December 10, 2025 • 9 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
She talks station about eighty forty seven. Ryan Thomas pleased
as he can be, Please as I can be to
Welcome to the fifty five KC Morning Show. Hamlon County
Commissioner Alisha Rees. Alicia, it's great to have you on
the morning show. Thanks for coming on today, Thanks for
having me on. Please do and please to see you
stepping over the plate. Hamilon County Prosecutor Connie Pillage, I understand,
(00:20):
actually showed up in your budget discussion meeting. As I understand,
you and the other county commissioners are currently working on
the county budget, which must be approved by December thirty. First,
if I've got that right, it was noted by local news.
I think The Inquiry and Fox nineteen I know both
reported on it. You said, the first time you've ever
seen a prosecutor come in in person for the presentation,
(00:42):
because Connie Pillage is worried about the budget cut coming
her way.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, it's the first time that since I've been elected
that I've seen the actual prosecutor come in on. In
terms of a budget, they usually send their budget people,
and she came in herself and let me just say,
we've got a budget and you know, for anything, you've
got to get to votes. And I have been fighting
against a lot of things that have been going on
(01:08):
for you know, decades, because people who elected me said, hey,
we want to we want to make sure that the
citizens and the taxpayers come first. And so in this budget,
I'm really want to make sure that we have safety.
We've got to have safety, and we have to have affordability.
So I've been fighting against property high property tax increases,
(01:31):
you know, I've been fighting for the thirty percent that
was promised to the people we went to the Yeah,
I've been fighting that.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
And thank you from the bottom of my heart, thank
you for being the ones that say, listen, we promised
the voters we would do this. Let's step up and
do what we were what we promised. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yeah. So it's been a real tough fight because this
time they didn't go with it. My two colleagues passed
a new deal with the Bengals, and the advisor said,
if we pass this particular new deal, it would cut
out the promise to the homeowners. And so that's why
I couldn't go with that deal. I said, let's get
a different deal. Let's try to do what Denver did
(02:10):
get some more private investment, and most of the deals
now for the stadiums have more private investment. But I
was out numbered, and they went with this deal. And
they knew that in this deal, and in my speech
with the experts, the finance people, they knew that the
homeowners would get cut out. And so now in this
budget they only want to give four percent to the
(02:31):
homeowners when they were supposed to get thirty percent. So
the property tax this year will go up. And then
they tried to blame the homeowners, said, well, the homeowners,
they're going to bankrupt the fund. No, the stadium deal
is bankrupt in the fund because we didn't get a
better We didn't get a better deal. So taxes are
going up there. So I've been fighting that. Then they
wanted to add can you imagine this in this budget.
(02:52):
They wanted to balance it by adding a new transfer
tax if you sell your home. And so the relatory
alliance folks and the relatives that everybody came down the
experts yesterday in our hearing and said we can't do that.
That will make or break and be passed on to
the homeowners, the buyers, the sellers, and run people to
(03:14):
Clearmont County Warrant County in Kentucky because we would have
the highest transfer tax on fighting to get that out
of there. Now, on top of that, we having the
budget where they only put slats for the prosecutor's office.
And I said, wait a minute, I mean they have
positions that need to be felled. And the prosecutor came
(03:35):
down and said she would have to lay off people.
And let me be absolutely clear, safety and affordability are
my two biggest things. And I said, wait a minute.
The prosecutor's office must be fully funded and staffed to
make sure that we're taken on crime. We're having justice
(03:55):
and we've got safety, and then the other thing in
state law. To be honest, the prosecutor's office could go
to the courts and get the budget. They don't have
to be working, you know, with us. So I'm happy
that the prosecutor county pillage. We said, hey, let's try
to work this thing out. But I'm telling the administrator
(04:16):
and I'm only one vote, but very important, we've got
to have a voice. I said, she needs to make
sure that her office is funded, has the right staffing
to make sure that the whole county is safe. I'm
talking villages and townships and cities. I mean, this is
the core of the budget, and we've got to make
sure that it happened. We can't be funding stadiums and
(04:38):
then come back and say we can't fund the prosecutor's office.
