A few issues have arisen lately that CMERA has taken action on. Most people are aware that the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) was passed by Congress earlier this spring to provide relief in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Local governments like the city of Cincinnati are slated to receive federal money under the ARP. Our City will receive ~$290 million. Not much guidance was provided about limitations on what the funds could be used for, except that it was made clear that that ARP money is not to be used to pay off pension debts.
On behalf of CMERA, I sent a letter to City Council asking them to search for ways to leverage the federal funds however they could, to free up other budgeted money to be used for pension. Several CMERA members also wrote letters to our elected officials.
Council’s Budget and Finance Committee held public hearings to hear from constituents on allocation of this money. I spoke on behalf of CMERA at the hearing on April 19, 2021. I’ll share my speaking notes here. You can also see a video of the meeting; my part starts about 16 minutes in.
Most of this information has been shared with CMERA members via [email protected], our email discussion forum. If you are not a member of CMERAgroups and would like to join, please request an invitation by sending an email to [email protected]. CMERAgroups is open to all CMERA members who are current on their dues.
Here is contact information for the current members of Cincinnati City Council.