Latest / Brian Thomas / Alicia Reese - County prosecutor warns proposed cuts 'catastrophic' for public safety

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Alicia Reese - County prosecutor warns proposed cuts 'catastrophic' for public safety · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: She talks station about eighty forty seven. Ryan Thomas pleased
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  Speaker 1: as he can be, Please as I can be to
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  Speaker 1: Welcome to the fifty five KC Morning Show. Hamlon County
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  Speaker 1: Commissioner Alisha Rees. Alicia, it's great to have you on
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  Speaker 1: the morning show. Thanks for coming on today, Thanks for
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  Speaker 1: having me on. Please do and please to see you
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  Speaker 1: stepping over the plate. Hamilon County Prosecutor Connie Pillage, I understand,
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  Speaker 1: actually showed up in your budget discussion meeting. As I understand,
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  Speaker 1: you and the other county commissioners are currently working on
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  Speaker 1: the county budget, which must be approved by December thirty. First,
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  Speaker 1: if I've got that right, it was noted by local news.
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  Speaker 1: I think The Inquiry and Fox nineteen I know both
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  Speaker 1: reported on it. You said, the first time you've ever
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  Speaker 1: seen a prosecutor come in in person for the presentation,
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  Speaker 1: because Connie Pillage is worried about the budget cut coming
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  Speaker 1: her way.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the first time that since I've been elected
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  Speaker 2: that I've seen the actual prosecutor come in on. In
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  Speaker 2: terms of a budget, they usually send their budget people,
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  Speaker 2: and she came in herself and let me just say,
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  Speaker 2: we've got a budget and you know, for anything, you've
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  Speaker 2: got to get to votes. And I have been fighting
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  Speaker 2: against a lot of things that have been going on
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  Speaker 2: for you know, decades, because people who elected me said, hey,
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  Speaker 2: we want to we want to make sure that the
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  Speaker 2: citizens and the taxpayers come first. And so in this budget,
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  Speaker 2: I'm really want to make sure that we have safety.
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  Speaker 2: We've got to have safety, and we have to have affordability.
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  Speaker 2: So I've been fighting against property high property tax increases,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I've been fighting for the thirty percent that
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  Speaker 2: was promised to the people we went to the Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I've been fighting that.
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  Speaker 1: And thank you from the bottom of my heart, thank
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  Speaker 1: you for being the ones that say, listen, we promised
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  Speaker 1: the voters we would do this. Let's step up and
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  Speaker 1: do what we were what we promised. Thank you very much.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. So it's been a real tough fight because this
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  Speaker 2: time they didn't go with it. My two colleagues passed
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  Speaker 2: a new deal with the Bengals, and the advisor said,
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  Speaker 2: if we pass this particular new deal, it would cut
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  Speaker 2: out the promise to the homeowners. And so that's why
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  Speaker 2: I couldn't go with that deal. I said, let's get
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  Speaker 2: a different deal. Let's try to do what Denver did
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  Speaker 2: get some more private investment, and most of the deals
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  Speaker 2: now for the stadiums have more private investment. But I
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  Speaker 2: was out numbered, and they went with this deal. And
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  Speaker 2: they knew that in this deal, and in my speech
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  Speaker 2: with the experts, the finance people, they knew that the
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  Speaker 2: homeowners would get cut out. And so now in this
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  Speaker 2: budget they only want to give four percent to the
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  Speaker 2: homeowners when they were supposed to get thirty percent. So
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  Speaker 2: the property tax this year will go up. And then
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  Speaker 2: they tried to blame the homeowners, said, well, the homeowners,
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  Speaker 2: they're going to bankrupt the fund. No, the stadium deal
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  Speaker 2: is bankrupt in the fund because we didn't get a
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  Speaker 2: better We didn't get a better deal. So taxes are
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  Speaker 2: going up there. So I've been fighting that. Then they
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  Speaker 2: wanted to add can you imagine this in this budget.
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  Speaker 2: They wanted to balance it by adding a new transfer
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  Speaker 2: tax if you sell your home. And so the relatory
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  Speaker 2: alliance folks and the relatives that everybody came down the
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  Speaker 2: experts yesterday in our hearing and said we can't do that.
