Speaker 1: Here it is night first one with a forecast. Got
Speaker 1: a partly cloudy day with isolated chance of rain. High
Speaker 1: at seventy four overnight, It's going to be partly cloudy
Speaker 1: night down to fifty one. Sunday's guys, Tomorrow sixty two
Speaker 1: with clear skies over night thirty seven for the low
Speaker 1: and another sunny day on Sunday, highest sixty.
Speaker 2: Three forty eighth degrees.
Speaker 1: Right now, time for traffick update Chuck Ingram.
Speaker 3: From the UC Health Tramping Center. When it comes to stroke,
Speaker 3: every second counts. That's why you see Comprehensive Stroke Center
Speaker 3: is your clear choice for rapid life saving treatment. Learn
Speaker 3: more at you see help dot com. Step Bend seventy
Speaker 3: five continues heavy through Middletown. That's thanks to the right
Speaker 3: lane blocked off from debris and the roadway. Then just
Speaker 3: a bit slow coming out of lock. One extra minute
Speaker 3: or two is all you'll need, no delay, pass an
Speaker 3: accident after Western Avenue. Chuck Ingram on fifty five KRC
Speaker 3: the talk station. It is eight twenty nine. If you
Speaker 3: got k see the talk station.
Speaker 1: A very happy Friday to you and in studio, and
Speaker 1: I always love when folks come in studio makes it
Speaker 1: a lot easier to have a conversation, and a conversation
Speaker 1: we will have with Jeff Baker. He is running for
Speaker 1: Hamilton County Treasurer. Sometimes not an office people paying a
Speaker 1: real close attention to, particularly in a presidential year when
Speaker 1: the news is dominated by you know, Bernie Marino, Sherif Brown,
Speaker 1: and of course Trump and Harris. But we do have
Speaker 1: down ballot races, including the all important Hamilton County prosecutor race.
Speaker 1: Go please and vote for status quo here we need
Speaker 1: to keep Melissa Powers. But in studio running for Hamilton
Speaker 1: County Treasurer, Jeff Baker. It's a pleasure to have you here, sir.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 4: Brian appreciate the opportunity to come out and introduce myself
Speaker 4: and talk a little bit about my campaign to those
Speaker 4: who may not know who I am.
Speaker 1: Well, if you want to find out more about Jeff,
Speaker 1: just go to Facebook and type in Jeff Baker for
Speaker 1: Hamilton County treasure It'll pop right up.
Speaker 2: You'll get that.
Speaker 1: So let's dive in your background qualifications for treasurer. Let
Speaker 1: me hear what you got to say about that and
Speaker 1: satisfy my listeners.
Speaker 4: Okay, Well, first of all, a little bit about myself.
Speaker 4: I am in my second term as Corean Township fiscal officer.
Speaker 4: I am a Christian father of two beautiful young ladies
Speaker 4: eight years old and thirteen years old, a husband, and
Speaker 4: I have over thirty years experience in business and finance,
Speaker 4: so it kind of goes back to runs the gamut
Speaker 4: from banking to insurance. I was a small business owner
Speaker 4: for a while, and I've been involved in government here
Speaker 4: locally for about thirteen years.
Speaker 1: Fair enough, sounds me a good financial background. Well enough anyway,
Speaker 1: But let me ask you this. As Hamilton County Treasurer,
Speaker 1: you obviously running for a reason. You see something that's amiss.
Speaker 1: What do you see that needs to be trained, ins form, change,
Speaker 1: or otherwise made better through let's say your leadership?
Speaker 2: Sure?
Speaker 4: Well, For first of all, the Treasurer's office currently is
Speaker 4: in dire need of professional leadership. And why I say
Speaker 4: that is you know, there are three main characteristics of
Speaker 4: the Treasurer's office. There is obviously the proper collection of
Speaker 4: property taxes, the safe keeping of those property taxes, and
Speaker 4: the proper disbursement. So whether that disbursement is going to
Speaker 4: the local school district or the zoo or the library
Speaker 4: or where wherever it may be. You have to ensure
Speaker 4: that the correct funds are going to the proper disbursement.
