[2:47:14] www.Cincinnati-oh.Gov/citicable.

[2:47:15] >> Councilmember Harris: all

[2:47:16] right, we will begin. Welcome

[2:47:18] to budget and finance, I'm your

[2:47:19] committee chair reggie harris,

[2:47:21] joined today by the committee

[2:47:23] vice chair councilmember

[2:47:24] cramerding, we have

[2:47:26] councilmember anna albi,

[2:47:27] councilmember jeffreys, vice

[2:47:29] mayor kearney with us,

[2:47:30] councilmember owens,

[2:47:31] councilmember johnson,

[2:47:33] councilmember walsh, PRESIDENT

[2:47:35] Pro tem parks. From the

[2:47:37] administration from our budget

[2:47:41] office we have DR. Dudas, from

[2:47:43] finance DR. Dudas and there is

[2:47:45] sore faaborg. We have robert

[2:47:49] neely joined by our new trainee

[2:47:52] deputy clerk jill, I did not get

[2:47:57] a last name. Ocean. And so we

[2:48:00] will welcome jill, joining at a

[2:48:02] very interesting meeting. Okay.

[2:48:04] So we have a lot to accomplish

[2:48:06] in this meeting. We have a

[2:48:09] number of items before us. As

[2:48:14] we do every year. And then once

[2:48:19] we get through these items we

[2:48:22] will come to the three parts of

[2:48:24] our budget. And so we will take

[2:48:29] up and we will pass the city

[2:48:29] manager

[2:48:33] citymanager's recommended budget and

[2:48:37] then take up and pace the mayor

[2:48:38] us amendments to the budget and

[2:48:40] then we'll take up and consider

[2:48:42] the motions proposed by reply

[2:48:43] colleagues which are amendments

[2:48:46] to both of those budgets. And

[2:48:47] then though will leave us with

[2:48:50] the final budget that we will

[2:48:51] then, the law department will do

[2:48:54] a quick 36 hour turn around and

[2:48:55] present a final ordinance that

[2:48:58] has all of those amendments.

[2:48:59] We'll do that in special session

[2:49:02] on wednesday morning and we will

[2:49:03] pass that wednesday and. That

[2:49:07] is the plan.

[2:49:09] we have 7 speakers for public

[2:49:11] comment. One person on zoom, I

[2:49:12] don't know if they have logged

[2:49:15] in yet. We'll start in person.

[2:49:17] You have two minutes when you

[2:49:22] speak and first speaker is kevin

[2:49:27] finn.

[2:49:30] >> thank you very much. My name

[2:49:33] is kevin finn, PRESIDENT Of

[2:49:36] strategic gist to prevent

[2:49:38] homelessness, we coordinate

[2:49:39] services for it's homelessness

[2:49:41] in hamilton county. We have

[2:49:42] been going against national

[2:49:45] trends, nationally from 2017 to

[2:49:49] 2022 there was a 6% increase in

[2:49:51] homelessness and locally we had

[2:49:54] a 16% decrease in people on the

[2:49:56] street, in a shelter, or fleeing

[2:49:59] domestic violence. So, the

[2:50:00] reason why we, this is not

[2:50:02] rocket science, the reason we

[2:50:04] have been able to reduce

[2:50:06] homelessness is we take a

[2:50:07] multilayer approach to

[2:50:09] homelessness prevention. And we

[2:50:10] provide prevention services that

[2:50:14] are not available in all

[2:50:15] communities. There is emergency

[2:50:16] rental assistance available for

[2:50:19] people who have eviction

[2:50:20] notices, shelter diversion for

[2:50:22] people who are already doubled

[2:50:24] up and at risk of entering a

[2:50:26] shelter, and then coming next

[2:50:28] month thanks to you all we have

[2:50:31] the impact award project using

[2:50:33] predictive data analytics. My

[2:50:35] point is in order to reduce

[2:50:36] homelessness we have to have

[2:50:38] multiple layers of homelessness

[2:50:40] prevention services, meanwhile

[2:50:43] the federal government does not

[2:50:44] fund homelessness prevention

[2:50:46] while they are the largest

[2:50:47] funder of homeless services.

