January 16, 2026 • 16 mins
- In this episode, Jack Windsor, editor in chief of the Ohio Press Network, discusses the recent Operation Buckeye, which involved a significant increase in ICE agents in Ohio, particularly in Columbus. The operation aimed to arrest non-citizens with criminal records, highlighting the Trump administration's strict immigration enforcement policies. Windsor shares insights into the ongoing investigations into cash smuggling operations linked to the Somali community in Columbus, revealing the complexities of immigration and law enforcement in the state. He emphasizes the importance of accountability in government programs, particularly regarding the handling of funds and the oversight of state agencies.
- The conversation then shifts to the topic of property taxes in Ohio, where Windsor outlines recent legislative changes aimed at reforming property valuation and school funding. He discusses the potential for a ballot initiative to eliminate property taxes entirely, raising concerns about the implications for local services. Windsor advocates for increased transparency and accountability in government spending, suggesting that citizens must hold their local officials accountable for financial decisions. The episode concludes with a hopeful outlook on the future of property tax reform in Ohio, emphasizing the need for responsible governance and fiscal responsibility.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Is then, of course, the return of Jack Windsor, editor
in chief of the High Press Network. You can find
them online at the Ohio Pressnetwork dot com. That makes sense.
Welcome back, Jack Winsor. It's great to have you on
the fifty five CARC Morning Show.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Sir so.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Operation Buck Guy, as you know, was a deliberate, high
intensity effort by DHS and Home Security Investigators HSI deploying.
My understanding is up to three hundred additional ICE agents
in Ohio, concentrated in Columbus, but of course spanning the
entire state, and it prioritized brian the arrest of non
(00:34):
citizens without legal status, emphasizing those with what we would
call egregious criminal records, labeled the worst of the worst,
and the operation underscores a resolute stance on immigration enforcement,
of course from the Trump administration, and the last tally
that we had was two hundred and eighty arrests Now,
(00:55):
I don't try to hang out on Reddit a whole lot,
because generally we find the mouth breathing neck beards there
more or less sane minded people, but the trotal peers.
There are watchers and trackers still telling us that ICE
is huvering around Ohio State University Sawmill Road, so Ice
still is in town. I've reached out to Tricia McLaughlin,
(01:17):
my strong contact at the Department of Homeland Security, to
figure out where that operation has turned. But there have
been a lot of arrests.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Okay, when you mentioned the two undred and eighty arrest figure,
whether it's accurate, and I appreciate that we're dealing with
sort of fog of war type reality here, but that's
just in the the greater Columbus area.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Well, my understanding is that is all over the Buckeye.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Stick, oh the whole state of Ohio.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
That seems like an extraordinarily low figure, unless, of course,
Ohio has not been an illegal immigration magnet.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Well, I can tell you that we've sent one hundred
and thirty five million dollars of cash in suitcases to
places like Minnesota and then Dubai, allegedly through the Somali
population in Columbus and Brian. I think that's probably the
main reason Columbus was the focal point. And this is
(02:11):
where it gets really dicey, and the mainstream press doesn't
talk about this much, and so I'm gonna get a
little granular here without being confusing on a morning show,
because I know we all need our caffeine sometimes, but
there's kind of this misnoet.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
To tell you what Jack hold on.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Since you're gonna get granular, and I'm at eight thirty five,
let's bring you back and then you can get granular. Well,
now I'll be it's very interesting stuff here. Jack's being
gonna be gonna be talking about the ohiopressnetwork dot com.
Great site, bookmarket WHI you're there, you'd be glad you
did that as well for the concert reporting they've got
going on.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
More with Jack Winsor after these brief.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Words, fifty five krc Steve talk station.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Hey thirty nine here for the bove KRCD talk station
Brian Thomas with I can see him, you can Jack
Windsor he's at the ohio Press Network. Great stuff from
Jack and all those who help support a hiopress network.
You can do the same thing. Just bookmark the site,
read what he's got to say, and of course support
the site information they provide. Jack Winsor we're sticking with ice.
(03:11):
You're getting ready to get what you called granular. And
remember I've got a weed dwelling audience. Jack, So don't
feel too afraid to get into some weeds that most
of the people you talk to might not be hipped to.
But give us the straight to the straight skinny there, Jack.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah, So I'll just I'll keep it simple. So DHS
they really surged resources here to Ohio for that operation Buck. Guys,
we just talked about before the break. Two hundred and
eighty arrests were announced. And you know, one of the
things that the press likes to talk about, Brian, is
that citizens could be investigated or arrested and that should
(03:49):
be illegal. That's not the case. Homeland security investigators can
certainly investigate citizens or for nationals who here. And part
of why Columbus was targeted we now know in retrospect.