Speaker 4: So I want to key on a couple of things.
Speaker 4: First of all, I think that there's a lack of
Speaker 4: transparency in the office. I think that Hamilton County property
Speaker 4: tax owners have a right to know where the funds
Speaker 4: are sitting, where they're being what they're being invested in,
Speaker 4: and if they're properly kept safe. And it's come to
Speaker 4: my attention, well it's public record, but there is currently
Speaker 4: a case in Common Police Court where an employee has
Speaker 4: been indicted on felony theft charges. And you know, you
Speaker 4: can't necessarily blame the leadership for someone that's going to steal.
Speaker 4: But what I believe you can do is do a
Speaker 4: better job of having safety nets in place to keep
Speaker 4: those employees from being able to steal, such as being
Speaker 4: able to run void receipts. Someone comes in and makes
Speaker 4: a cash payment for their property taxes. That person that's
Speaker 4: taking that property tax payment should not have the ability
Speaker 4: to put that cash in the drawer and later in
Speaker 4: the day run a void receipt for that transaction and
Speaker 4: pocket the money, and oh wow, that can be done
Speaker 4: under the current it can and has. Is that the
Speaker 4: allegation involved in the suit you're referring to, Oh okay,
Speaker 4: and it's actually not a law suit. It's actually a
Speaker 4: felony theft charge.
Speaker 1: Well stated, it's a criminal charge.
Speaker 4: So not only that, but I've also heard from people
Speaker 4: regarding this case that have tried to request public records
Speaker 4: and they've been ignored. You know, as a as a
Speaker 4: fiscal officer in Corny Township, I can tell you that
Speaker 4: you can't just ignore public records requests.
Speaker 2: We get a lot.
Speaker 4: I'm sure other townships do as well, but I respond
Speaker 4: probably to about five hundred public records requests a year,
Speaker 4: so I know how important it is, and I know
Speaker 4: the ramifications of not providing those.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I was just gonna say, there are I mean,
Speaker 1: there are laws on the books that obligate you to
Speaker 1: respond to public relectate records requests within a certain time
Speaker 1: parameter are there not.
Speaker 4: It's a little vague in terms of specific time, but
Speaker 4: it's within a reasonable manner, and when you're talking about
Speaker 4: the county level, that reasonable manner should be pretty quickly.
Speaker 4: You know, this this allegation happened back in February and
Speaker 4: wasn't reported until April, So you got to question yourself
Speaker 4: as to why it took so long for anything to
Speaker 4: be done about it. And if I could add a
Speaker 4: little bit to that, you know, the current treasure has
Speaker 4: been in office for less than four years, and I
Speaker 4: think back of the twenty or so years that the
Speaker 4: previous treasurer was in office, Robert Gerring, and I can't
Speaker 4: think of a single time that someone was indicted on
Speaker 4: filling and theft charges because it didn't happen, right, So
Speaker 4: it boils down to and again, you know, you can't
Speaker 4: blame any individual for someone else winning to steal. But
Speaker 4: what you have to do is you have to be
Speaker 4: more involved. Best practices, yes, and you have to have
Speaker 4: safety nets in place to keep them from being able
Speaker 4: to do so. And as a treasurer, I could tell
Speaker 4: you I will do that. I will make sure that
Speaker 4: you can't print avoid receipt. I'll do that on day one.
Speaker 2: It sounds like a simple solution. Tell you what.
Speaker 1: We'll pause, we take a break here, we'll continue with
Speaker 1: Jeff Baker running for Hamilton County Treasurer again. Check them
Speaker 1: out online at Jeff Baker four, Hamilton County Treasurer on Facebook.
Speaker 1: Stick around right here fifty five k SE.
Speaker 4: The Talk station fifty five KRC, Vote for sure.
