This Month's Citizen Survey:

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This summer has been a challenging one, to say the least.

The County saw our budget issues only became more challenging with the very weak economy.  It's been a perfect storm financially--weak sales, terrible housing market, few home sales, and rising costs.  All have hit our County revenues (sales tax, property tax, property transfers) hard, and forced cuts and belt-tightening in many places.  Click Here to read more.
 
Our public defender's office received a pretty tough if thorough assessment from an outside study, which also laid much blame on the state of Ohio's incredibly backward funding system for indigent defense.  Click Here to read more.
 
And individual actions of some county employees left citizens bewildered, and in one case horrified.
 
Ironically, good news was reported at the same time-in areas that were viewed as problems only recently.
 
Several years ago, our process and system of adoptions was heavily criticized.  But after responding well with a series of reforms, and with great new leadership, we have recently seen an impressive turnaround in our results.  Click Here to read more. 
 
We announced a great new partnership to revive an effort that had to be eliminated in January due to lack of funds.  Beginning last week, a Sheriff's inmate clean-up detail that only helped Over the Rhine will now help 16 County communities keep their streets clean, at no cost to the County's general fund.  Click Here to read more.

Click Here to read about River City and Click Here to read about our veteran population 

County News Update

Budget Update: Bipartisan Cooperation Helps Tackle Fiscal Crisis
Despite the tough budget challenge currently facing Hamilton County, due largely to lagging revenues and a diminished reserve fund, there have been positive developments over the last few weeks that show the power of bipartisan cooperation.  After the Commission and Administration announced that each department and elected official would have to find additional savings to make our books balance by the end of the year, most departments have stepped up to make the necessary decisions to do so.  They are getting the job done.
 
While we're far from out of the woods yet, this kind of cooperation and fiscal responsibility is exactly what citizens expect of us at times like this.  It is also exactly what they are doing as they deal with the same financial woes that we are.  

Click Here to read some of steps David has taken to address the budget problem.

River City: Relieving Jail Crunch Through Alternative Detention
A key to relieving our jail overcrowding situation is to use every appropriate and effective alternative to the Justice Center as much as we can.  One such alternative is River City Correctional Facility, a state funded detention facility located at the old "workhouse" in Camp Washington is designed to house non-violent felony inmates and provide rehabilitation and reentry services.

After seeing that the daily population numbers at River City were well below its capacity, David and other officials took action--with the jail overcrowding situation critical right now, there was no reason for beds at River City to be sitting empty. Click Here to read the dramatic change that has resulted!

Lowering County Taxpayer Burden for Jail Costs, While Reducing Recidivism
Another key to addressing the budget and jail situation is to make sure we are not unnecessarily paying the cost of certain services, and that we are doing all we can to reduce recidivism. 
 
This is why David and others are working hard on two fronts:
 
1) David, in conjunction with Sheriff Simon Leis and Commissioner Todd Portune, is working to address the problem that Medicaid benefits are terminated shortly after an inmate enters jail--in other words, before they have even been tried and found guilty.  Not only does this shift millions of dollars in medical costs to County property taxpayers, it also means that when these individuals ultimately leave the jail, they are cut off from any support.  For those that have mental illnesses or other ailments that require medicine or other attention, this is a quick recipe for them to re-offend after they leave the jail, only making our problems worse.  To see what David and others are doing about this issue Click Here.
 
2. David also is concerned that more than 1,000 veterans went through our jail in the first six months of 2008 alone, many suffering from mental illness or substance abuse challenges.   These individuals also are eligible for veterans' benefits that could pay for appropriate treatment, as opposed to simply sitting in a County jail at County taxpayer expense.  To see what David and others are doing about this issue Click Here.