Right when Operation Buckeye was announced late December, we didn't
(04:11):
know this. Now we do. One hundred and thirty five
million dollars left John Glenn Columbus International Airport and it
was essentially a Somali cash smuggling operation. And so all right,
quote ono.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
We know about this because the TSA agents observed the
hundreds of thousands of dollars in suitcases that were going
through the bag scanners at the airport, right, Well, that.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Would seem to be the case. We're still trying to
get the story straight on that, and I don't want
to get accusatory. All we know at this juncture is
there's one hundred and thirty five million dollars. I'll keep
it at that. We are looking into that. By the way,
John Solomon at just the News has done a fantastic
job breaking and covering the story, but that's part of it, right,
(05:02):
So I really just want to debunk that mainstream media
myth that because ICE or DHS is involved, that they
can't look into people who might be alleged citizens or
foreign nationals. That's absolutely not the case. If there is
a foreign component and it's a threat to national security,
then all bets are off and they're here to investigate.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
It's the commission of any American citizens get arrested for
crime all the time. If there's reasonable suspicions there's a
crime going on. Doesn't matter whether you're a US citizen
or a foreign national, you're going to get investigated.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
That's exactly right. And by the way, ICE is still here,
and what we're hearing is that the arrests are about
two to three per day. So there has been a
tapering off, but my guess is we might see a
surge again. And you know, the bottom line is there
are two things going on. We want to make sure
that people who are here illegally and who are the
(05:56):
worst of the worst. And if you go down that
punch list of people who were arrested, many of them
have convictions or have been sighted and skipped court dates,
and so they have been apprehended. But then there's also
that component of is their fraud, waste and abuse, say
in the daycare system, in the home health system, in
the transportation system, and does it have a foreign component.
(06:19):
The answer is yes, and we're still gathering how big
that is. But Brian, we're probably talking about billions of
dollars when it's all said and downe.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
So in other words, we're analogous to the situation that
we've all been made aware of in Minnesota.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
I would say yes, And in fact, I don't know
if you know this. You may. I was boots on
the ground with a very very interesting character.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
I like him.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
His name is John Rocker for former Major League Baseball star.
He came to Columbus, Ohio to check it out and
one of the things that we just stumbled on was
the Somali Education Resource Center. Now we couldn't find it
because their online listings showed them closed and they were
not where they were supposed to be. We got there,
it is an office building. They did have a working
(07:04):
doorbell and video monitoring system. Well. As it turns out,
they've received forty three million dollars fourteen million dollars last year,
but their credentials were revoked midyear, and so when we
started having conversations after being out on the street, what
we learned was six and a half million dollars may
have been paid to the Smalley Education Resource Center improperly.
So lawmakers now are working to call that back. But
(07:27):
the key to that is that ties directly back to Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Wow, But trying to claw back six million dollars from
what someone I'm sure has zero assets at all, and
all that money's already been sent back to al Shabab
through Minneapolis or even directly via wire transfer, You're never
going to get that money back to Where's the failure?
Jack Windsor, I mean, I got to this is statement,
where's the failure? Jack Windsor, are do you place any
blame at the hands of you know, Thedwine administration or
(07:54):
maybe auditor Key Faber. I know he's trying to crack
down on some of this a lease he's paid lip
service to that. I mean, is this a just across
the across the board, just collective, typical government program where
no one bothers to follow where the money's going.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Yes, it is. And look if the Wine is going
to stand on his little soapbox, which he needs literally
because he's about my height, if he's going to stand
on his soapbox and say, you know, the buck stopped
with me during COVID, well, then Governor, the buck stops
with you on unemployment, on Medicaid now on this And
so we've heard this from everything is fine to Wine before,
(08:30):
right Brian, where he's come out and said, oh, you know,
the improper payments through the unemployment system are not significant. Wrong.
We broke that story billions of dollars. The director left,
and then he came out and said, hey, you know,
the improper payments or lack of oversighted Medicaid, isn't that significant? Wrong?
We found that that might be six billion or more
per year. The director is now gone, and so he
(08:51):
has the goal to get out in front of people,
in front of cameras and say, well, this is just
the cost of doing businesses and there's not significant fraud here.
I think he's going to be wrong again, and I
think that the buck does stop with him. Now, what
I will tell you when we investigated the alleged medicaid
fraud here in Ohio that was initiated by state Representative
Mike Devilla, a Republican out of Borea, what we found
was that the Auditor's office had for a long time
(09:13):
attempted to do some auditing, but the Dwine administration said, no,
we can't do that because it's a hip of violation
to share too much of this information. So there was
a there were There was language put in the biennial
budget that passed last year that gave five million dollars
to Auditor Keith Favor Favor to audit the medicaid system.