[2:50:50] They do not do prevention. This

[2:50:52] is why we need local funding to

[2:50:54] support prevention act

[2:50:55] advertise. Historically the

[2:50:57] city has been one of the largest

[2:51:00] funders of the shelter diversion

[2:51:01] program until two years ago when

[2:51:04] the city stopped funding it.

[2:51:06] The draft budget proposed by the

[2:51:09] city manager very much mirrored

[2:51:10] national trends in that most of

[2:51:13] the funding went to people who

[2:51:15] were already homeless and again

[2:51:17] what we really need is for local

[2:51:19] dollars to go to prevention. So

[2:51:21] I wanted to come here today and

[2:51:23] speak in favor of funding being

[2:51:25] moved to shelter diversion

[2:51:28] because it is a key layer to our

[2:51:30] homelessness prevention system.

[2:51:31] Thank you.

[2:51:32] >> Councilmember Harris: thank

[2:51:36] you. Next speaker is rick

[2:51:38] degree we

[2:51:45] greiwe, I'm sorry that is

[2:51:48] a vowel con innocent vowel

[2:51:50] cluster that will be

[2:51:52] challenging.

[2:51:56] >> [Indiscernible] Thank you for

[2:51:57] the opportunity to speak today.

[2:51:58] On behalf of all of the

[2:52:01] volunteers and now staff that is

[2:52:03] working on america river roots

[2:52:05] I'm here that you vote yes on

[2:52:09] item 54 to allocate additional

[2:52:10] $250,000 to america's river

[2:52:12] roots. We're going to be using

[2:52:13] your money and the money raised

[2:52:15] from sponsors to staff up this

[2:52:17] event is just 16 months away.

[2:52:19] We just hired a executive

[2:52:21] director three weeks ago, hire a

[2:52:23] marketing director next month,

[2:52:25] hire other people to help us

[2:52:27] market and sale all the tickets

[2:52:31] that we have to sell. So this

[2:52:31] ace full blown operation. We

[2:52:33] also need to put deposits down

[2:52:36] for national entertainers, 50%

[2:52:38] down in the next 6 months. We

[2:52:42] also have to reserve riverboats

[2:52:43] coming from 8 different cities.

[2:52:45] So there is a lot to put money

[2:52:47] toward this year and we will use

[2:52:50] your money effectively. Again,

[2:52:52] this is projected to have a

[2:52:53] hundred million dollar plus

[2:52:54] impact on the community. We're

[2:52:57] going to fill the hotels in a

[2:52:58] year when the convention center

[2:53:01] is empty because it is closed.

[2:53:04] A year when we want to build our

[2:53:06] exciting tourism brand which is

[2:53:07] getting better each year and we

[2:53:09] have lots of plans to not only

[2:53:13] bringing people here for the

[2:53:14] event to extend their take with

[2:53:17] tours to the freedom trail,

[2:53:18] kentucky bur bone train and

[2:53:19] others. We want too give

[2:53:22] worldwide media ya' impressions,

[2:53:25] it is the kick off event for

[2:53:26] america's 250th and river

[2:53:29] culture, the roots of music,

[2:53:31] question seen and culture. So

[2:53:33] we're excited to bring this

[2:53:34] event to.

[2:53:35] Cincinnati and america and we

[2:53:37] look forward to thank you for

[2:53:39] your support.

[2:53:40] >> Councilmember Harris: thank

[2:53:45] you. Our next speakers is peg,

[2:53:49] welcome.

[2:53:51] >> good afternoon, I just wanted

[2:53:53] to come before you briefly to

[2:53:56] say thank you and speak in

[2:53:59] support of item number 54 on

[2:54:01] your agenda. As I said last

[2:54:04] week bethany house is so

[2:54:05] grateful to the city manager, to

[2:54:07] the mayor u and to all of you

[2:54:10] for the support for our full

[2:54:11] continuum of services to

[2:54:15] homeless families. As you know,

[2:54:22] more than 2800 families call the

[2:54:23] homeless hotline each month

[2:54:25] looking for help. Not all of

[2:54:29] them need the full blown help,

[2:54:31] kevin spoke to that earlier.

