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Resident urges trustees to return excess reserves; trustees say funds are ring‑fenced for services
Summary
During the Sept. 17 meeting, resident Rusty Holman argued Hamilton Township holds about 13.3 months of reserves and urged trustees to adopt a savings-first mindset and return funds to taxpayers. Trustees and staff replied that reserves are held in separate restricted buckets and recent spending addressed service needs.
Rusty Holman, a resident who identified himself in public comment as having previously worked as a fiscal analyst, told the Hamilton Township trustees on Sept. 17 that the township's finances support a different approach: saving and returning excess funds to taxpayers. "After taking those two numbers out, we still have 13.3 months of operating in reserves," Holman said, citing his calculation of about $16.6 million in reserves versus roughly $14.98 million in expenditures.
Holman urged the board to change its "mindset" from one focused on spending to one that actively identifies and returns excess money, citing a Warren County decision in which trustees returned funds to taxpayers as an example. He recommended a standing committee to pursue cost savings and described past work in which he said he documented potential annual savings of about $150,000 from items such as gasoline, utilities and insurance.
Trustees and administration pushed back on the notion that the board was simply "sitting on money." An unnamed trustee explained the apparent surplus is divided into separate fund buckets that are legally or practically restricted and therefore not freely transferable between services. The trustee described investments in police and fire staffing, a new fire station and a new public works building, and said the 2019 levy was intended to fund these multi-year priorities. "Overall picture, it is 13 months, but those are all in separate buckets," the trustee said, urging that reserve calculations account for those restrictions.
Administrator Jeff acknowledged Holman's point and suggested the township could do a better job highlighting small savings the staff finds across departments. Jeff also pointed to recent accomplishments, including onboarding six new full‑time fire personnel and securing federal grant funding to offset training costs. "I appreciate those comments, and maybe it's a typical Greater Cincinnati sense of humbleness," Jeff said, adding that the township should publicize successes more often.
Holman also raised concerns about a past road levy calculation and said he had previously challenged the formula and been proven correct on a specific point. Trustees said they have been transparent about levy plans and emphasized the need to maintain services without sacrificing public safety.
The board did not take an immediate policy vote in response to Holman's comments; trustees directed staff and the board to continue routine budget work and to consider ways to communicate cost‑saving efforts to the public.