So favorite it has now ratcheting powers, and I expect
(09:36):
that he's going to be more able to do the
job he was elected to do. And I don't necessarily
put it at the feet of Keith Faber. I put
it at the feet of Governor Mike dwine.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
And to the hip of sharing. That's it seems to
be a nonsensical argument because medical providers often share a
hip of hipA qualified information with third parties. They just
enter into a confidentiality agreement where the third parties have
to follow the hipp A law within government. That seems
to me like something that will be presumed.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Jack Well, and that's one and two. I want you
to think about how asinine it is. Right you have
a state auditor whose job it is to audit state agencies,
and you have a governor saying, well, you can't audit
this agency. I mean, it is the definition of insanity.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
But it's on my job description, says Keith Favor, I'm
supposed to be doing this.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Jack Windsor will continue. We'll get one more.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
We're going to dive onto the area of property taxes,
hot issue and one that I think some of the
elected officials are sweating about, given that there may be
a ballt an issue to a completely eradicate properly taxes
and Jack Windsor from the Io Press Network, one more
coming up.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Next fifty five KRC KRC the Talk Station.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Hey fifty thank you Joe Streker for the Dead Kennedy's
awesome Jack Windsor from the high Press netwhere we call
this appropriately themed bumper music. So Jack, we're gonna move
on over with Jack. Remember he is from the high
Press Network. Find a bit of hot press the Ohio
(11:12):
Pressnetwork dot com and get a subscription. Great stuff focusing
on Ohio, and hopefully we'll go a different direction with
Vive Gramaswami as governor of the State of Ohio, who
will I am certain, use all the resources within his
power to crack down on fraud, waste and abuse. There
is a lot of it in Ohio. But we also
are dealing with property taxes something else is a bit
of a sticky wicket. I know that the budget that
(11:34):
was passed well resulted in some line item vetos by
our favorite friend, Governor Mike Dwine, who thought he might
have had a better plan going on steaming in the background.
So some efforts by our elected officials to give us
some relief and shot down, and then some were advanced
but really not quite adequate. Are we What are we
(11:55):
going to do? Because I guess the looming elephant in
the room is that idea that a ballot initiative might
eradicate property taxes and they are ill equipped to deal
with the aftermath of that, Jack.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Yeah, so let me can I sprint through what was
done real quick and then address Okay, awesome. So I
do want to point out that Governor DeWine did veto,
as you mentioned, four provisions in the biennial budget. But
what lawmakers figured out was if they took each of
those provisions, put them in separate bills, and got Democrats
to support him, then DeWine would actually sign them. And
that's exactly what happened. It was political theater that delayed
(12:30):
taxpayer relief. Yet again, congratulations to Wine, but some bills
were signed at the end of twenty twenty five. House
Bill one twenty four is a foundational reform on how
property values are assessed, and it modifies the sales assessment ratio.
One twenty six fundamentally shifts the burden invaluation challenges, so
(12:51):
it basically says, prove it instead of requiring the homeowner
to come and really the value of their home. So
it flips the script there.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
On that note, Jack, real quick, here they have to
provide the comps that they use in determining your homes valuation.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
That's right. That's wonderful. Okay, I like that.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
It's great, Yeah it is, it's fantastic. Sorry to sprint
through that, and I do no, it's okay. There, I
get rolling and I don't hear well, so I apologize.
House Built one twenty nine addresses long standing school funding
by expanding the twenty mil floor to encompass fixed some levees,
emergency substitute growth, and overall the adjustment should lower the
(13:29):
effective tax rate for homeowners. One eighty six it might
be the most impactful, which introduces the inflation cap credit
for school districts at the twenty mil floor, limiting annual
tax increases to the rate of inflation based on the
GDP deflator. And then there's House Bill three oh nine
that institutes a vital oversight by requiring county auditors to
(13:51):
annually review school district levees for over collections in any
revenue that exceeds VOTA approved amounts due to value increases,
and those excesses can be returned, which is huge. And
then House Built three thirty five caps revenue growth from
unvoted inside millaged and that's like you know, German to me,
but it is a form of relief. But here's the
(14:13):
eight hundred pound gorilla in the room. I think that
repealing property taxes or tearing down property taxes in Ohio
has a ton of momentum. And I think that that's
what we're going to have to talk about in twenty
twenty six because the government, actually it's not even going
to be the state government. It's going to be there
are over sixty five hundred taxing authorities in the Buckeye State.
(14:35):
That should shock everybody. Yeah, but police stations, fire stations,
schools are going to be like the mice and the
cheese might get moved, Brian, and I think that's the
big conversation that we're going to talk about in the
year ahead.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
How about that?