[2:54:33] But many of them are already

[2:54:36] homeless, living in their cars,

[2:54:39] having to move on from friends

[2:54:41] or family, even now we're

[2:54:43] finding people living in storage

[2:54:46] units. So we do appreciate this

[2:54:50] help for shell at the. Until we

[2:54:53] can scale and see the results of

[2:54:55] our prevention work, which we

[2:54:56] very much support and

[2:54:58] participate in, we are still

[2:55:01] going to need emergency shelter.

[2:55:04] So, I want to also thank you for

[2:55:06] funding our partners the shelter

[2:55:08] diversion work with strategies

[2:55:11] to end homelessness, the

[2:55:14] landlord incentives and the

[2:55:16] eviction prevention rental

[2:55:18] assistance money for st. Vincent

[2:55:21] de paul. We'll continue to work

[2:55:23] with you and for you to serve

[2:55:25] the families of the city, 81% of

[2:55:29] the families that we serve do

[2:55:31] come from their previous

[2:55:32] residence in the city. And we

[2:55:38] urge your passage of item 54,

[2:55:39] thank you.

[2:55:40] >> Councilmember Harris: thank

[2:55:44] you. Our next speaker is john

[2:55:51] williams. Welcome.

[2:55:55] >> good afternoon, I'm here also

[2:55:58] to ask to increase the support

[2:56:00] for river roots. I think that

[2:56:02] this event is going to be a

[2:56:04] signature event that the city

[2:56:06] needs to be behind. Yesterday I

[2:56:08] had the opportunity to go out to

[2:56:10] the heritage center out in

[2:56:12] sharonville. There was an event

[2:56:14] put on by crystal kendrick our

[2:56:18] root to freedom. And I had a

[2:56:20] chance to actually promote river

[2:56:21] roots and explain to folks what

[2:56:24] it is all about and what took me

[2:56:26] was that there was a very

[2:56:28] diverse rout crowd out there and

[2:56:31] whether it was for more

[2:56:33] information about what role the

[2:56:35] river played in freedom or

[2:56:37] whether it was bringing tall

[2:56:39] stacks back, there was a broad

[2:56:41] support for it. So I'm here to

[2:56:42] tell you that although it is in

[2:56:45] the a cnn survey but so far at

[2:56:46] least a hundred people I talked

[2:56:48] to are supportive of this. And

[2:56:50] so we would ask that council get

[2:56:52] behind this and I believe that

[2:56:55] it is going to be a signature

[2:56:58] event that will kick off the

[2:57:01] birth of our nation and we're in

[2:57:03] the best position at this time

[2:57:07] to actually bring this in. So

[2:57:09] we would ask for increased

[2:57:10] support and we thank you for the

[2:57:12] support at this point. Thank

[2:57:12] you.

[2:57:13] >> Councilmember Harris: thank

[2:57:16] you. Our next speaker is

[2:57:26] jonathan adee.

