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Discretionary money can't be spent on schools, Hamilton County attorney says
When the Hamilton County Commission voted 6-3 Wednesday to overturn Mayor Jim Coppinger's veto of their previous week's surprise hijacking of $900,000 from the county reserve fund with no debate, they set off what's sure to be a year of tit-for-tat fireworks.
The $900,000 ($100,000 for each of the nine commissioners to use as "discretionary" spending within their districts for "projects") has been a source of controversy for more than a year. Critics and government watchdogs label the discretionary spending program as veiled political pork. Commissioners traditionally dole out the money mostly to school boosters groups for uniforms or playgrounds or occasionally a neighborhood public sculpture. Often they get their name on a plaque or school sign for the effort, along with a little extra name recognition and maybe some votes for the favor.
This is not to say uniforms and playgrounds and sculptures are not worthy needs to spend our money on, but we get little say in it, and we only find out about it after the fact. Only in recent years were discretionary expenditures posted online after the checks were cut. And only projects costing $15,000 or more ever see a vote by the whole commission.
If there were no discretionary slush funds, it wouldn't mean the end of "projects." Nothing prohibits any commissioner from making a motion and seeking a full commission vote for, say, a $10,000 expenditure to paint a senior citizens' building in his or her district. In fact, that's how it's done everywhere else. Hamilton County is the only place in the state with commissioners' discretionary spending funds larger than $5,000 a year.
Commissioners didn't tell Coppinger they wanted to reach into savings to fund new schools or to better fund everyday education. They didn't publicly opine about reaching into the savings to help build a better Sheriff's Department with an early-retirement bridge plan that they all profess to believe is sorely needed.
But to give themselves (and the voters in their districts) some plums they have now voted, not once but twice, to slip their hands into the cookie jar.
And they've set a new precedent. When you want a new school, art teachers or textbooks, you know what to do.