CINCINNATI — At the end of the Hamilton County Investment Advisory Committee meeting Tuesday afternoon, Commissioner Denise Driehaus brought up WCPO's recent Homefront report showing the budgets and spending habits — or lack thereof — of the county's Veterans Service Commissions.
“I’m hopeful that we will hear from them just to get more information about what’s going on with their budget,” Driehaus said.
WCPO attempted four different times to get Hamilton County VSO Executive Director William Boettcher to do a sit-down interview, but he said he didn't have time.
RELATED | $31M meant for veterans spent on projects tied to Hamilton County general fund
Commission President Alicia Reece said she's sent an email to Hamilton County Administrator Jeff Aluotto requesting him to invite Boettcher or a representative of the Hamilton County VSO to appear in front of their next meeting on Thursday, Nov. 2 at 1 p.m.
There’s no indication whether a representative will be at the meeting. Veterans Service Commission President Robert Brewster said Boettcher wouldn’t be available to talk to WCPO until after the new year.
Reece emphasized a desire to get more answers as to what’s going on within the VSO and the county commission’s long-standing commitment to veterans.
“I think we need to get to the bottom of this,” Reece said. “Everybody that comes in, gets elected, says how can we do more.”
The Homefront report compared the spending of county Veterans Service Offices in Southwest Ohio. The data from the Ohio Department of Veterans Services showed other counties like Clermont, Butler and Warren spent more on services compared to Hamilton County, which serves the largest number of veterans among the eight-county region.
It also looked at how other counties were offering door-to-door services to get veterans to critical medical appointments, while Hamilton County spent $538 on bus passes, according to their own financial reports.
“The Veterans Service Commission is a separate entity of county government,” Aluotto said. “It’s not a department of the board of county commissioners where that department would report here.”
The Hamilton County Commission is the approving authority of the budget that is requested by the Veterans Commission every year. A process that is approved by way of calculations based on previous years' requests and dollars unspent.
By state law, each Veterans Service Commission can request their budget within the amount provided by the .5mil tied to property values. In Hamilton County, that amount was $7,084,700 for 2022 of which the VSO requested $1,395,640 and was approved for $1,280,405. They spent $930,691 — leaving $6,154,009 unclaimed from the .5mil allotted for 2022.
The total mentioned in the Homefront report showing over $31 million not requested by the VSC and therefore not spent on veterans. The money not spent is used by the county on general fund projects. The total is a culmination of the five years of unspent monies from the .5mil of property values as shown on financial data obtained by WCPO.
Commissioner Stephanie Summerow Dumas spoke briefly about how she’s been on the commission for years and has never met the executive director of the agency.
The Homefront report also focused on concerns by veterans about the lack of services they received when visiting the Hamilton County VSO.
In public records requests, there were no official complaints filed against the VSO. However, since our report several veterans have come forward with their frustrations with working with the office and how they went elsewhere for answers they couldn’t get at the Hamilton County VSO.
Officials within Hamilton County government say they need official complaints to go off of for action to be taken with any agency. To date there are no complaints on file for the VSC/VSO.
Veterans wishing to voice concerns can go to the Hamilton County Veterans Service Commission which meets the second Wednesday of the month at 2 p.m. in their office at 230 E. Ninth St., 1st Floor, Room 1100, Cincinnati, OH 45202.
Again, the Hamilton County Commissioners have asked for a the VSO executive director or a county VSC representative to attend their next meeting set for Nov. 2 at 1 p.m.
WCPO will be there.
If you have a veteran story to tell in your community, email homefront@wcpo.com. You also can join the Homefront Facebook group, follow Craig McKee on Facebook and find more Homefront stories here.
