Letter to the mayor and city council advocating that the city establish a cost accounting system

If you are like me and you look at the city’s Connected Communities process; the 2023 “Green Cincinnati Plan;” as well as, the “Financial Freedom Blueprint,” you must be wondering how much it cost in staff time and resources to produce these elaborate government plans. They obviously cost a lot. For example, there was a report in the Columbus Dispatch where someone reported that the Columbus version of Connected Communities, caled “Zone-In,” cost $3 million, so far. So, I submitted a records request seeking cost information for Connected Communities and the Green Cincinnati Plan.

The city responded with their standard legalistic denial but I got the impression that they truly did not know what I was talking about.

It is hard to believe that the city manager is making decisions without a process for capturing the costs of various projects.  I wound up sending a letter to the city attempting to explain the value of a cost accounting system.

The letter also notified them that based on the response to my records request, I was going to report that the city does not know how much Connected Communities and the Green Cincinnati Plan cost the taxpayers. Believe me, it was a lot of money.

Zinser cost accounting letter to council 6.4.25