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Scott Wartman - City of Cincinnati Budget · Brian Thomas

0:01
Speaker 1: Eight oh five, and a happy Wednesday to you. Bryan
0:02
Speaker 1: thom associate to pit about Therese Morning show. We've been
0:05
Speaker 1: looking forward to this since I saw he was on
0:06
Speaker 1: the Rundown this morning, and it's been a little while,
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Speaker 1: but thank god, we've got Scott Wartman reporting on local issues,
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Speaker 1: including the proposed budget from the City of Cincinnati from
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Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Inquirer. Scott Whartman, Welcome back, my friend. It's
0:17
Speaker 1: great hearing from me this morning.
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Speaker 2: Oh great to be back.
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Speaker 1: Good morning Cincinnati dot com where you find since Ani
0:22
Speaker 1: inquire online. And let's look at it. We got a
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Speaker 1: twenty nine and a half million dollar deficit, Scott Whartman.
0:28
Speaker 1: Let's talk just briefly about process. So the city manager
0:32
Speaker 1: comes up with a budget and Mary I have toab
0:34
Speaker 1: parvol I guess make some changes or recommendations, and then
0:37
Speaker 1: they present that to council. Council has to vote on it. Correct.
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Speaker 2: Yes, they've got about a little over a month to
0:45
Speaker 2: get it all done before July first, with first, which
0:49
Speaker 2: is the start of the fiscal year.
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Speaker 1: Now do they can they make substantive changes? And how
0:54
Speaker 1: do changes occurs? Because we know what we've got from
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Speaker 1: city manager long and mayor iftab parvol But how much
0:59
Speaker 1: impact the council members have in terms of getting maybe
1:02
Speaker 1: putting in the budget or taking things out of the
1:04
Speaker 1: budget that they want.
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Speaker 2: Pretty much everything, I mean, the city manager and the
1:09
Speaker 2: mayor's budget is just a recommendation. The council is the
1:15
Speaker 2: ultimate authority and they're the ones that will vote on
1:18
Speaker 2: what gets in what doesn't. Now that's not to say
1:21
Speaker 2: that the mayor's recommendations and the city management they carry
1:28
Speaker 2: significant weight. So I mean there's a good chance if
1:32
Speaker 2: it's in that budget that it'll get in. The mayor,
1:35
Speaker 2: I believe, does have a veto power so and I
1:40
Speaker 2: can't remember what the veto override is if it's a
1:44
Speaker 2: simple majority or two thirds, So there is that, much
1:49
Speaker 2: like a state budget and other government entities. So the
1:52
Speaker 2: mayor does have power the veto things. But it is
1:56
Speaker 2: the city council. They they're the one's test with putting
2:01
Speaker 2: together the budget and they have the ultimate vote.
2:04
Speaker 1: Well, I saw a quote from a city manager share
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Speaker 1: along describing the budget as the city's leanest year. Yet
2:10
Speaker 1: are they struggling with tax revenue or revenues coming in
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Speaker 1: or where are we with revenue flow? Scott.
2:16
Speaker 2: Well, actually it's better than what was originally anticipated, and
2:20
Speaker 2: that helped them close the gap. They're projecting a little
2:23
Speaker 2: bit more income tax revenue, which is their biggest source
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Speaker 2: of revenue, about sixty percent sixty three percent or so
2:31
Speaker 2: the city's tax revenue comes from income taxes. But they
2:37
Speaker 2: blame basically just inflation. They mayor pointed singled out tariffs
2:45
Speaker 2: is causing costs to go up and gas prices as
2:50
Speaker 2: a big part of what's driving the deficit, but basically
2:54
Speaker 2: just everything's more expensive.
