Issues

Protecting Tax Dollars, Public Safety, Job Creation

1.  Protecting Your Tax Dollars

County government must do a better job of using your tax dollars to deliver basic services.  Leslie has led the charge to fight against wasteful spending at City Hall and will do the same for you as County Commissioner.  She is committed to maintaining county spending below the rate of inflation and will not raise your taxes. 

As a member of Cincinnati City Council, Ghiz has been a vocal opponent of over-spending at City Hall: 

• Ghiz signed and is keeping a promise to control spending.  She has consistently opposed raising property taxes, and is committed to fully supporting Hamilton County’s property tax rollback.
• She passed "pay-as-you-go" legislation at City Hall to force Councilmembers to identify specific funding sources to pay for their pet projects;
• To help balance the City budget, Ghiz created a plan to cut Councilmembers' salaries in half.

2.  Keeping Your Neighborhood Safe

In 2009, more than 20,000 charged criminals were released early from the Hamilton County justice system. Leslie Ghiz is committed to addressing the broken criminal justice system in Hamilton County. 

As a member of Cincinnati City Council, Leslie worked with County officials to develop a plan for increasing jail beds without raising taxes in order to help reduce jail overcrowding.

Ghiz championed a plan to lease 75 electronic monitoring units to keep criminals under the watchful eye of law enforcement instead of out on the streets.

• Ghiz led the fight to ensure no cuts were made to Cincinnati police and fire to balance the City’s budget;
• Ghiz restored funding for the successful Drug & Gun Elimination Program.  From 2003-2008, 6,686 arrests were made, 213 guns were confiscated, 45,800 grams of drugs were seized and nearly a quarter of a million dollars was confiscated from those arrested under this program;
• Ghiz led the charge to secure federal funding to purchase electronic monitoring units to help address public safety issues resulting from the lack of county jail space;
• Ghiz increased police walking patrols and public safety technology in the City budget.

That’s why the County’s top law enforcement official has endorsed Leslie. 

"We need people on the Commission whose number one priority is ensuring that the people of our county are safe.  If people are not safe, the important work of addressing job creation and other quality of life concerns will be in vain."

-- Sheriff Simon Leis, Jr.

3.  Putting Hamilton County Residents Back to Work

Noting the fact that unemployment in our county is nearing 10% , Ghiz has committed to finding solutions to get people back to work and stimulate our economy. 

As Vice-Chair of the Economic Development Committee, Ghiz helped create over 1,800 jobs by supporting small business and creating a business-friendly environment. Ghiz co-sponsored a motion accepting the "Go Cincinnati" plan as the blueprint for job-growth. As a result, the city has been able to attract projects like the Graeter's Ice Cream expansion, which will retain and create over 100 jobs this year.

She has been an outspoken critic of plans by democrats to increase the property tax, to tax stock options and increase red tape on developers.

Ghiz will continue this commitment to job creation and economic development as County Commissioner.