elected officials to listen to the people and work together to address our challenges within our existing resources. As always, I welcome your input and thoughts.

---Pat

• Hamilton County voters overwhelmingly rejected the sales tax increase imposed by the Commission majority 56% - 44%.
• The tax that the Board majority attempted to impose was more than $450 million more expensive than what the voters previously rejected.
• The new proposed Jail space would have only added 384 more net jail spaces, at a cost of nearly $110,000.00 per jail bed.
• Hamilton County Taxpayers already pay the second highest county property taxes of 88 counties in Ohio.
• If the sales tax had passed we would have also had the highest sales tax in the region.
• Of the approximately $777 million generated by this tax increase, only $190 million actually goes to building jail space.
• The sales tax increase would have put in place new programs costing tens of millions of dollars a year that would never have gone away in 15 years when the tax would have purportedly end.