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Speaker 1: So moving forward, these most recent and they have been
3:00
Speaker 1: fairly recent increases in gas prices because gasoline was very
3:03
Speaker 1: affordable compared to the prior let's say, you know, I
3:06
Speaker 1: we'll say during the Biden administration, but we're now experiencing
3:10
Speaker 1: increasing gas prices. So in order to project the finances
3:12
Speaker 1: and the needs for the next fiscal year, they have
3:15
Speaker 1: toffect factor in what they're going to have to pay
3:17
Speaker 1: for gasoline and fuel, et cetera. M Okay, so that's
3:20
Speaker 1: not I.
3:21
Speaker 2: Mean, it is a lot of guesswork. But I mean
3:25
Speaker 2: they say they use a lot of informed data to
3:31
Speaker 2: make these decisions, but yeah, I mean, it is a
3:33
Speaker 2: lot of projections because you don't know, and that's why
3:35
Speaker 2: they have to actually do this budget, because they passed
3:37
Speaker 2: a two year budget last year, but you know, you
3:41
Speaker 2: don't know what's going to happen in a year's time,
3:42
Speaker 2: and so this is basically an update of that, taking
3:45
Speaker 2: an account what's happened in the last year.
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Speaker 1: Scott Warman, anything particular jump out at you in the
3:50
Speaker 1: budget because one giant thing jumped out of me and
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Speaker 1: we'll get to that in a minute, assuming it's not
3:54
Speaker 1: in your top couple of favorites there. So what what
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Speaker 1: jumped out at you is either good, unusual or puzzling.
4:01
Speaker 1: I don't know how to characterize.
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Speaker 2: It, but I'm guessing this maybe what you're bringing up.
4:06
Speaker 2: I mean, the biggest, most contentious thing so far has
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Speaker 2: been the music venue. Yeah River been two point zero. Yes,
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Speaker 2: I mean that that has been what several council members
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Speaker 2: who have opposed giving money to that, like Scottie Johnson,
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Speaker 2: they continually brought it up as it doesn't look good.
4:27
Speaker 2: This is not the place of the city to do this,
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Speaker 2: and it's it's not quite clear it's divided council. I mean,
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Speaker 2: it was the resolution to support the funding giving eight
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Speaker 2: million to River Bend two point h which the SINCI
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Speaker 2: Symphony is building the upgrade the music venue on the
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Speaker 2: east Side, which has been there for forty two years.
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Speaker 2: It passed narrowly five to four. Not every council member
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Speaker 2: will say where they stand now on that, but I've
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Speaker 2: had some like Mika Owens say that they're going to reconsider,
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Speaker 2: you know, depending on where the money's coming from. And
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Speaker 2: even in the city manager manager's budget and the mayor,
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Speaker 2: they both differed on how much to give the music venue.
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Speaker 2: The mayor wants to give two million dollars in addition
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Speaker 2: to the city buying property around there the quote protect
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Speaker 2: the city's investment, and the city manager wants to give
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Speaker 2: six million, which is two million less than the eight
5:27
Speaker 2: million that the CSO is asking for.
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Speaker 1: Okay, well, they were building it anyway, they weren't. The
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Speaker 1: money from the City of CINCINNTI wasn't factored into the
5:35
Speaker 1: equation when they started building the project. So where in
5:38
Speaker 1: the hell did this ask come from? And the intent
5:41
Speaker 1: so far as the city getting a return on investment,
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Speaker 1: well that's fine. You can make the argument up front
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Speaker 1: if you need the funding to make the event happen,
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Speaker 1: or to make the building project happen. But whatever ROI
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Speaker 1: from people, foot traffic and ticket sales and all that
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Speaker 1: city's going to get it slice anyway. Isn't that part
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Speaker 1: of the reality of the project anyhow, So this isn't
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Speaker 1: it was never I guess it just seemed to have
6:04
Speaker 1: come out of left field. I'm trying to put my
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Speaker 1: thoughts together on that one. Scott, where do the ask
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Speaker 1: come from? And why do they think they need to
6:09
Speaker 1: fund it at this point?