It just doesn't make sense, really.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
And that's one of the more profound points that came out,
and I'm glad you embraced that. You know, we've got
to consider priorities. We agreed to spend three hundred fifty
million dollars on pay corps, and I know we have
a lease obligation to do something along those lines where
you're going to have to, you know, tighten the belt elsewhere,
and we need to keep the prosecutor's office fully funded.
I sort of viewed this flat budget that Jeff Alito,
the Kunty administrator, suggested, which will result in I think
(05:05):
eighteen prosecutors getting laid off or late eighteen people being
laid off in the prosecutor's office, is analogous to kind
of like defund police. If the prosecutors don't have the
ability to prosecute cases, then either they're going to enter
into real soft plea agreements so they don't have to
take people to trial or they're just going to not
prosecute them at all. That is not good for the
state of crime in the county.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
No, that's a safety hazard. And I've indicated to the
administrator I don't know and even to her budget person,
how in the world did we come in flat on
the prosecutor's office. I mean, that's where you kind of
start off, and then you know, the prosecutor's office, the
shares office. We've got to have safety and we have
to have affordability, and that's how I look at the budget.
(05:47):
I want safety and then I want affordability so the
people can afford to live here. And right now we're
in an imbalance as it relates to those areas. And
you mentioned you said we have obligations with the stadiums.
Remember that obligation had expired. True, So we had a
chance to do a new thing, and we came back
with a new thing that axed out a three hundred
(06:08):
and fifty million, eight hundred total million deal with interest,
and we came in with something axing out the homeowners.
And that's why I wanted to take it to the ballot.
Because if you don't go to the ballot, they'll ax
you out. And then you come back and say, now
we're going to add the transfer text and then let
me say this. People said, where are you going to
find some of the money. Well, that in the in
the budget we had approved and I support sundance. I
(06:32):
supported it two million dollars, but we didn't get sundance.
We also approved another five million dollars for a women's
soccer league. I supported that, but we didn't get it.
So that I told the administered I said, that's seven
million dollars I just found that we didn't use. Yeah,
why can't we Why can't we put that toward the
(06:52):
prosecutor's office. He said, well, normally, you know, those are
interest earning funds that he found, and he said, normally
we don't do that one time. But remember our budget.
We have one time budgets because we do at the county.
Unlike other governments, we have a yearly budget. So do
it now sales tax. Hopefully the economy recovers and then
(07:14):
we worry about it next time. But we have us
we have an emergency to make sure that the prosecutor's
office is fully staged. Yeah, and can do their jobs.
And because safety is on the line and then affordability
is on the line, and those are the two things
that I think are important in the budget. So I've
been fighting for these things because there's some tough times
(07:36):
out here.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Alisha Reice. You just got done finding seven million dollars.
Give the prosecutor's office a two million dollars shortfall that
that will cover them until next year. And we'll always
going to face problems, right, Alisia, deal with it next year.
You got five million extra that you didn't spend. Why
not throw that at some of the other problems that
people are screaming about? You are you? Is there is
(07:57):
there a possibility as you see things right now, Commissioner Lisha,
that they will that county pullets in the Prosecutor's office
will get that money that they obviously need in the
interest to Hamilton County and the residents. Is not over yet, No,
it's not over.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
I'm gonna fight like hell, I'm only one vote. But
you know when I put the thirty percent up when
I first got elected, they said, oh, there's no way
you're gonna get it. We was able to get it
one year. I was able to get the second year
if you get the people. We got to have the people,
and always tell people when I'm down there, yes there's
three of us, but I'm representing two hundred and eighteen
thousand people that voted for me. So it's you know,
(08:32):
the people call and get involved in I've instructed the
administrator to get with the Prosecutor's office and let's try
to work this out because safety and affordability are the
two biggest things right now, and we've got to make
sure that the county is safe.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Excellent a call to action from kind of Commissioner Lisha
Revee to do everything that you and I want, which
is keep Hamilton County safe, get the prosecutor the funds
that she needs so we can prosecute crimes. Alicia, thank
you for being a void of reason. I will look
forward to having you back on this show, and if
we don't talk between now and December, I wish you
the best on the budget and I wish you and
your family are very happy holiday and Merry Christmas.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Thank you, Happy holidays, Merry Christmas to you as well
and your listeners, and thanks for having me on to
get the word out
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Any time Commissioner reaset anytime eight fifty six, right now,
if you have Karsite talk station,
She talks station about eighty forty seven. Ryan Thomas pleased
as he can be, Please as I can be to
Welcome to the fifty five KC Morning Show. Hamlon County
Commissioner Alisha Rees. Alicia, it's great to have you on
the morning show. Thanks for coming on today, Thanks for
having me on. Please do and please to see you
stepping over the plate. Hamilon County Prosecutor Connie Pillage, I understand,
(00:20):
actually showed up in your budget discussion meeting. As I understand,
you and the other county commissioners are currently working on
the county budget, which must be approved by December thirty. First,
if I've got that right, it was noted by local news.
