That’s the view of the lone Republican Commissioner in Hamilton County, Ohio:
Hamilton County taxpayers will see an increase in property taxes, but pay less for indigent health care at the county’s largest trauma hospital under a plan by Commissioner Greg Hartmann to help pay for the county’s sports stadiums.
In the plan, Hartmann calls for the elimination of a property tax roll back, which would raise property taxes for homeowners.
In exchange for that tax increase, he proposes cutting the indigent care levy by 45 percent, which would eliminate $22 million given every year to University Hospital from the levy.
The plan raises $6 million a year needed to pay for the stadiums while being tax neutral for homeowners. Commercial property owners, who also pay into the indigent care levy, will see a drop in the taxes they pay.
In 2006 Hamilton County voters approved Issue 14, which authorized the levy and funds for health care. I don’t know how the county commissioners could reverse something that was approved by the people, and looking at section 5705.10(c) of the Ohio Revised Code, I don’t think it can be done:
All revenue derived from a special levy shall be credited to a special fund for the purpose for which the levy was made.
But putting the legalities aside, the issue remains of taking money from the health care of the poor to pay for the local stadiums. Given the low attendance of both Reds baseball and Bengals football games, I think the obvious solution is to worry about the majority of the people, and that majority would benefit from keeping the health care levy in place.