[2:57:28] >> good afternoon everybody. I

[2:57:31] want to thank council and the

[2:57:33] mayor's office and city

[2:57:35] manager's office for once again

[2:57:36] supporting keep cincinnati

[2:57:37] beautiful as we attempt to make

[2:57:39] cincinnati the cleanest city in

[2:57:42] the midwest. As I indicated

[2:57:44] before, cincinnati can be clean

[2:57:45] without being beautiful but it

[2:57:46] can't be beautiful without being

[2:57:48] clean. I want to thank you for

[2:57:50] supporting the adopt a spot

[2:57:53] motion that is before budget and

[2:57:54] finance. And this represents

[2:57:56] something that's pretty

[2:57:57] different for keep cincinnati

[2:57:59] beautiful, we have been

[2:58:00] tinkering around the margins

[2:58:03] with a million pounds or sore we

[2:58:04] pick up through great american

[2:58:07] clean up events and illegal

[2:58:09] dumping events, but this

[2:58:10] represents a place in a block by

[2:58:12] block message we can clean up

[2:58:13] another million pounds of trash

[2:58:15] from the city on an annual

[2:58:18] basis. As I indicated before,

[2:58:20] this also represents a

[2:58:22] partnership between the city and

[2:58:23] keep cincinnati beautiful and

[2:58:24] the private funder. And this is

[2:58:26] going to represent a new

[2:58:28] business model coming forward

[2:58:31] and other leveraged partners do

[2:58:33] this as well letter whereby

[2:58:37] we're soliciting money we're

[2:58:39] coming with private funders to

[2:58:42] make this a more inclusive kind

[2:58:43] of operation. The work that

[2:58:45] we're doing also around illegal

[2:58:47] dumping which looks like we'll

[2:58:49] get a million pounds of diverted

[2:58:51] dumping material from our

[2:58:52] landfills and from our city

[2:58:55] streets and also along the sides

[2:58:58] of hillsides, is also go going

[2:59:00] to be another public private

[2:59:01] partnership we're looking to

[2:59:02] move forward with. I want to

[2:59:04] thank the city for your support

[2:59:06] and excited to see at least on

[2:59:08] 12 or 13 adopters come in on the

[2:59:11] ground floor for this project.

[2:59:13] >> Mayor Pureval: thank you.

[2:59:13] >>

[2:59:14] >> Councilmember Harris: thank

[2:59:17] you, next speaker is sally

[2:59:23] grimes.

[2:59:25] >> good morning, thank you so

[2:59:26] much for having us all here gain

[2:59:28] today. I'm sally grimes,

[2:59:29] executive director of activities

[2:59:31] beyond the classroom I will be

[2:59:32] short and sweet, I just wanted

[2:59:34] to come and say thank you for

[2:59:36] all of your support of

[2:59:37] activities beyond the classroom

[2:59:40] and I look forward to spent

[2:59:41] spending the next year and

[2:59:42] beyond figuring out how we can

[2:59:45] figure out how to help children

[2:59:46] have more opportunities after

[2:59:48] school, keep them safe, off the

[2:59:49] streets, and I look forward to

[2:59:52] working with each of you on

[2:59:53] that. Thank you.

[2:59:54] >> Councilmember Harris: thank

[2:59:56] you very much. Our next speaker

[3:00:09] is allen woods.

[3:00:13] >> [Indiscernible] It says do

[3:00:16] not touch the red button, missed

[3:00:18] that part a. Pole gees. First

[3:00:19] and foremost I want to thank the

[3:00:20] budget and finance committee for

[3:00:23] allowing us this forum and shout

[3:00:25] on the to the committee CHAIRMAN

[3:00:27] And your entire staff. My alan

[3:00:30] woods, co-founder of mortar of

[3:00:32] we're building businesses and

[3:00:34] transforming cities. For the

[3:00:36] past ten years your ongoing

[3:00:38] financial support and other

[3:00:39] supports that have you given us

[3:00:41] have allowed us to continue to

[3:00:43] grow throughout this community

[3:00:44] creating more opportunities for

[3:00:45] small businesses to get the

[3:00:47] tools and resources that they

[3:00:48] need to grow their enterprises,

[3:00:51] to be able to hire. At we

[3:00:54] continued to grow locally your

[3:00:56] support has enabled us to have

[3:00:58] 439 graduates locally in

[3:00:59] cincinnati of our programs and

[3:01:01] on this thursday we will add

[3:01:03] another 30 to that number, so

[3:01:05] you're all invited to that

[3:01:07] graduation taking place at

[3:01:10] memorial hall. In 2022 our

[3:01:12] graduates provided 6.7 million

[3:01:14] in total revenue to the city.

[3:01:16] So we are super excited to

[3:01:17] continue to give them the tools

[3:01:19] and resources they need to be

[3:01:21] able to do that. Our iron chest

[3:01:23] fund this year will cross the

[3:01:24] threshold of a million dollars

[3:01:26] that we put directly back into

[3:01:28] the hands of our entrepreneurs

[3:01:29] to enable them to hire, to

[3:01:32] increase their spaces that they

[3:01:35] occupy, and to be able to makeup

[3:01:37] dates and infrastructure and

[3:01:40] physical locations. I want to

[3:01:44] encourage you to consider the

[3:01:45] item 51 increasing and that

[3:01:46] mortar has so that at the same

[3:01:48] time we can increase our

[3:01:49] graduates and the impact that we

[3:01:52] have on small businesses here in

[3:01:53] this city. And this fall we

[3:01:56] will be opening our head

[3:01:57] quarters in walnut hills, so I'm

[3:01:59] sub super excited about that

[3:02:02] because that means that we're

[3:02:05] are creating more space and

[3:02:08] opportunities for dreamers and

[3:02:10] doers with more and poo it will

[3:02:12] have a increase impact in our

[3:02:16] community. Thank you very much.

