There they go again...The Democrats that control the city budget "bamboozled" the sensible members of Cincinnati City Council and voted on a budget that ultimately wastes your hard earned tax dollars. The beleaguered taxpayers of Cincinnati should have enough of these tax-and-spenders and make a change this November.
Who did this? First, credit to Democrat Jeff Berding for not acting like the rest of his tax-and-spend party brethren. But, Democrats John Cranley, Laketa Cole, David Crowley, Cecil Thomas, and Roxanne Qualls wasted your money yesterday!
How did they do this? While cops get laid off in the County, workers everywhere suffer, and the economy is in the dumper, these five Democrats spent your money on this:
1. Raises for their own personal staffs: $5,300 for each council office and $18,000 for the mayor's office, all for cost-of-living increases that had been cut.
2. Wasteful, unnecessary environmental programs: $161,900 for environmental programming, including a climate protection coordinator to implement ways to reduce the city's carbon dioxide emissions.
3. Paying for trash collection by inmates: $140,000 to pay the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office for inmates to clean up trash.
4. Raises that were not part of the originally negotiated budget: $434,500 to restore half of non-union employees' 4 percent cost-of-living adjustments.
$75,000 for poison control.
5. My personal favorite, neighborhood gardens: $40,000 for neighborhood gardens, a topic that drew a lot of supporters to Tuesday's budget public hearing. Supporters said the 27-year-old program is one of the oldest in the country.
(Quoting The Cincinnati Enquirer, click here for the full story)
Special credit goes to our two great Republicans, Leslie Ghiz and Chris Monzel for standing up for the beleagured taxpayers of Cincinnati and fighting this nonsense. They need help at City Hall!
The Democrat(ic) Money Burn continues with your valuable tax dollars...
