Liberal Democrat Commissioners: 100 Sheriffs deputies laid off

Not a single personal assistant cut

Liberal democrat Commissioners Todd Portune and David Pepper today finalized the 2009 Hamilton County Budget. While claiming "public safety" is their top priority, the Commissioners refused to cut a single position from their nine-member personal staff, but eliminated funding for approximately 100 positions in the Sheriff's Department and closed the Queensgate Correctional facility, which provided 800+ inmate beds.

Commissioner DeWine today proposed spending cuts exceeding $1.4 million, which would have paid for the equivalent of 63,000 bed-nights for inmates. Read the DeWine resolution here. The Commission majority did not support the motion, and it failed for a lack of a second.

The Commissioners also refused to convert $2 million in new monies targeted towards "convention center promotion" or an accumulated $3 million in drug forfeiture funds for public safety purposes.

Fortunately, the 2009 budget shortfall did force the Commissioners finally to adopt more than $8.9 million in budget cuts proposed by Commissioner Pat DeWine for more than two years.

Read more about the wasteful County budget here.