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  Speaker 2: That will make or break and be passed on to
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  Speaker 2: the homeowners, the buyers, the sellers, and run people to
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  Speaker 2: Clearmont County Warrant County in Kentucky because we would have
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  Speaker 2: the highest transfer tax on fighting to get that out
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  Speaker 2: of there. Now, on top of that, we having the
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  Speaker 2: budget where they only put slats for the prosecutor's office.
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  Speaker 2: And I said, wait a minute, I mean they have
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  Speaker 2: positions that need to be felled. And the prosecutor came
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  Speaker 2: down and said she would have to lay off people.
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  Speaker 2: And let me be absolutely clear, safety and affordability are
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  Speaker 2: my two biggest things. And I said, wait a minute.
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  Speaker 2: The prosecutor's office must be fully funded and staffed to
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  Speaker 2: make sure that we're taken on crime. We're having justice
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  Speaker 2: and we've got safety, and then the other thing in
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  Speaker 2: state law. To be honest, the prosecutor's office could go
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  Speaker 2: to the courts and get the budget. They don't have
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  Speaker 2: to be working, you know, with us. So I'm happy
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  Speaker 2: that the prosecutor county pillage. We said, hey, let's try
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  Speaker 2: to work this thing out. But I'm telling the administrator
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  Speaker 2: and I'm only one vote, but very important, we've got
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  Speaker 2: to have a voice. I said, she needs to make
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  Speaker 2: sure that her office is funded, has the right staffing
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  Speaker 2: to make sure that the whole county is safe. I'm
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  Speaker 2: talking villages and townships and cities. I mean, this is
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  Speaker 2: the core of the budget, and we've got to make
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  Speaker 2: sure that it happened. We can't be funding stadiums and
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  Speaker 2: then come back and say we can't fund the prosecutor's office.
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  Speaker 2: It just doesn't make sense, really.
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  Speaker 1: And that's one of the more profound points that came out,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm glad you embraced that. You know, we've got
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  Speaker 1: to consider priorities. We agreed to spend three hundred fifty
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  Speaker 1: million dollars on pay corps, and I know we have
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  Speaker 1: a lease obligation to do something along those lines where
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  Speaker 1: you're going to have to, you know, tighten the belt elsewhere,
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  Speaker 1: and we need to keep the prosecutor's office fully funded.
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  Speaker 1: I sort of viewed this flat budget that Jeff Alito,
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  Speaker 1: the Kunty administrator, suggested, which will result in I think
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  Speaker 1: eighteen prosecutors getting laid off or late eighteen people being
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  Speaker 1: laid off in the prosecutor's office, is analogous to kind
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  Speaker 1: of like defund police. If the prosecutors don't have the
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  Speaker 1: ability to prosecute cases, then either they're going to enter
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  Speaker 1: into real soft plea agreements so they don't have to
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  Speaker 1: take people to trial or they're just going to not
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  Speaker 1: prosecute them at all. That is not good for the
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  Speaker 1: state of crime in the county.
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  Speaker 2: No, that's a safety hazard. And I've indicated to the
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  Speaker 2: administrator I don't know and even to her budget person,
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  Speaker 2: how in the world did we come in flat on
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  Speaker 2: the prosecutor's office. I mean, that's where you kind of
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  Speaker 2: start off, and then you know, the prosecutor's office, the
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  Speaker 2: shares office. We've got to have safety and we have
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  Speaker 2: to have affordability, and that's how I look at the budget.
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  Speaker 2: I want safety and then I want affordability so the
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  Speaker 2: people can afford to live here. And right now we're
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  Speaker 2: in an imbalance as it relates to those areas. And
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  Speaker 2: you mentioned you said we have obligations with the stadiums.
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  Speaker 2: Remember that obligation had expired. True, So we had a
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  Speaker 2: chance to do a new thing, and we came back
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  Speaker 2: with a new thing that axed out a three hundred
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  Speaker 2: and fifty million, eight hundred total million deal with interest,
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  Speaker 2: and we came in with something axing out the homeowners.
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  Speaker 2: And that's why I wanted to take it to the ballot.