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Speaker 2: Well, that's a very good question, and it was not
6:16
Speaker 2: easy to get an answer from the Symphony as far
6:18
Speaker 2: as like if this doesn't happen, you know, then like
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Speaker 2: if the city doesn't give money, what happens is the
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Speaker 2: project and the CSO would give statement that, you know,
6:29
Speaker 2: like well it's important to keep it on time. But
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Speaker 2: it wasn't clear exactly, you know, what would it go
6:34
Speaker 2: forward or not? When the mayor and city manager released
6:38
Speaker 2: their budget, they said, well it would it would go
6:41
Speaker 2: forward with or without the city investment. The mayor is
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Speaker 2: saying his two million dollars would be contingent on a
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Speaker 2: guaranteed return from the from the music venue. What that
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Speaker 2: would be they he said they still to negotiate that
6:56
Speaker 2: with the symphony. But he's saying that if we don't
7:02
Speaker 2: do this investment, there is no guaranteed return for the city.
7:05
Speaker 2: This would be a guaranteed return over the next ten
7:08
Speaker 2: years and it'll be profitable for the city.
7:12
Speaker 1: Is his argument, Well, does the geography have something to
7:15
Speaker 1: do with it? Because I'll be honest with you, I'm
7:17
Speaker 1: new to the reality that part of that is physically
7:20
Speaker 1: in the city of Cincinnati. So if that whatever slice
7:25
Speaker 1: is part of the City of Cincinnati, of course they'd
7:26
Speaker 1: be subject to income tax and earnings tax and the like,
7:29
Speaker 1: and the city would be entitled to its slice. But
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Speaker 1: is it a geographic reality, Like if the the revenue
7:35
Speaker 1: generating activity is happening in say what Anderson Township, does
7:38
Speaker 1: that mean the city doesn't get anything other than whatever
7:41
Speaker 1: money is spent by people like going to a football game,
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Speaker 1: spending it in the city area.
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Speaker 2: One of this because it is right on the border.
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Speaker 2: But I believe, and I'll actually have to double check this,
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Speaker 2: but the actual venue itself is in the city, and
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Speaker 2: there is like it like the border goes right through
8:03
Speaker 2: like the River Bend property. And that's always been kind
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Speaker 2: of one of the interesting quirks of this and one
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Speaker 2: of the questions I still have because I do remember
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Speaker 2: this coming up when the Symphony built the Brady Center.
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Speaker 2: They're a nonprofit as well, so I'm not sure if
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Speaker 2: that affects, you know, the city's tax return and what's
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Speaker 2: taxable and what isn't. But the way I initially took
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Speaker 2: the comments to mean there's no guarantee of any revenue
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Speaker 2: or that this will be a success, right, or that
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Speaker 2: it'll be making a profit. But he's the mayor is
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Speaker 2: saying that whatever deal they work out with the CSO,
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Speaker 2: they're good. The CSO is going to pay the city
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Speaker 2: a fixed amount. So the city is going to be
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Speaker 2: guaranteed in the first ten years to get some more
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Speaker 2: than it's two million dollar investment back.
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Speaker 1: Okay, okay, And that that paying the city component is
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Speaker 1: contingent upon the city putting money into the project.
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Speaker 2: Paying this.
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Speaker 1: Say that again, So the six point five, the two million,
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Speaker 1: whatever the city contributes, is that going to result in
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Speaker 1: this payoff to the City of Cincinnati or would money
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Speaker 1: be flowing into the City of CINCINNTI Again, because the
9:14
Speaker 1: project is going to be built just as a natural
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Speaker 1: consequence the city is going to generate some revenue off
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Speaker 1: of it. I guess I'm wondering is this there.