I think The Inquiry and Fox nineteen I know both
reported on it. You said, the first time you've ever
seen a prosecutor come in in person for the presentation,
(00:42):
because Connie Pillage is worried about the budget cut coming
her way.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, it's the first time that since I've been elected
that I've seen the actual prosecutor come in on. In
terms of a budget, they usually send their budget people,
and she came in herself and let me just say,
we've got a budget and you know, for anything, you've
got to get to votes. And I have been fighting
against a lot of things that have been going on
(01:08):
for you know, decades, because people who elected me said, hey,
we want to we want to make sure that the
citizens and the taxpayers come first. And so in this budget,
I'm really want to make sure that we have safety.
We've got to have safety, and we have to have affordability.
So I've been fighting against property high property tax increases,
(01:31):
you know, I've been fighting for the thirty percent that
was promised to the people we went to the Yeah,
I've been fighting that.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
And thank you from the bottom of my heart, thank
you for being the ones that say, listen, we promised
the voters we would do this. Let's step up and
do what we were what we promised. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yeah. So it's been a real tough fight because this
time they didn't go with it. My two colleagues passed
a new deal with the Bengals, and the advisor said,
if we pass this particular new deal, it would cut
out the promise to the homeowners. And so that's why
I couldn't go with that deal. I said, let's get
a different deal. Let's try to do what Denver did
(02:10):
get some more private investment, and most of the deals
now for the stadiums have more private investment. But I
was out numbered, and they went with this deal. And
they knew that in this deal, and in my speech
with the experts, the finance people, they knew that the
homeowners would get cut out. And so now in this
budget they only want to give four percent to the
(02:31):
homeowners when they were supposed to get thirty percent. So
the property tax this year will go up. And then
they tried to blame the homeowners, said, well, the homeowners,
they're going to bankrupt the fund. No, the stadium deal
is bankrupt in the fund because we didn't get a
better We didn't get a better deal. So taxes are
going up there. So I've been fighting that. Then they
wanted to add can you imagine this in this budget.
(02:52):
They wanted to balance it by adding a new transfer
tax if you sell your home. And so the relatory
alliance folks and the relatives that everybody came down the
experts yesterday in our hearing and said we can't do that.
That will make or break and be passed on to
the homeowners, the buyers, the sellers, and run people to
(03:14):
Clearmont County Warrant County in Kentucky because we would have
the highest transfer tax on fighting to get that out
of there. Now, on top of that, we having the
budget where they only put slats for the prosecutor's office.
And I said, wait a minute, I mean they have
positions that need to be felled. And the prosecutor came
(03:35):
down and said she would have to lay off people.
And let me be absolutely clear, safety and affordability are
my two biggest things. And I said, wait a minute.
The prosecutor's office must be fully funded and staffed to
make sure that we're taken on crime. We're having justice
(03:55):
and we've got safety, and then the other thing in
state law. To be honest, the prosecutor's office could go
to the courts and get the budget. They don't have
to be working, you know, with us. So I'm happy
that the prosecutor county pillage. We said, hey, let's try
to work this thing out. But I'm telling the administrator
(04:16):
and I'm only one vote, but very important, we've got
to have a voice. I said, she needs to make
sure that her office is funded, has the right staffing
to make sure that the whole county is safe. I'm
talking villages and townships and cities. I mean, this is
the core of the budget, and we've got to make
sure that it happened. We can't be funding stadiums and
(04:38):
then come back and say we can't fund the prosecutor's office.
It just doesn't make sense, really.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
And that's one of the more profound points that came out,
and I'm glad you embraced that. You know, we've got
to consider priorities. We agreed to spend three hundred fifty
million dollars on pay corps, and I know we have
a lease obligation to do something along those lines where
you're going to have to, you know, tighten the belt elsewhere,
and we need to keep the prosecutor's office fully funded.
