UPDATE: City Manager Patrick Duhaney has released his new budget proposal. This budget also fully funds the Citizen Complaint Authority, adding two new investigator positions.
Ah, it's that magical time of year again: You're looking for the defining summer jam, you're hitting every creamy whip spot in town, and Cincinnati's elected officials are gearing up to battle over the city's $1.4 billion operating and capital spending plan.
The City of Cincinnati will hold two public input sessions for residents at 6 p.m. at the Duke Energy Convention Center on Tuesday, June 16 and Thursday, June 18. Residents can show up in person and sign up to speak for two minutes in a large meeting room that allows for social distancing, or they can fill out an online form to submit comments via audio or video.
Residents can also email the mayor, city manager and council members with their feedback.
It's going to be an especially tough — and important — debate this year. The coronavirus pandemic and its attendant economic devastation has caused a $73 million budget deficit for the city, which gets most of its revenue from local earnings taxes. The University of Cincinnati Economics Center has estimated that the city will bring in $41.5 million less in those taxes this year.
Meanwhile, protests around the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis have trained a laser focus on major cities' police budgets, and Cincinnati is no exception. The city spends more than 36 percent of its operating budget — $151.7 million — on police.
Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley and City Manager Patrick Duhaney must propose a new spending plan, and Cincinnati City Council must approve it by June 30 ahead of the first day of the new fiscal year July 1.
Cincinnati City Council's Budget and Finance Committee will discuss the budget during its public meeting Monday, June 15 at 1 p.m.
So far, the city has cut some $32 million from its budget, mostly by instituting large cuts to many departments — 25 percent or more — and slashing funding to outside organizations that provide human services and economic development work.