[3:02:17] >> Councilmember Johnson:

[3:02:17] MR. CHAIRMAN?

[3:02:20] Excuse me, what time is

[3:02:22] graduation, you through that out

[3:02:22] there.

[3:02:24] >> I will send that to your

[3:02:27] e-mail. The graduation,

[3:02:29] 5:30 P.M. At memorial hall is

[3:02:33] when the we'll do like an expo

[3:02:35] in the lower level and the

[3:02:37] pitches start upstairs. Thank

[3:02:38] you.

[3:02:38] >> Councilmember Johnson: thank

[3:02:39] you, MR. CHAIRMAN.

[3:02:40] >> Councilmember Harris:

[3:02:42] absolutely. This thursday, this

[3:02:45] thursday, yes. Okay. Last

[3:02:51] speaker is amy thompson.

[3:02:56] Welcome.

[3:02:58] >> good to see you all. Thank

[3:02:59] you for having us here today. I

[3:03:02] just wanted to come out and say

[3:03:04] thank you, amy thompson on

[3:03:06] behalf of cincinnati youth

[3:03:07] collaborative. At the core we

[3:03:09] are a mentoring organization

[3:03:11] focused on helping young people

[3:03:13] graduate on that pathway to

[3:03:14] success. One of the things I

[3:03:17] love is our name, the

[3:03:17] collaborative, and so I'm

[3:03:19] looking at our friends back here

[3:03:21] and we do a lot of this work in

[3:03:23] partnership. So I wanted to say

[3:03:25] thank you again. Have I seen

[3:03:27] him of you involved in our

[3:03:29] programs, whether it is our job

[3:03:30] for america's graduates

[3:03:32] programs, showing up at saturday

[3:03:33] hoops, I'm just thankful to all

[3:03:35] of you. So thank you for the

[3:03:37] strong consideration and really

[3:03:39] appreciate everyone.

[3:03:40] Thank you.

[3:03:43] >> Councilmember Harris: thank

[3:03:46] you. All right, so we are going

[3:03:50] to jump into the agenda. So,

[3:03:55] just to remind everyone. Items

[3:03:57] 1-7 we're going to pass those as

[3:04:00] they are, that is the city

[3:04:02] manager's recommended budget and

[3:04:03] the mayor's recommended budget.

[3:04:04] We will make our amendments and

[3:04:05] motions later, but we're going

[3:04:07] to go through these items and

[3:04:10] pass those items. They are also

[3:04:12] split out as well for some

[3:04:13] recusals that colleagues have to

[3:04:15] do. So we'll take a pause and

[3:04:17] allow that to happen. And then

[3:04:22] we'll jump into the budget.

[3:04:24] We're going to -- there is a

[3:04:26] another item that needs to

[3:04:28] recusal so we'll pause to do

[3:04:30] that so folks can leave and then

[3:04:32] at the end we'll take up our

[3:04:34] council motion that is will a

[3:04:39] mend what we pass and items 1-7.

[3:04:39] Yep?

[3:04:41] All right. DR. Dudas, take it

[3:04:41] away.

[3:04:43] >> DR. Dudas: to the chair, item

[3:04:45] number 1 this is the ordinance

[3:04:49] that would implement the city

[3:04:50] manager's recommended budget for

[3:04:53] fiscal year 2025 for the general

[3:04:56] fund, it is the overwhelming

[3:05:00] majority of the general fund

[3:05:04] expenditures for fiscal year

[3:05:04] 2025. This ordinance also

[3:05:05] includes the various transfers

[3:05:09] that are needed to pay debt

[3:05:10] service, it includes the

[3:05:13] transfer out to the cincinnati

[3:05:14] health district fund for the

[3:05:16] general fund support of the

[3:05:17] health department, it includes

[3:05:21] the transfer out of funds to the

[3:05:26] citizens' job fund for youth

[3:05:27] employment programming. It

[3:05:31] includes the transfer out of

[3:05:33] funds for the emergency

[3:05:35] remediation of rental housing

[3:05:37] defects as part of the buildings

[3:05:39] & inspections special code

[3:05:41] enforcement program. It

[3:05:45] includes amending the municipal

[3:05:49] code for wage increases for non

[3:05:51] represented employees and it

[3:05:55] includes the fiscal year 2025

[3:05:57] permit and fee schedule for the

[3:06:01] department of buildings &

[3:06:03] inspections.

