Gonna have to do better

This is kind of what I feared was going to happen. Just read the 1st paragraph of the story to get an idea where this is headed.

1) Start with a $29 million shortfall
2) The Hamilton County GOP responds by holding a rally claiming, "we won't stand for more taxes" (while they're doing absolutely nothing to oppose the same-sized property tax increase that Hamilton County imposed on us to give more money to the Bengals)
3) Cut taxes by another $5 million
4) Declare that 67% of the budget is off limits for cuts.

So how exactly is the budget going to be balanced? By Abra Cadabra? This is just as silly as building a $200 million streetcar.

Memo to the Hamilton County GOP and "conservative" majority on Council - it's your time to be responsible. You can't close a $29 million shortfall by cutting taxes and refusing to make spending cuts. So far, they're not even remotely close to finding the first $29 million of cuts, nevermind paying for the $5 million property tax cut.

The city needs to get its finances under control. They've already spent down the reserves over the past decade, as their budgets during that time have otherwise not been balanced. The pension fund likely needs more work. So there's no free money left; it's already been spent. The city simply has to make its income cover its expenses. Is the Mayor or anyone on Council up to the task?

The liberal Democratic majorities and liberal Mayors of the last decade have decimated the city's finances and population. Streetcars and the Ministry of Environmental Quality are just two examples of the far left's appetite for wasting taxpayer money. Now that there is a non-liberal majority on Council, they need to make the right decisions to get the city back on track. They're gonna have to do better than this.

It's a lot easier to cut $34 million when you play ball in each section of the budget. That includes police and fire, which now comprise over 2/3 of the budget. Finding budget cuts will be much harder if you only look at 33% of it.

I imagine the best solution is making cuts to police, making cuts to fire, and eliminating a number of programs from the rest of the budget, along with reforms across the government that have been discussed at length. I hope the non-liberal majority will improve on its lackluster performance so far and run the city's finances far more effectively than the irresponsible liberal majorities have over the past decade.