Cincinnati, Ohio

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Budget Y Meetings P Elected Officials Y Administrative Officials Y Permits, zoning Y Audits Y Contracts Y Lobbying N Public records Y Local taxes Y Transparency grading process

Cincinnati is a city in [Ohio]. The 2010 census reported the population at 296,943, making it Ohio’s third-largest city. The Cincinnati metropolitan area has a population of 2,130,151, the 27th most populous in the United States. Cincinnati is home to the MLB team the “Reds” and the NFL team, the “Bengals.”^[1]

Website evaluation

• Main article: Evaluation of Ohio city websites

This Web site was most recently reviewed on 2013-01-14.

The good

• Budget
  • The most current budget is listed.
  • Budgets are archived for 12 years.^[2]
• Administrative Officials
  • Department heads are listed for each department.^[3]
  • Contact information for administrative officials is provided including a mailing address, phone number, and personalized email.
• Elected Officials
  • Elected officials are listed with a mailing address, phone number and personalized email.^[4]
• Meetings
  • Meeting minutes are archived for 2 years.^[5]
  • Most recent agenda is posted.^[6]
  • A meeting calendar is available and names the times and locations of public meetings.^[7]
  • Meeting videos are available.^[8]
• Audits
  • The most recent audit is posted.
  • Audits dating back to 2001 are available.^[9]
• Contracts
  • Bids and RFPs are posted online.^[10]
  • Approved contract statements are provided for vendors.^[11]
• Public Records
  • The public information officer is identified and maintained by the city manager position. This person provides a mailing address, phone number and personalized email.^[12]
• Taxes
  • Tax revenues are broken down by federal, state, and local funding in the budget.
  • Local taxes, like property taxes, are available online.^[13]
• Permits and zoning
  • Zoning ordinances are posted online.
  • Permit applications can be downloaded on the site, along with information on how to apply for the permits.^[14]

The bad

• Public Records
  • Fee schedule and public records request form not available.
• Meetings
  • Meeting minutes and agendas are not archived for 3-5 years.
• Lobbying
  • If the county engaged in lobbying actives or if it's a member of government lobbying associations are not disclosed. Nor is the total cost lobbying activities or membership dues for associations available.

The bad

• No information regarding filing FOIA requests is available.

Elected Officials: Council Members

Name	Title
Mark Mallory	Mayor
Roxanne Qualls	Vice Mayor, City Council
Cecil Thomas	Council President Pro-Tem
Chris Bortz	Council member
Leslie Ghiz	Council member
Wayne Lippert	Council member
Amy Murray	Council member
Laure Quinlivan	Council member
Charlie Winburn	Council member
Wendell Young	Council member

Administrative officials

Organizational chart is available.^[15]

Name	Title
Milton Dohoney Jr.	City Manager
Lea Eriksen	Director Budget Office
Larry Falkin	Director of Office of Environmental Quality
Richard Braun	Director of Fire Department
James Craig	Chief of Police Department
Hillary Bohannon	Director of Human Resources Department
Michael Moore	Director of Transportation & Engineering Department
Kenneth Glenn	Director of Citizen Compliant Authority and Internal Audit Section
Andrew Glenn Jr.	Director of Public Services Department
John Curp	Director of Law Department
Michael Cervay	Director of Community Development Department
Reginald Zeno	Director of Finance Department
Charles Graves III	Director of Planning & Building Department
Margo Springs	Chief Information Officer, Enterprise Services

Budget

• The All Funds Biennial Budget is $1.3 billion in 2011 and $1.2 billion in 2012. The Approved General Fund Operating Budget is $355.9 million in 2011 and $339.1 million in 2012. As required by Ohio law, all funds are balanced. To do so, the city eliminated 252.4 positions and reduced or eliminated many city services.
• The Mayor and City Council have not voted for raises, therefore the budget includes a 0% wage increase. All City employees transitioned to the “80/20 Plan” for healthcare, whereby the employees pay 25% of the total cost of healthcare depending on the usage by the employee.
• The Government Finance Officers Association presented the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award to Cincinnati in 2009.^[16]

Stimulus

Cincinnati received $177,233,989.31 in federal stimulus funds in 32 contracts and 172 grants.^[17]

Local taxes

If you live or work within the City of Cincinnati, you are subject to the 2.1% income tax on earnings, regardless of age or level of income. Sales taxes in Cuyahoga County is 7.75%.^[18]

City In the News

• In September 2011, Cincinnati was ranked as the 16th smoggiest city in America, exposing citizens to dangerously poor air quality on 14 days this year and last.^[19]
• The newest Census, released in 2011, reports that Cincinnati is the No.7 poorest city with a population of 200,000 or more. The study shows that Cleveland has a 30.6% poverty rate.^[20]
• According to FBI 2010 crime statistics, Cincinnati is the 24th Most Dangerous City in the US.^[21]
• In September 2010, former Cuyahoga County Auditor, Frank Russo, pleaded guilty to 21 corruption counts and faces over 21 years in prison. Russo’s plea deal includes a provision that requires his son, Vincent Russo, to plead guilty of bribery. Frank Russo admitted to several corruption schemes, obstruction of justice, and tax fraud.^[22]
• In September 2010, ODOT vendor, Robert Jones of Cuyahoga County was indicted on corruption charges for allegedly using a wide variety of scams to illegally steer ODOT contracts and business to friends and associates. Bids and competitive quotes were forged and submitted on behalf of other companies. Jones’ three companies allegedly were fraudulently awarded $200,000 worth of contracts.^[23]

Public pensions

Main article: Ohio public pensions

he pension fund for most city employees and retiree health care was underfunded by about $713 million at the end of 2011. The city took steps in 2011 to raise retirement ages, reduce pension increases and eliminate a burial benefit for future retirees. ^[24]

According to a recent report published at Northwestern University, Cincinnati is one of the ten municipalities with the largest amount of unfunded pension liabilities. Nationwide there is $574 billion in unfunded pension liabilities for local pension plans, and this is in addition to the $3 trillion in debt facing state-sponsored pension plans.^[25] The report states that the pension plans could be out of money as early at 2025.^[25]

Municipality (number of plans)	Liabilities, Stated Basis, June ’09 ($B)	Liabilities (ABO), Treasury Rate	Net Pension Assets ($B)	Unfunded Liability ($B)	Unfunded Liability / Revenue	Unfunded Liability per Household ($)
Cincinnati (1)	2.2	3.2	1.2	2	321%	15,681

See also

• Ten cities facing the worst of the pension crisis

External links

• Cincinnati website
• Cincinnati on Wikipedia
• Cincinnati School Districts
• Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce

References

	v • d • e State of Ohio Columbus (capital)
Transparency	Open Records Law | Transparency Checklist | Government corruption reports | Transparency Legislation | Open Records procedures | Transparency Advocates | Transparency blogs | State budget | Taxpayer-funded lobbying associations |
Divisions	State | List of Counties | List of Cities | List of Towns | List of School Districts | Evaluation of county websites | Evaluation of city websites | Evaluation of township websites | Evaluation of school district websites |
Government	Ohio State Constitution | Executive | House of Representatives | Senate |
Judiciary	Ohio Supreme Court | Supreme Court elections | Courts of Common Pleas | District Courts of Appeal | Judicial Nominating Commission | Judicial news | Judicial activist organizations |
Ballot Measures	Ballot measures | List of ballot measures by year | Procedures for qualifying an initiative | Amending the constitution | History of direct democracy | Campaign finance requirements | Vote fraud |