[3:06:04] >> Councilmember Harris: without

[3:06:11] objection we'll move item number 1 for passage.

[3:06:11] >> DR. Dudas: item number 3 is

[3:06:15] the remaining portion of the

[3:06:18] expenditures for the fiscal year

[3:06:20] 2025 general fund operating

[3:06:23] budget as proposed by the city

[3:06:26] manager. This would provide 350 --

[3:06:27] >> Councilmember Harris: can we

[3:06:32] hold for one moment.

[3:07:01] [Indiscernible]

[3:07:03] >> DR. Dudas: to the chair, this

[3:07:06] is part 2 of the general fund

[3:07:07] operating budget ordinance that

[3:07:11] would implement the city

[3:07:11] manager's recommended budget.

[3:07:13] This is the remaining $350,000

[3:07:15] which is for leveraged support

[3:07:15] for the african-american chamber

[3:07:18] of commerce.

[3:07:19] >> Councilmember Harris: great w

[3:07:20] out objection we'll move item

[3:07:34] number 2 for passage.

[3:07:35] >> DR. Dudas: item number 3 is

[3:07:39] the fiscal year 2025 restricted

[3:07:40] funds operating budget so this

[3:07:43] would implement the city

[3:07:45] manager's recommended restricted

[3:07:46] funds budget for the principle

[3:07:47] restricted funds. This also

[3:07:50] includes the various transfers

[3:07:53] out required for debt service

[3:07:54] payments. The requirements of

[3:07:57] transfers for various reserve

[3:08:00] accounts, and it includes the

[3:08:03] annual payment for the wex

[3:08:07] garage, it now includes the

[3:08:09] related payment for the

[3:08:12] transient occupancy tax for the

[3:08:14] convention center project. And

[3:08:17] it also accepts the various

[3:08:19] formula grants that are provided

[3:08:24] for streetcar operations.

[3:08:24] >> Councilmember Harris: all

[3:08:26] right. Without objection we'll

[3:08:32] move item number 3 for passage.

[3:08:33] >> DR. Dudas: item number 4 is a

[3:08:34] ordinance that would authorizes

[3:08:36] the transfer and return to

[3:08:41] source of $6.150 million. These

[3:08:47] are fiscal year appropriations

[3:08:48] that are being transferred to

[3:08:50] the balance sheet reserve

[3:08:52] account deferred appropriations.

[3:08:55] These are for various projects

[3:08:59] and programs that have not been

[3:09:00] completed during fiscal year

[3:09:02] 2024. So this will make those

[3:09:06] funds available beginning JULY

[3:09:09] first of 2024. This would

[3:09:11] include funds for the public

[3:09:13] safety facilities master plan,

[3:09:14] neighborhood historic

[3:09:16] preservation program, violence

[3:09:18] prevention initiatives, the

[3:09:21] fleet electrification, warm up

[3:09:23] cincy, recycling consult, energy

[3:09:25] management software,

[3:09:27] neighborhood catalytic capital

[3:09:29] improvement, nbdip, tax

[3:09:31] abatements study, 7 hills

[3:09:33] neighborhood house, shillito

[3:09:35] building operating expenses, the

[3:09:36] building restoration present

[3:09:38] development activities for king

[3:09:41] records, and the home safe tax

[3:09:41] relief program.

[3:09:42] >> Councilmember Harris: all

[3:09:43] right, without objection we'll

[3:09:47] move item number 4 for passage.

[3:09:49] >> DR. Dudas: to the chair, item

[3:09:53] number 5 is the ordinance for

[3:09:55] the capital budget, specifically

[3:09:56] the general capital budget and

Budget and Finance Committee on 2024-06-03 1:00 PM - EXECUTIVE SESSION Pursuant to Ohio Revised Code 121.22(G)(3)

Agenda

Transcript