It's about time to eliminate the double dippers from the county and city. Has anyone ever counted the number of retired people still working? How about "Si"? I've heard he's the biggest double dipper? Has he retired from the prosecutors office or other county position? Si's boys need to stay out of the counties. We approved a levy for out police department and as a result Si's boys aren't needed any longer. Keep them at the "jails" and get rid of double dippers, high ranking county officials and friends and relatives of "Si"!

The public MUST demand Changes at the top!!! No boss with an over inflated ego who only cares about themselves and can't properly budgt needs to be in office. Wake up Cincinnati demand change at the top, GET RID OF THE COMMISSIONERS AND SHERIFF!!!! NOW! Show your not going to stand for anymore smoke screens and fluff!!!!!

Well, it's official today. We were issued our notices that we will lose our jobs Christmas Eve. We were also notified that we will most likely NOT be called back, and that these cuts are ultimately everyone else's fault. The sob story we got was that this hurt the administration as much as it hurt us. My question is "What will Christmas look like at your house this year?" Not like mine I'm sure. My family won't be having one. Severance packages? Seriously...they basically consist of "how to write a resume" and tell us we can't afford insurance for our children. Merry Christmas!!!

Well………….its been a long time coming. Fighting crime is a good thing, however you can not have the ability to arrest more people than you can hold in you jail system. When you do, you will fail. That is what is happening at the Hamilton County Sheriffs Department right now. The Sheriff and his administration have made decisions to spend vast amounts of money on things [Sheriffs toys] that we don’t really need. His administration is very top heavy with people that have been APPOINTED, not because they are qualified , but because they are part of “THE GOOD OLD BOYS CLUB” . The Sheriff has made NO effort in curbing his expenses in administration, or with his toys. The bottom line is the Jail is the lowest level on the pyramid for law enforcement. But if the bottom collapses the top will also fall. Retired Deputy

Our county commissioners are a joke! Sell the banks land, you guys have had enough pre-school sessions over what to do with it, costing our county tons of money and it still site vacant! And to take away our HCSO in the 3 biggest counties! Why did Hamilton county spend tens of thousands paying to advertise for United Way a non-profit? And Hamilton County paid to advertise for Keep Cincinnati Beautiful? And thousands in coffee supplies for a office?? Donuts too!! Funny I dont see any of your meetings to hear the public in the 3 communities you are cutting our HCSO. I agree with 1fky1, the citizens need to get to these meetings and tell these comminsioners how they feel about the position they have put our county in. We the citizens and employees of Hamilton County & their families are paying because they cant handle running a county. BTW..you can look at the Hamilton County expences on their website...very interesting!!

If they can get along without a number of people, why were they hired in the first place?

Why not freeze the sheriffs budget to what it was last year - cut the double dippers and promote officers to fill these positions, leaving room for the troopers at the bottom. Possibly cutting the assistants to the assistants could help - there are so many ways to cut a budget. There should be a law against double dipping, when you retire - retire, the way things are now in the sheriffs office you actually need to wait for someone to die to get a promotion because they don't leave just come back and double dip. Hopefully someone will run against the sheriff at the next election

No one will listen! GET RID OF THE TOP Salaries or cut them in half. Patrick Thompson needs to be at the #1 spot. How dare he tell, for example, the Sheriff's Dept., who to fire. I would LOVE to see him go into a department and do the work. God DKvid kring's where are you!!

I work for the Sheriff's department and have happily been employed for two years. Now to find out that I will be losing my job right around the holiday has completely ruined the Christmas spirit. I am afraid to buy gifts for my 2 year old in fear of not being able to afford to pay the bills a week later. I agree with the other comments of eliminate the double dippers. Offer earlier retirement. Eliminate all of the excess vehicles not needed, or paying for fuel and expenses for non departmental employees. I love my job and am disgusted to face going to work every day, knowing that I am getting one day closer to my last day. There are plenty of other places to make cuts other than corrections or releasing potentially dangerous criminals. If this is what the future holds for us, anarchy is right around the corner. Is this really the example we are setting for our children?

They need to leave the Coroner's office alone. If they continue to cut from the County's Public Safety budget, his office is going to be pretty busy. Seems to me that a county with so much crime would be looking at other areas to cut instead of law enforcement and safety. I don't live in Hamilton County but I work there. The people who live there need to stand up for the men and women who protect you every day! You don't lay off half of you Sheriff's Office and let 400 prisoners out, that is just crazy! What I don't see on the news are the people standing up and fighting against this!