Cincinnati City Council members Tuesday hotly debated how to spend about a million dollars left over from a previous grant.
The Budget, Finance and Governance Committee then voted to pass three motions allocating that money to several organizations and initiatives. The motions are expected to be up for a final vote during Thursday’s regular Council meeting; the funding will not be officially allocated until Council votes on an ordinance version.
The crux of the debate is whether the money should be spent for its original purpose, which was to prevent homelessness.
Council member Meeka Owens proposed directing the unspent funds toward the city’s eviction prevention program, known as Access to Counsel, which offers same-day legal representation in eviction court as well as emergency rental assistance.
“We have a program that is working, a documented need that continues to grow, and we have a housing fund that was intentionally set aside again to address that need,” Owens said. “So my question remains simple: if a program is producing measurable results and the underlying problem is getting worse, why would we choose to redirect funds from that need?”
Only Council member Seth Walsh supported Owens’ plan; he strongly denounced the motions that ultimately passed, and exchanged heated words with Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney.
“You have chosen to defund eviction prevention, to defund housing security,” Walsh said. “I mean, this is embarrassing.”
Kearney responded: “That’s not an honest representation of what's going on here, Council Member Walsh, and you know it,” she said. “As we do with money that's been allocated and not used, it goes back into the pot to see where it needs to be used.”
Kearney says Access to Counsel has enough funding for rental assistance for four months, and that Council can revisit the need later this year during the annual carryover budget.
Owens’ office shared a summary of the Access to Counsel successes; you can see the document below (article continues after):
What Council supported
You can learn more about why this roughly $1.14 million is available in WVXU’s previous reporting.
The Budget, Finance and Governance Committee ultimately passed three motions on Tuesday that direct spending from the leftover funding, including one that wasn’t even filed until Tuesday afternoon and was by-leaved onto the agenda only nine minutes before the meeting began.
The motions add money to some organizations that were already recommended for funding, and add some new organizations that were not in the original proposals.
As WVXU reported last week, one motion spends $300,000 of the funding on various organizations and initiatives:
- $85,000 to Catholic Charities Southwestern Ohio
- $66,667 to Cincinnati Ballet Company
- $50,000 to Civic Garden Center of Greater Cincinnati
- $100,000 to Film Cincinnati
- $77,500 to Groundwork Ohio River Valley
- $85,000 to Hispanic Chamber Cincinnati USA
- $98,000 to Keep Cincinnati Beautiful
- $59,000 to Red Bike
- $33,000 to Robert O’Neal Multicultural Art Center
- $85,000 to Santa Maria
This motion passed 7-1-1, with Seth Walsh opposing and Meeka Owens abstaining.
The motion that was by-leaved onto the agenda just minutes before the meeting was introduced by Ryan James. He pitched it as addressing the root causes of homelessness by addressing needs like employment and food access.
“It hurts that this program [Access to Counsel] that does so much work for the community is not a part of this omnibus,” James said. “If we had unlimited dollars to spend, I would continue to give it. But unfortunately, we have to lead with consensus.”
The motion initially included $840,000 in spending; it was amended on the floor to remove $50,000 for the Freestore Foodbank because Kearney must recuse herself from voting on funding for that organization.
The motion included:
- $200,000 to the city’s Youth 2 Work program
- $210,000 for City Gospel Mission’s Jobs Van
- $75,000 for the Center for Addiction Treatment
- $75,000 for Women Helping Women
- $25,000 to the YWCA
- $105,000 to the city’s home repair services fund
- $100,000 for the city’s child savings account program
The amended motion passed 6-3 with Walsh, Owens, and Evan Nolan opposing; Nolan said he would support the measure if it made it to a final council vote.
The third motion, with $50,000 for Freestore Foodbank, passed 7-1 with Walsh opposing and Kearney excused because of the conflict of interest.
How leveraged support factors in
The reason Council was considering grants for so many different organizations is what’s known as leveraged support, which is distributed as grants to nonprofits or companies that do work benefiting the city. (Note: this is separate from the city’s Human Services spending. You can learn more here: How Cincinnati officials spend your tax dollars)
Third parties apply directly to city administration to request funding; the City Manager’s office recommends awards, and Council has final say.
Leveraged support is normally part of the regular budget process, which happens in June; this year, city administration delayed the process.
The total amount of money available was also reduced by 5.1% to help fill a deficit in the general fund. When Council passed the city budget earlier this year, they set aside $500,000 to help supplement the leveraged support awards.
The Budget Committee also approved two ordinances Tuesday to approve the City Manager’s recommendations for leveraged support awards; those ordinances will be up for a final vote later this week.
Several council members spoke Tuesday to criticize the leveraged support process and call for reforms.
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