Cincinnati sold its railroad for $1.6 billion. That’s a lot of money, and we should know exactly where it goes.
The money went into a trust to help pay for improvements to existing infrastructure. But putting it in a trust doesn’t answer every question about how the city spends what it receives.
Councilman Mark Jeffreys said several departments were significantly underspending their railroad money. He asked whether it could go to other areas ready to spend it, like roads.
Good question. But I have another one. How are we supposed to know whether this money is being spent the way it should be?
A budget tells us what the city plans to do. I want to know what it actually did. Where did the money go? Who got paid? How much? What did they do, and was
it worth what we paid?
We should be able to see all of that in one place. We should also get clear explanations for why one project gets money and another has to wait. If the city changes its plans, explain why.
This is our money. Asking what happened to it should be the easiest part.
And why should we just believe the people spending it? If something went wrong, why would they want to admit it? Of course, they’re going to want their decisions to look good. That’s why we need someone independent checking their work.
I want independent audits that look at both whether the money was spent the way it was supposed to be and whether we got our money’s worth. Following the rules doesn’t mean something was a good decision.
Make those findings public. If there’s a problem, the city should have to explain what it’s doing about it and when.
If money was misused, there should be consequences for the people responsible and repayment wherever possible. Finding out what happened means very little if nobody has to answer for it.
I’m not saying spend it all as fast as possible. That would be another way to waste it. If there’s a good reason a project is taking longer, tell us. But if a department is holding money without a plan to use it, we deserve to know that, too.
I’m worried this will become a slush fund. I’m not saying it already is. I’m saying we should be able to see where the money goes instead of waiting until something goes wrong to start asking questions.
Whether you wanted the railroad sold or not, it’s sold. We can’t do that again.
We residents, deserve to know what we got for it.
Thomas Maddox is a senior at the University of Cincinnati who lives in Corryville and is a member of the Enquirer Board of Contributors.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati got $1.6B for its railroad. Who's watching the money? | Opinion
