CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) -
Hamilton County Commissioners have two weeks to decide how they
will come up with the money to balance the Stadium Fund in 2013.
The fund, officially titled the "Sales Tax Fund" will be partially
funded in 2013 through a one-year $9.4 million loan that secures a
requirement for the Sales Tax Bonds. Another $5.5 million in casino revenues has
been projected to help balance the fund in 2013. Commissioners now have to come
up with the $7 million needed to close the rest of the gap.
"I was very surprised by it
and actually disappointed that we weren't told sooner, that we didn't have more
time to kind of come up with alternatives to what we can do," Commissioner
Chris Monzel told FOX19. "In fact I feel like they've put us in a box."
Monzel expected the deficit
to be closer to a million dollars than seven million.
County Administrator
Christian Sigman argues the gap should be no surprise given the fund's history.
He says the stadium fund has had projected deficits since 2001 when the sales
tax revenues stopped bringing in the money they'd planned on.
The Administrator
is recommending that the county take back all of the property tax rollback that
was promised in 1996 when voters passed a sales tax increase to fund the
stadiums. He says sales tax revenues have dropped in large part due to Internet
sales, 9-11, and a prolonged recession.
The
Administration estimates eliminating the property tax rebate would generate $19.4 million for the country next year.
"What we need to do is keep bridging
ourselves until we have the full casino revenue coming in, until we get through
this tough economy in the next year or so and the sales tax increases," Monzel
argued.
In a memo he sent to commissioners,
administrator Christian Sigman recommended against any "piece meal solutions",
instead suggesting that the entire property tax rebate be eliminated starting
next year which he says would balance the fund long-term. The memo also
highlights efforts by the administration to increase revenues including having
wireless carriers pay rental fees to put in signal boosting equipment into each
stadium. They also reference the Brothers of the Sun concert at Paul Brown and
effort to gauge interest in divesting County-owned property by posting the
properties online.
Monzel argues creative
solutions are still viable to keep commissioners' promise to property
owners.
"I will not support touching
the property tax rollback at all," Monzel said Tuesday.
He is considering potentially
pulling money from the reserve fund, cutting funding to riverfront development
and re-evaluating parking revenues and sales tax projections to keep the fund
balanced for another year.
"There's no silver bullet
besides raising taxes that can solve this problem and I don't support that,"
Monzel told FOX19.
Sigman
argues pulling money from the reserve fund could be ‘dangerous' and negatively
impact the county's credit rating. In his memo he states, "The Administration
continues to recommend against operating below a 10 percent reserve to ensure a
positive monthly cash flow".
The county released a report
that details factors that could negatively impact the its credit rating. Such
factors include "Continued use of one-time revenues or expense savings to fill
budget gaps".
Todd Portune tells FOX19 he
cannot foresee breaking a commitment to property tax payers that he has kept
for 12 years, but went shy of committing to a vote. Portune believes the
revenue numbers released by the administration are ‘unreasonably low' and
expects the deficit to be closer to three million which he believes can be
managed without touching the rollback.
Portune is not considering
any fire sale of county property to generate cash, noting, however, that he
believes Drake Hospital was sold at a fair value. He says pulling money from
the reserve fund is not out of the question depending on the amount in question,
but says he would look to pull from the Sales Tax Stabilization fund first. He
says he will be reviewing his own previous proposals including the ticket tax
to evaluate which options might still be viable.
Greg Hartmann on the other
hand believes the Board has few options remaining, and that a tax increase in
some form is likely necessary to balance the fund. He says commissioners also
have the option of considering a sales tax increase which he argues would help
spread the tax burden across a greater population including non-Hamilton County
residents.
Both Portune and Hartmann
made a point to say they will not support any plan that does not include team
participation from the Bengals and the Reds.
The current county sales tax
sits at 6.5 percent which according to an Ohio Department of Taxation report
is one of the lowest rates in the state.
The Board of Commissioners
has until Dec. 5 to act on the property tax rebate. If they
cannot agree on a plan the rollback will automatically go away next year.
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