I sort of viewed this flat budget that Jeff Alito,
the Kunty administrator, suggested, which will result in I think
(05:05):
eighteen prosecutors getting laid off or late eighteen people being
laid off in the prosecutor's office, is analogous to kind
of like defund police. If the prosecutors don't have the
ability to prosecute cases, then either they're going to enter
into real soft plea agreements so they don't have to
take people to trial or they're just going to not
prosecute them at all. That is not good for the
state of crime in the county.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
No, that's a safety hazard. And I've indicated to the
administrator I don't know and even to her budget person,
how in the world did we come in flat on
the prosecutor's office. I mean, that's where you kind of
start off, and then you know, the prosecutor's office, the
shares office. We've got to have safety and we have
to have affordability, and that's how I look at the budget.
(05:47):
I want safety and then I want affordability so the
people can afford to live here. And right now we're
in an imbalance as it relates to those areas. And
you mentioned you said we have obligations with the stadiums.
Remember that obligation had expired. True, So we had a
chance to do a new thing, and we came back
with a new thing that axed out a three hundred
(06:08):
and fifty million, eight hundred total million deal with interest,
and we came in with something axing out the homeowners.
And that's why I wanted to take it to the ballot.
Because if you don't go to the ballot, they'll ax
you out. And then you come back and say, now
we're going to add the transfer text and then let
me say this. People said, where are you going to
find some of the money. Well, that in the in
the budget we had approved and I support sundance. I
(06:32):
supported it two million dollars, but we didn't get sundance.
We also approved another five million dollars for a women's
soccer league. I supported that, but we didn't get it.
So that I told the administered I said, that's seven
million dollars I just found that we didn't use. Yeah,
why can't we Why can't we put that toward the
(06:52):
prosecutor's office. He said, well, normally, you know, those are
interest earning funds that he found, and he said, normally
we don't do that one time. But remember our budget.
We have one time budgets because we do at the county.
Unlike other governments, we have a yearly budget. So do
it now sales tax. Hopefully the economy recovers and then
(07:14):
we worry about it next time. But we have us
we have an emergency to make sure that the prosecutor's
office is fully staged. Yeah, and can do their jobs.
And because safety is on the line and then affordability
is on the line, and those are the two things
that I think are important in the budget. So I've
been fighting for these things because there's some tough times
(07:36):
out here.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Alisha Reice. You just got done finding seven million dollars.
Give the prosecutor's office a two million dollars shortfall that
that will cover them until next year. And we'll always
going to face problems, right, Alisia, deal with it next year.
You got five million extra that you didn't spend. Why
not throw that at some of the other problems that
people are screaming about? You are you? Is there is
(07:57):
there a possibility as you see things right now, Commissioner Lisha,
that they will that county pullets in the Prosecutor's office
will get that money that they obviously need in the
interest to Hamilton County and the residents. Is not over yet, No,
it's not over.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
I'm gonna fight like hell, I'm only one vote. But
you know when I put the thirty percent up when
I first got elected, they said, oh, there's no way
you're gonna get it. We was able to get it
one year. I was able to get the second year
if you get the people. We got to have the people,
and always tell people when I'm down there, yes there's
three of us, but I'm representing two hundred and eighteen
thousand people that voted for me. So it's you know,
(08:32):
the people call and get involved in I've instructed the
administrator to get with the Prosecutor's office and let's try
to work this out because safety and affordability are the
two biggest things right now, and we've got to make
sure that the county is safe.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Excellent a call to action from kind of Commissioner Lisha
Revee to do everything that you and I want, which
is keep Hamilton County safe, get the prosecutor the funds
that she needs so we can prosecute crimes. Alicia, thank
you for being a void of reason. I will look
forward to having you back on this show, and if
we don't talk between now and December, I wish you
the best on the budget and I wish you and
your family are very happy holiday and Merry Christmas.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Thank you, Happy holidays, Merry Christmas to you as well
and your listeners, and thanks for having me on to
get the word out
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Any time Commissioner reaset anytime eight fifty six, right now,
if you have Karsite talk station,
Brian Thomas News
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