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Speaker 2: Would be And I do have a question as far
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Speaker 2: as the nonprofit whether that affects what the city would
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Speaker 2: get back and what the city can tax, so that
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Speaker 2: that that's still a question outstanding that I have. But yeah,
9:38
Speaker 2: the city would, if it's successful, get money back. But
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Speaker 2: this is a guaranteed return it and again the amount
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Speaker 2: is to be determined, So exactly how much that is
9:51
Speaker 2: that's not not been agreed upon yet. But yeah, I
9:57
Speaker 2: mean there is a question on what would the he
10:00
Speaker 2: get back anyways, but I think that's a matter of
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Speaker 2: predicting the future, and I yeah that I don't know
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Speaker 2: if that's answerable.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, it isn't. And I think there have been studies
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Speaker 1: done on how much money is generated as a consequences
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Speaker 1: let's say building a stadium, you know, foot traffic. They
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Speaker 1: always pump up the numbers and say, oh, we're gonna
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Speaker 1: get way more than we ever invest in. I think
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Speaker 1: history has demonstrated no, that really doesn't quite often happen anyhow.
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Speaker 1: Scott Wharton from the Cincinnion Enquirer Cincinni dot com is
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Speaker 1: where you find him and the other reporting from the incquirre,
10:27
Speaker 1: Can I hold you over? I got to ask you
10:28
Speaker 1: about some additional things going on. Yeah, great, more on
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Speaker 1: the budget and well a cap on Fort Washington Way,
10:34
Speaker 1: maybe eat sixteen fifty five krc DE talk stations don't
10:38
Speaker 1: go away.
10:39
Speaker 2: This is fifty five KARC and iHeartRadio the.
10:42
Speaker 1: Talk station a nineteen to fifty five krc DE talk
10:45
Speaker 1: station from the Cincinni Inquirers sincinny dot com. Scott Whartman
10:50
Speaker 1: talking about the City of Cincinni budget and one of
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Speaker 1: the things I was pleasantly surprised that they seem to
10:54
Speaker 1: have taken the council members, or at least the city
10:56
Speaker 1: manager and the mayor in the proposed budget that they
11:00
Speaker 1: presented account So they seem to have taken a one
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Speaker 1: tot eighty in their attitude toward funding police. There's additional
11:06
Speaker 1: money in the budget for the Sinsing Police Department as
11:08
Speaker 1: well as the fire department. I was pleased to see that,
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Speaker 1: and I thought that was unexpected. Do you think it's
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Speaker 1: an adequate increase or where are we on that one?
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Speaker 2: Scott Warman, Well, I mean that's a good question. I
11:18
Speaker 2: mean it doesn't seem like there really is any number
11:21
Speaker 2: that would be like mission accomplished. It's enough. The biggest
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Speaker 2: struggle is just getting enough people to apply to be
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Speaker 2: a police officer. They are still about one hundred police
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Speaker 2: officers short of their full complement of aw thy fifty
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Speaker 2: nine and they have two new fifty recruit classes in
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Speaker 2: the budget, but you know, there's just a lot of
11:48
Speaker 2: retirements and people leaving and going to other agencies. So
11:55
Speaker 2: I mean, that's still the biggest challenge, and I don't
11:58
Speaker 2: know if there is an adequate am ford. I mean
12:00
Speaker 2: I've heard actually on a lot of podcasts they're advertising
12:04
Speaker 2: work for the police department, so I mean they are
12:08
Speaker 2: aggressively recruiting. I can say that. But yeah, that is
12:12
Speaker 2: the biggest challenge. But they do have I believe it's
12:14
Speaker 2: a fifteen percent increase in spending. A lot of that
12:18
Speaker 2: is going towards the recruit classes and bigger use of drones,
12:26
Speaker 2: which helps with the lower man power being able to
12:30
Speaker 2: respond immediately in the air. So they're putting a lot
12:33
Speaker 2: of money towards that and techniques like that.
