Talking budget cuts in Hamilton County

In case you haven't been watching them on ICRC TV, the county commission meetings lately have been quite contentious. The issues...well, take your pick: jail, budget, abortion.

In the next two days though the three commissioners, budget folk, administration and department heads will hopefully separate the rhetoric from the real when it comes down to the county's dollars.

They're holding all-day budget sessions (the public is invited) Thursday and Friday to look at suggested cuts. The specific goal is to find at minimum $1.8 million in cuts in order to continue housing more than 300 overflow inmates in the Butler County jail. Compounding the problem: the county's reserves are nearly dry and the administration is projecting a $27 million deficit next year. That sure doesn't help.

--Here are the cuts proposed by Commissioner Todd Portune (toward the end of the letter).
--Here are the cuts proposed by Commissioner Pat DeWine.
Commissioner David Pepper hasn't yet posed any in writing that we've seen, nor has the administration, which has frustrated DeWine.

UPDATE: An equally frustrated Pepper later responded to this:
He said he agrees with many of Todd’s cuts and will likely present more later in the budget process. But his suggested cuts to fund Butler County came in the form of the “comprehensive safety plan” he and Portune crafted and raised the sales tax to fund. Voters have since circulated petitions and forced the tax increase on the ballot.

Says Pepper: “We’re defining the problem as not just how do we get through Butler County for two more months. It’s how do we continue Butler County, build a new (jail) facility, operate a new facility and our plan includes cuts, efficiencies and a new revenue stream. No one else has come forward with a plan to do that.”