Speaker 2: There it is.
Speaker 1: In my first twenty one forecast, we have a partly
Speaker 1: cloudy day to day, possible isolated rain in the highest
Speaker 1: seventy four every night, down a fifty one, partly cloudy skies,
Speaker 1: sunny the weekend. Both days will be SUNNYCA high of
Speaker 1: sixty two on Saturday, and we'll see a high of
Speaker 1: sixty three on Sunday and sandwich in the middle of
Speaker 1: overnight low of thirty seven with clear skies forty eight
Speaker 1: degrees Right now. Traffic time.
Speaker 3: From the UC Health Traffic Center. When it comes to stroke,
Speaker 3: every second counts. That's why U see Comprehension Stroke Centers,
Speaker 3: your clear choice for rapid life saving treatment. Learn more
Speaker 3: at UCHealth dot com. After a rough start this morning,
Speaker 3: highway traffic in pretty good shape right now South Pound
Speaker 3: seventy five. The last of the slow go and that's
Speaker 3: just for an extra minute or through Lachland. There's no
Speaker 3: delay passed. What's left of an accident near Western Avenue.
Speaker 3: Chuck Ingram on fifty five KRC, The Talk station.
Speaker 1: Hey, thirty eight and fifty five krs the talk station.
Speaker 1: Hope you're having a wonderful Friday. We've you got some
Speaker 1: great plans going on for the weekend too. Oh and
Speaker 1: real quick here before you get back to Jeff Baker,
Speaker 1: who is running for Hamilton County treasure My friend Maureen
Speaker 1: wanted to remind folks, and I'm certain she is accurate
Speaker 1: that the Bernie Marino Tucker Carlson event, which originally was
Speaker 1: slated to kick off at doors open at noon, kicking
Speaker 1: off at one. Now she told me the doors are
Speaker 1: actually opening at eleven and the event begins at noon.
Speaker 1: So if you're planning on going to that, you got
Speaker 1: to arrive on early. You have to RSVP and check
Speaker 1: in and all that. So I just want to let
Speaker 1: you know, put a little of that out there as
Speaker 1: valuable information so you're not late. Back to Jeff Baker
Speaker 1: on his page at Facebook, Jeff Baker for Hamlon County
Speaker 1: treasure Treasurer is not responsible for setting the tax rate.
Speaker 2: Do you just pick? You just the collector, right, That's
Speaker 2: that's right.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't want to go to bibylical references
Speaker 1: about tax collectors, but you didn't set the rate of taxes.
Speaker 2: That is true, That is true, or what you won't.
Speaker 1: Set or be your treasure does not.
Speaker 2: I should more properly say.
Speaker 4: That's right, and as Hamilton County treasure I won't for
Speaker 4: those listening who think, oh I know that guy, he
Speaker 4: can help me out of my tax bill. There isn't
Speaker 4: anything that the Treasure can do regarding what the taxes
Speaker 4: are assessed at. However, I feel like there is an
Speaker 4: ability for the Treasure to be an advocate for those
Speaker 4: property owners. And when I say that is because it's
Speaker 4: up to the Treasure when those assessments are collected and
Speaker 4: if someone has a dispute, which a lot of people
Speaker 4: will have recently regarding the twenty twenty three assessments. When
Speaker 4: you have people who have those disputes, I think that
Speaker 4: it should be a common practice to allow them to
Speaker 4: go through the dispute process before paying that property tax
Speaker 4: and not having to just go ahead and pay it
Speaker 4: and say, okay, we'll figure it out later.
Speaker 1: It seems to be the proper order of things. Yes,
Speaker 1: there's a time value of money in that homeowner can
Speaker 1: keep the money in his or her possession until the
Speaker 1: whole thing's adjudicated.
Speaker 2: So I like that idea.
