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Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Statement of Commissioner Todd Portune on the Heimlich Jail Tax
Posted by Media Release
Today in the midst of great fanfare Commissioner Phil Heimlich and Commissioner Pat DeWine are unveiling their Jail Tax proposal to meet Hamilton County’s Correctional facilities needs. Their proposal is neither a solution to the county’s problem nor is a new tax the correct answer.
Commissioner Heimlich promised the people of Hamilton County with a financing solution to the county’s jail needs almost 60 days ago. In the interim he and Commissioner Pat DeWine, along with county administration, did the simplest thing imaginable – they propose to raise taxes and then, not really to raise them but instead, to just put it on the ballot. Their proposal could have been presented within 60 minutes of their promise back in April instead of waiting 60 days.
But the real complaint with the proposal is this: It is not a bankable real solution. For the Heimlich Tax increase to work requires a vote of the people. And the history of voting for tax increases for jails is not a good one. This smacks more of election year politics than anything else. It allows Heimlich to tell voters he has solved the jail problem while also allowing him to hide behind the inevitable criticism of raising taxes [and the most regressive kind of tax at that – a sales tax –paid by children and the poor alike] and say that it is not him raising taxes but rather the will of the people.
I do not advocate for this plan. It passes up too many other opportunities to fund the jail without raising taxes and without cutting other county services that support public health and health care, as this one does. But if you support a sales tax to fund jails then stand up for what you believe in and put it on. Heimlich and DeWine have the power to start collecting this tax as early as tomorrow by adopting a Resolution at our Wednesday Commission meeting. If they believe in this tax, as the purport to; and if they think this is the solution, as they suggest; then they at least should have the courage of their convictions and start it. The fact that they will not do so speaks volumes about their real intent and further will end up costing county taxpayers tens of millions of dollars more on this project in lost interest earnings and unnecessary interest payments.
This isn’t a solution. It’s campaign rhetoric in a campaign year.
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06 Jun 2006 at 08:59 pm | #
Andrew—now you can endorse Heimlich over Portune as well.
06 Jun 2006 at 09:00 pm | #
I haven’t endorsed anyone.
06 Jun 2006 at 09:14 pm | #
The reality is that we will probably have neither a casino nor a sales tax increase.
06 Jun 2006 at 09:49 pm | #
What about the tax we are already paying for “The Banks”? Where the hell is that $$$$ going? To a rathole I suppose!
07 Jun 2006 at 01:22 am | #
I would probably vote for the jail tax.
To all the critics who say the solution is not to put more people in jail, please feel free to get it on the ballot too & be ready to back it up with some good solid statistics & research.
07 Jun 2006 at 07:03 am | #
What ever happened to House Arrest and Community Service for non violent criminals. There are plenty of highways and roadways that could use a good cleaning up.
Better yet, why not solve two problems and put the new jail on the Banks so that when people go outside to yell at their family members who are being held inside, they might finish the day with a trip to the ball game.
07 Jun 2006 at 07:34 am | #
Bearman,
I think the people who will be visiting
family in jail will be boycotting the Banks.
07 Jun 2006 at 08:39 am | #
A few years ago I had a deadbeat bum for a tenant whom I had to evict, he wouldn’t sign for registered mail and returned regular mail, I went to work with the summons on the dashboard of my truck. One day I noticed him and his wife driving, I followed them home (where they refused to pay rent) I pulled in behind them serving them my complaint. The following day, a Friday, the deadbeats wife signed a warrant for my arrest, I was arrested for stalking Friday evening at home. I learned the Judges of Hamilton County have decided anyone arrested for staking must be monitored electronically pending disposition of their case, electronic monitoring is only available 8am to 5pm Monday thru Friday, I spent the week-end touring the Justice Center then on to the Queensgate Facility. I know first hand who is filling the counties jails, I’d say 50% are DUI’s, 25% child support violations, 15% I’ll classify as plain ridiculous, (18y/o broke into parking meter 60 days, 20y/o had boxer dog resembling pit bull 90days, and the saddest of all, a 78y/o man spent his working career as a lot boy, worked in Kenwood area, lived in Madisonville, thought his employer was withholding all his taxes, when dealership was sold audit revealed he was a city resident who never paid city income tax on his earnings, Judge ordered him to pay restitution of hundreds of dollars a month through probation department. Social Security check was all this man received to live on, when he missed payment to probation department he was locked up, he told me he guessed he would spend the remainder of his life in the County Jail. We the people do not need a new jail, we need a justice system that works. I am tried of hearing we need more jail space, I am tried of being told that locking people up is the only way to reduce crime, I am sick of what passes for justice in Hamilton county.
07 Jun 2006 at 01:16 pm | #
trevor_moonbow - good stats. I am guessing the Queensgate is just a short term holding pen? The public deserves to find out who is in jail, in what percentages & for how long. And then start looking at alternatives for the non-violent offenders.
07 Jun 2006 at 03:01 pm | #
No, Queensgate is not a holding facility, it is another jail, a jail the government never mentions, this jail is located off Linn Street near the Butternut Bread Factory, South of Eight Street, next to the on ramp to Six Street Viaduct, Quite Possibly it is the old Kruse Hardware Building, I am not sure. It consists of six floors each floor accommodating over a hundred inmates. It was constructed 10 or 15 years ago when the government was once again crying about jail space. Oh how the government loves their cages. When will it ever stop?
07 Jun 2007 at 06:39 am | #
Oh my God! I can’t believe more hasn’t been done with this statement from Portune. Talk about doubletalk and flip-flops.
Of course, the Portune Tax increase is neither a solution to the county’s purported problem and if a new tax was not the correct answer then (a few short months ago) how can it be the answer now!?
The Portune/Pepper/Leis/Deters/Lindner/CBC plan doesn’t fund the jail without raising taxes, but didn’t Todd say that the county had an opportunity to do just that?
Campaign rhetoric in a campaign year… Yeah, Todd is up for re-election in 2008. His campaign has already started.