12:37
Speaker 1: Well, we certainly seem to at least have a growing
12:39
Speaker 1: violence problem. Most notably among young people in this country,
12:42
Speaker 1: with you know, street takeovers and the like. We've got
12:44
Speaker 1: to be fully prepared for that. And maybe the count
12:47
Speaker 1: or the mayor at least and the city manager perceived
12:49
Speaker 1: that to be a problem, and that's the reason they're
12:50
Speaker 1: increasing funding. But you did identify the biggest problem is Look,
12:54
Speaker 1: being a law enforcement officer from the City of Cincinnati
12:56
Speaker 1: quite often is a thankless job. You know, they're not
12:59
Speaker 1: interested in really holding people accountable. It seems, Scott, you
13:02
Speaker 1: have a breakdown, at least on the judicial end of it.
13:05
Speaker 1: But you also have, you know, people like Iris Rolie
13:08
Speaker 1: who do not like police to be actively involved in
13:10
Speaker 1: law enforcement. Proactive policing is a no no in downtown Cincinnati,
13:14
Speaker 1: and I think anybody who wants to get a career
13:15
Speaker 1: in law enforcement doesn't want to walk into an environment
13:18
Speaker 1: that has that perception. Upfront.
13:21
Speaker 2: Well, I've heard different sides of the coin on that.
13:27
Speaker 2: Some people don't like Iris. Some people think that she's
13:30
Speaker 2: a valuable check on authority from what I've read, though,
13:35
Speaker 2: I mean, this isn't just a Cincinnati issue. I mean
13:37
Speaker 2: it's tough recruiting police in a lot of major cities.
13:42
Speaker 2: So I mean as far as like one cause on that,
13:46
Speaker 2: I think that's kind of tough to pin down.
13:49
Speaker 1: Well, police are leaving the City of Cincinnati law enforcement
13:53
Speaker 1: to go work in other law enforcement environments, you know,
13:57
Speaker 1: you know, if you can get a job out in
13:58
Speaker 1: Warren County, that's very desirable compared to working in the
14:00
Speaker 1: City of Cincinnati. So I do think how people treat
14:03
Speaker 1: law enforcement in the perception of fighting crime can make
14:06
Speaker 1: a huge difference in a police officer's life. But we
14:08
Speaker 1: can leave that debate there. It has nothing to do
14:10
Speaker 1: specifically with the budget pivoting over. I'm sorry I had
14:13
Speaker 1: to laugh at this one. I don't want to catch
14:14
Speaker 1: you off guard, but I saw the article about the
14:17
Speaker 1: city leaders wanting a twenty five million dollar federal grant
14:20
Speaker 1: to cap the Fort Washington Way Phase one Scott. We
14:24
Speaker 1: all know phase three is profit. What's phase two? Apparently
14:27
Speaker 1: Phase two is a lot more money. We have to
14:29
Speaker 1: match if we get a federal grant this twenty five
14:31
Speaker 1: million dollar ass we have to match that with twenty
14:33
Speaker 1: five million. They seem to be wondering how they're going
14:35
Speaker 1: to get that, talking about tax increment financing, city park grants,
14:39
Speaker 1: maybe private fundraising, so they haven't gotten all of the
14:42
Speaker 1: money together. But then I'm going to cost another huge
14:45
Speaker 1: sum of money for phase two. The ultimate goal is
14:48
Speaker 1: to kind of make a park like surface. I can
14:49
Speaker 1: see the vision, and I'm not against the vision, but Scott,
14:53
Speaker 1: we don't seem to be taking care of the infrastructure
14:55
Speaker 1: that we already have. The roads are deteriorating rapidly, and
14:58
Speaker 1: they have been for a long time. Every year the
15:00
Speaker 1: number of miles that need to be serviced or maintained
15:03
Speaker 1: gets longer and longer. They're already fighting an uphill battle.
15:06
Speaker 1: Is it the right thing to do? I mean, is
15:08
Speaker 1: this a project that's worth doing considering that we can't
15:10
Speaker 1: take care of what we got?