Speaker 4: That's right, and and the the current Treasurer is telling
Speaker 4: those individuals that, you know, there's nothing I can do,
Speaker 4: you know, the state requires me to collect these in
Speaker 4: a certain and a certain time print that that that
Speaker 4: actually is inaccurate. In fact, the the assessment appeal process
Speaker 4: has set timelines as well, and those are being delayed.
Speaker 4: So if the assessment, uh, you know, reevaluations per se
Speaker 4: can be put off, then so can the payments. And
Speaker 4: I think that that's where the advocacy of the current
Speaker 4: treasures is falling short. And I think you have to
Speaker 4: be you have to understand, you know, when when she
Speaker 4: makes a blanket statement that, oh, they're only they've only
Speaker 4: gone up ten percent, well, I don't know where that
Speaker 4: figure is coming from, because mine went up more.
Speaker 1: Than Yeah, a lot of people had a thirty percent bump,
Speaker 1: some even more.
Speaker 4: Yes, it's it's it's it's been extreme. And I believe
Speaker 4: there will be you know, some laws in place to
Speaker 4: limit those with at the state house level. But we
Speaker 4: can only hope, you know, we can only hope.
Speaker 1: But yeah, like, no more than x percent in any
Speaker 1: given kind of you know, assessment period. I mean, there
Speaker 1: has to be a limit to as long as there's
Speaker 1: limited property and a unlimited demand. You know, the loss
Speaker 1: is applying to mand the price of those homes just
Speaker 1: going to continue to go up.
Speaker 2: That's right, that's right, And it's it.
Speaker 4: You know, from the outside looking in, I would see
Speaker 4: I can see where some people might say, well, it
Speaker 4: looks to me like it's a cash crab. Well, we'll
Speaker 4: correct it later, we'll lower them later, but in the
Speaker 4: meantime we're going to collect a little bit of extra money.
Speaker 4: And I don't know, you know, I don't have any
Speaker 4: proof of that. I don't know if that's the case
Speaker 4: or not, but that's certainly what it what it looks like.
Speaker 1: Well, and I personally don't have any proof whatsoever that
Speaker 1: the auditor's office has done anything unto in terms of
Speaker 1: the valuation of the property. Sure, they got comps in
Speaker 1: the area, they know what things have sold for, they're
Speaker 1: good at valuing the market and so. And it's really
Speaker 1: not like the old days where you can just make
Speaker 1: a phone call to your buddy in the auditor's office
Speaker 1: and have your taxes lowered. My dad used to take
Speaker 1: advantage of that. He's dead now, so he's not going
Speaker 1: to have to suffer any consequences. But there was cronyism
Speaker 1: back in the old days. But that's I would say
Speaker 1: that that process, I suppose he is more transparent, even
Speaker 1: though the news is really really bad for the tax payer.
Speaker 2: Well, you would think.
Speaker 4: Going back to the transparency issue, though, I think if
Speaker 4: you go online to the treasure's office, there is little
Speaker 4: to no information that you can find out about what
Speaker 4: you're paying and where your money is going, or what
Speaker 4: it's being invested in, or how it's being dispersed. In fact,
Speaker 4: I would argue that the only thing that you will
Speaker 4: see is the contact address for the treasure's office and
Speaker 4: a nice picture of the current treasure I think taxpayers
Speaker 4: deserve more than that. I think they should be able
Speaker 4: to go on and see where those funds are being
Speaker 4: invested in, where they sit, when they're being dispersed. And
Speaker 4: I will go a step further. I will ensure that
Speaker 4: you don't unless it's mandatory. I will make sure that
Speaker 4: you don't have to look at a picture of me
Speaker 4: when you log on. It will show something else that's
Speaker 4: that's nicer looking, you know, maybe a picture of the
Speaker 4: city or something.
Speaker 1: Like that I always joke I have a face for radio.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's like here, hell's let's focus for a
Speaker 1: moment on this whole component of investment because I asked
Speaker 1: you off, Mike, I said, are these in fact investment invested?
