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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.