Fellow Citizens

As your Hamilton County Board of Commissioners, we are pleased to present our first Report Card to you, the people of Hamilton County. It is a new report that we expect to produce every year. Its purpose is to show you our performance and the progress that we are making in a number of important areas. It also shows how our county and the region are changing and how we are affected by those changes.

The board is committed to a number of goals; increased accountability is one of the most important. That’s why we publicly declare our goals and report progress to you. For example, in our 2005 budget goals we promised to keep county spending below the rate of inflation. In this report, you will see our performance and how we have slowed the growth in county spending. We are also concerned about threats that the county faces, threats that affect the county’s competitive position as an economic force and, in turn, our ability to provide cost-effective, quality services. The top threats that we are especially concerned about are:

• The loss of population.
• The loss of jobs.
• The stadium fund’s projected deficits.

The charts to the right show these troublesome trends. A more detailed explanation is presented in the report. We intend to focus our attention on implementing strategies that will reverse the negative direction of these trends. And, we look forward to reporting back to you on our success.

We invite you to tell us what you think of the new Report Card. What’s most important to you? What do you like? How should we change it? Please call 946-CARD (946-2273), fill out our online response form, or send us an e-mail () to give your feedback.

Thank you.

Pat Dewine

Phil Heimlich

Todd Portune