Speaker 1: And you said yes, and of course subject to rules
Speaker 1: and regulations and whys and wherefores. But you know, much
Speaker 1: like the railroad sale resulted in the money being placed
Speaker 1: in an investment account and hopefully it makes a lot
Speaker 1: of money and interest for the city, these dollars just
Speaker 1: don't sit in a just plate plane, zero interest cash
Speaker 1: pile waiting for it to be dispersed. They're actually invested.
Speaker 1: Are you Does the Treasurer have control over who manages
Speaker 1: those funds in the investments?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 4: Yes, part of the part of the safe keeping aspect
Speaker 4: of the Treasure's office is making sure that the funds
Speaker 4: are safely invested, that they're not just sitting there in
Speaker 4: an account waiting to be spent, that you're actually getting
Speaker 4: some return on them. But there are limits, and there
Speaker 4: are many regulations as to what you can invest those in,
Speaker 4: what type of funds you can invest those in.
Speaker 2: Okay, so.
Speaker 1: I suppose within the limits that you mentioned there the
Speaker 1: legal limits. Okay, you can only invest in this type
Speaker 1: of you know, double A rated whatever kind of fund.
Speaker 1: Do you have control over where the money is invested
Speaker 1: within the confines of the law, sure, okay, yes you would.
Speaker 1: And investment advisors are they retained to do this or
Speaker 1: is it just the soule?
Speaker 2: Okay?
Speaker 4: And and and again those are those are limited to
Speaker 4: being approved through the right through the right orders. But
Speaker 4: you do have certain you know, I I you know,
Speaker 4: you do have certain decisions that you can make as
Speaker 4: as treasure as to to what to invest those in.
Speaker 4: You just have to be careful and you're limited to
Speaker 4: some of those. But again it goes back to no
Speaker 4: one would know that because you can't find that information
Speaker 4: out currently, right.
Speaker 1: So you're running on a campaign of transparency and I
Speaker 1: supposed to a certain degree best practices at least in
Speaker 1: so far as security of the money is concerned.
Speaker 4: Right and and being available again, I've i've I've seen
Speaker 4: reports and heard from people personally. You know, when you're
Speaker 4: when you're putting yourself out there and you're running for
Speaker 4: an office and you know, uh, someone else has an
Speaker 4: objection to how that office is being run, you get
Speaker 4: contacted by people, and I've I've I've been contacted by
Speaker 4: individuals who have said, look, I've tried to reach out
Speaker 4: and speak to the treasure and they've flat up. Untild
Speaker 4: there's there's under no circumstances will you be able to
Speaker 4: speak with the Hamilton County treasure And I told you
Speaker 4: off air too. I know that it's not possible just
Speaker 4: to say, Okay, I'm just gonna sit around and I'll
Speaker 4: let anybody contact me whenever they want. That's not you know,
Speaker 4: that's not that possible either. But at the same time,
Speaker 4: I would never sit here and say can't talk, you
Speaker 4: can't contact me. I will make myself available, and I
Speaker 4: will make sure that ham Much County property tax payers
Speaker 4: have the ability to reach out to the person who's
Speaker 4: in charge of the safe keeping of those funds if
Speaker 4: they need to have a conversation. I will make myself
Speaker 4: I can assure you that I will make myself available
Speaker 4: to those taxpayers.
Speaker 1: All right, And back to your point about not having
Speaker 1: to pay the tax bill. While your claim for lowering
Speaker 1: the tax rate is being adjudicated, that review process, that's
Speaker 1: the review is done.
Speaker 2: By the Auditor's office.
Speaker 1: Correct, Correct, So you would have to coordinate and play
Speaker 1: nicely with the Auditor's office to accomplish your goal, because
Speaker 1: I suspect that would force the auditor to have to
Speaker 1: do a quicker review of the appeal.