15:13
Speaker 2: Well, Thankfully, it doesn't catch me off guard because this
15:15
Speaker 2: has been talked about for years, probably as long as
15:18
Speaker 2: the Brent Spence Bridge project. I mean as long as
15:24
Speaker 2: I've been with the Inquirer, which has been twenty years
15:26
Speaker 2: or so. But yeah, this has always been like a
15:30
Speaker 2: wish list of the business community. There is The argument is,
15:34
Speaker 2: and I mean I can see this with the current
15:38
Speaker 2: setup having to go over pedestrian bridges and streets, overpasses
15:43
Speaker 2: over for Washington away, it cuts off the riverfront from
15:47
Speaker 2: the downtown, and there's a lot of empty, unused space
15:51
Speaker 2: as a result of that. And so the argument has
15:55
Speaker 2: always been, you know, if we can do something with this,
15:58
Speaker 2: it'll encourage more people to you know, go to the
16:02
Speaker 2: banks and go you know, along the riverfront. I mean,
16:06
Speaker 2: obviously you know whether that would happen or not. I
16:08
Speaker 2: mean that you wouldn't. You wouldn't know until you know
16:11
Speaker 2: it happens, right, But that's that's always been the argument.
16:15
Speaker 2: And I don't know if it's necessarily an either or,
16:19
Speaker 2: Like if they do invest in this, does that mean
16:23
Speaker 2: it's coming from money that would go to pay the streets,
16:25
Speaker 2: because they always argue it all comes from different thens
16:28
Speaker 2: of money. And this, again, much like the Brent Spence Bridge,
16:31
Speaker 2: is all contingent on the Feds or somebody else coming
16:34
Speaker 2: up with at least half, if not more, to do it.
16:38
Speaker 2: So the county I believe, and my colleague Sidney Franklin
16:42
Speaker 2: got the scoop today on it. But the county has
16:44
Speaker 2: like applied four times for grants and not gotten it.
16:48
Speaker 2: So I mean, unless the Feds do something, it's not
16:52
Speaker 2: moving forward.
16:53
Speaker 1: Well, the FEDS analyze these proprosals because apparently there's a
16:56
Speaker 1: line around the door, around the block to get federal
16:59
Speaker 1: grants along these lines, so they at least look at
17:01
Speaker 1: it and determine whether or not there is a feasible project.
17:05
Speaker 1: And if they've said no for previous times, maybe the
17:07
Speaker 1: writing's already on the wall considering the number of people
17:10
Speaker 1: asking for federal money. I can't say for sure right now.
17:12
Speaker 1: I don't guess you can't either, Scott, But maybe they
17:15
Speaker 1: will save us from ourselves. Would it characterize it like that?
17:19
Speaker 2: But well, I mean, I don't know how many times
17:24
Speaker 2: they applied for the Brent Spence Bridge or the viaduct,
17:29
Speaker 2: but these things do usually take multiple times before it
17:32
Speaker 2: actually goes through, and it also depends on who's in
17:35
Speaker 2: charge of the agencies in power. So just because they've
17:41
Speaker 2: applied four times doesn't mean it won't happen the fifth time. True.
17:45
Speaker 1: But I guess as far as the Brent Spenz Bridge
17:47
Speaker 1: project being improved, it helps when both presidents of both
17:50
Speaker 1: political stripes are campaigning in front of it promising to
17:53
Speaker 1: get it done. So at least we had bipartisanship and
17:55
Speaker 1: so that project is concerned. Scott Wartman, thank you for
17:59
Speaker 1: spending time listeners of me today. I appreciate your keeping
18:01
Speaker 1: your eyeball on that budget, and we'll look forward to
18:03
Speaker 1: seeing what city Council has to say. What's the deadline against.
18:06
Speaker 2: Scott June thirtieth, June thirty.
18:10
Speaker 1: If we've got some time between now and then, maybe
18:11
Speaker 1: we'll get a research study to find out what the
18:13
Speaker 1: ROI is on that Farmer Music Center. Scott have a