[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