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  Speaker 2: Because if you don't go to the ballot, they'll ax
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  Speaker 2: you out. And then you come back and say, now
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  Speaker 2: we're going to add the transfer text and then let
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  Speaker 2: me say this. People said, where are you going to
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  Speaker 2: find some of the money. Well, that in the in
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  Speaker 2: the budget we had approved and I support sundance. I
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  Speaker 2: supported it two million dollars, but we didn't get sundance.
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  Speaker 2: We also approved another five million dollars for a women's
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  Speaker 2: soccer league. I supported that, but we didn't get it.
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  Speaker 2: So that I told the administered I said, that's seven
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  Speaker 2: million dollars I just found that we didn't use. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: why can't we Why can't we put that toward the
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  Speaker 2: prosecutor's office. He said, well, normally, you know, those are
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  Speaker 2: interest earning funds that he found, and he said, normally
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  Speaker 2: we don't do that one time. But remember our budget.
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  Speaker 2: We have one time budgets because we do at the county.
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  Speaker 2: Unlike other governments, we have a yearly budget. So do
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  Speaker 2: it now sales tax. Hopefully the economy recovers and then
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  Speaker 2: we worry about it next time. But we have us
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  Speaker 2: we have an emergency to make sure that the prosecutor's
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  Speaker 2: office is fully staged. Yeah, and can do their jobs.
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  Speaker 2: And because safety is on the line and then affordability
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  Speaker 2: is on the line, and those are the two things
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  Speaker 2: that I think are important in the budget. So I've
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  Speaker 2: been fighting for these things because there's some tough times
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  Speaker 2: out here.
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  Speaker 1: Alisha Reice. You just got done finding seven million dollars.
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  Speaker 1: Give the prosecutor's office a two million dollars shortfall that
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  Speaker 1: that will cover them until next year. And we'll always
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  Speaker 1: going to face problems, right, Alisia, deal with it next year.
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  Speaker 1: You got five million extra that you didn't spend. Why
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  Speaker 1: not throw that at some of the other problems that
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  Speaker 1: people are screaming about? You are you? Is there is
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  Speaker 1: there a possibility as you see things right now, Commissioner Lisha,
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  Speaker 1: that they will that county pullets in the Prosecutor's office
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  Speaker 1: will get that money that they obviously need in the
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  Speaker 1: interest to Hamilton County and the residents. Is not over yet, No,
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  Speaker 1: it's not over.
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  Speaker 2: I'm gonna fight like hell, I'm only one vote. But
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  Speaker 2: you know when I put the thirty percent up when
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  Speaker 2: I first got elected, they said, oh, there's no way
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  Speaker 2: you're gonna get it. We was able to get it
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  Speaker 2: one year. I was able to get the second year
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  Speaker 2: if you get the people. We got to have the people,
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  Speaker 2: and always tell people when I'm down there, yes there's
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  Speaker 2: three of us, but I'm representing two hundred and eighteen
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  Speaker 2: thousand people that voted for me. So it's you know,
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  Speaker 2: the people call and get involved in I've instructed the
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  Speaker 2: administrator to get with the Prosecutor's office and let's try
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  Speaker 2: to work this out because safety and affordability are the
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  Speaker 2: two biggest things right now, and we've got to make
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  Speaker 2: sure that the county is safe.
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  Speaker 1: Excellent a call to action from kind of Commissioner Lisha
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  Speaker 1: Revee to do everything that you and I want, which
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  Speaker 1: is keep Hamilton County safe, get the prosecutor the funds
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  Speaker 1: that she needs so we can prosecute crimes. Alicia, thank
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  Speaker 1: you for being a void of reason. I will look
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  Speaker 1: forward to having you back on this show, and if
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  Speaker 1: we don't talk between now and December, I wish you
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  Speaker 1: the best on the budget and I wish you and
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  Speaker 1: your family are very happy holiday and Merry Christmas.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Happy holidays, Merry Christmas to you as well
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  Speaker 2: and your listeners, and thanks for having me on to
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  Speaker 2: get the word out
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  Speaker 1: Any time Commissioner reaset anytime eight fifty six, right now,
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  Speaker 1: if you have Karsite talk station,