Speaker 4: There's a board that that does that as well, and
Speaker 4: the auditor is part of that. Yes, and quite honestly,
Speaker 4: the auditor and treasurer work very closely together on a
Speaker 4: daily imagine, on a daily basis, so when a cash
Speaker 4: strawers turned in each day at the Treasurer's office, that
Speaker 4: those funds are are double checked and accounted for also
Speaker 4: by the treasure or by the by the Auditor's office.
Speaker 2: So they work that closely together.
Speaker 4: A lot of the the programs that are used are
Speaker 4: are intertwined together between the.
Speaker 2: Treasure's office and the Auditor's office.
Speaker 4: There's I would be working very closely with the Hamley
Speaker 4: County Auditor to ensure that the money is where.
Speaker 2: It's supposed to be and it's being invested in where
Speaker 2: it's supposed to be.
Speaker 4: I just I just feel like the the Hamilton County
Speaker 4: property tax payers should be able to see that as well.
Speaker 1: Now, fair enough, it's our money, we certainly should I'm
Speaker 1: a firm believer in transparency, maybe even more than some
Speaker 1: people are even comfortable with. And so before we part company,
Speaker 1: Jeff Baker again, it's Jeff Baker for Hamilton Treasurer Online.
Speaker 1: I remember one of the things Dusty Rhodes. He ran
Speaker 1: as a Democrat. We all know dust he's probably more
Speaker 1: conservative than most Republicans in a listening audience, but he
Speaker 1: was able to shrink the size of his office through
Speaker 1: natural attrition. He thought they were overstaffed. He didn't go
Speaker 1: around just firing everyone, but when people left, he didn't replace,
Speaker 1: So the place got smaller, but it also got more efficient.
Speaker 1: So my question to you is do you perceive the
Speaker 1: Treasure's office as having is overstaffed like so many government
Speaker 1: offices are. Do you believe it'd be adequately staffed right
Speaker 1: now or is it something that you'd have to look
Speaker 1: under the hood once you're elected.
Speaker 4: Probably the latter statement. I think I would have to
Speaker 4: evaluate that when I'm there. It's not exactly a huge
Speaker 4: office at the moment. Anyway, twenty some employees, I want
Speaker 4: to say, but again, there's no organizational chart online, so
Speaker 4: you really can't find that information out well, or the.
Speaker 2: Budget for that matter.
Speaker 4: But that would certainly be as someone that is considers
Speaker 4: himself very fiscally conservative, that would certainly be one of
Speaker 4: the very first areas I would look at to see
Speaker 4: if there's a way to save money, because the money
Speaker 4: that you're saving in that office ultimately goes back to
Speaker 4: the taxpayers of Hamilton County and exactly, and that's what
Speaker 4: your responsibility is as a treasurer.
Speaker 1: Maybe I should have established at the outset that you
Speaker 1: are fiscally responsible and that motivates you, because I just
Speaker 1: took it for granted. Ed Ye, how you got the
Speaker 1: Hamilton Kunty Republican endorsement? You are on the pink slip right.
Speaker 2: I am, And I'm also endorsed by the FOP.
Speaker 1: Oh wonderful, that always is a solid endorsement here on
Speaker 1: the fifty five KC Morning Show because we do love
Speaker 1: our law enforcement officers. Well, Jeff, I wish you all
Speaker 1: the best rapidly approaching the election we are, but given
Speaker 1: the seemingly more conservative shift the nation might be going
Speaker 1: through right now, got a good chance of winning. And
Speaker 1: if you do, I sure hope you do a great
Speaker 1: job as the Hamilton County treasure.
Speaker 4: I certainly appreciate it and I look forward to being
Speaker 4: hamlet I know you do.
Speaker 1: Jeff Baker. Great having you in the studio, and thanks
Speaker 1: again for the effort on that one. Folks will have
Speaker 1: a couple of minutes left when we get back, and
Speaker 1: we will be back in just a couple of minutes.
Speaker 4: Stay right here at fifty five Karsiti Talk Station fifty
Speaker 4: five KRC some