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Well, recognizing how federal government works, which is hurry up.
Going back to one of your points about returning over
collection of school district taxes. I like the idea, but
the federal government, when their agencies see that they've got
a on a pile of money they're sitting on toward
the end of the year, they start throwing it out
into the wind because if they don't use it all,
they're not going to get anymore. Who in the hell,
what school district got there is ever going to write
(15:08):
a check to return unspent funds. Don't you think this
is going to result in them just being rather liberal
with their expenditures.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Potentially, But I think what we're going to see, so
follow me on this. It's kind of complex. It hurts
my brain. Yes, However, that makes it incumbent upon the
citizens in that district to hold the district accountable and
to clamor. But secondly, state Representative Mike Devilla is at
it again. He's introducing a bill called the zero based Budget,
(15:38):
which would require because states will likely take on more
responsibility in funding schools, yes they will. So now if
that happens, then they have to come every ten years.
And it's like peeling all the paint off steal before
you paint it again. You've got to prove that you
need this money. I like that.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
I love it too, because they sell us to bill
the goods locally, Oh we need this.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
The whole place is falling apart.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
But when you got people in Columbus who have no
connection to your specific school district, they might look at
it with a clearer set of eyes. Jack wins or.
So that's you know what positive news, and I'm glad
we're going in the right direction. And I'm just waiting
to see what else has done because, like you said, man,
you know, if they unglue, if they take property taxes away,
the whole place is like, oh my god, what are
we gonna do? Jack went to find him online. Go
(16:25):
to the Ohio pressnetwork dot com. Excellent reporting there. Get
a subscription.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Jack.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
I can't wait to have you back on the fifty
five Caresing morning. S Jope, you have a wonderful weekend.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
It's an honor. Thank you, Brian, and thank you Joe.
God bless you have a great weekend.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
And you sir eight fifty six early on the program,
Is then, of course, the return of Jack Windsor, editor
in chief of the High Press Network. You can find
them online at the Ohio Pressnetwork dot com. That makes sense.
Welcome back, Jack Winsor. It's great to have you on
the fifty five CARC Morning Show.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Sir so.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Operation Buck Guy, as you know, was a deliberate, high
intensity effort by DHS and Home Security Investigators HSI deploying.
My understanding is up to three hundred additional ICE agents
in Ohio, concentrated in Columbus, but of course spanning the
entire state, and it prioritized brian the arrest of non
(00:34):
citizens without legal status, emphasizing those with what we would
call egregious criminal records, labeled the worst of the worst,
and the operation underscores a resolute stance on immigration enforcement,
of course from the Trump administration, and the last tally
that we had was two hundred and eighty arrests Now,
(00:55):
I don't try to hang out on Reddit a whole lot,
because generally we find the mouth breathing neck beards there
more or less sane minded people, but the trotal peers.
There are watchers and trackers still telling us that ICE
is huvering around Ohio State University Sawmill Road, so Ice
still is in town. I've reached out to Tricia McLaughlin,
(01:17):
my strong contact at the Department of Homeland Security, to
figure out where that operation has turned. But there have
been a lot of arrests.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Okay, when you mentioned the two undred and eighty arrest figure,
whether it's accurate, and I appreciate that we're dealing with
sort of fog of war type reality here, but that's
just in the the greater Columbus area.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Well, my understanding is that is all over the Buckeye.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Stick, oh the whole state of Ohio.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
That seems like an extraordinarily low figure, unless, of course,
Ohio has not been an illegal immigration magnet.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Well, I can tell you that we've sent one hundred
and thirty five million dollars of cash in suitcases to
places like Minnesota and then Dubai, allegedly through the Somali
population in Columbus and Brian. I think that's probably the
main reason Columbus was the focal point. And this is
(02:11):
where it gets really dicey, and the mainstream press doesn't
talk about this much, and so I'm gonna get a
little granular here without being confusing on a morning show,
because I know we all need our caffeine sometimes, but
there's kind of this misnoet.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
To tell you what Jack hold on.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Since you're gonna get granular, and I'm at eight thirty five,
let's bring you back and then you can get granular. Well,
now I'll be it's very interesting stuff here. Jack's being
gonna be gonna be talking about the ohiopressnetwork dot com.
Great site, bookmarket WHI you're there, you'd be glad you
did that as well for the concert reporting they've got
going on.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
More with Jack Winsor after these brief.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Words, fifty five krc Steve talk station.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Hey thirty nine here for the bove KRCD talk station
Brian Thomas with I can see him, you can Jack
Windsor he's at the ohio Press Network. Great stuff from
Jack and all those who help support a hiopress network.
You can do the same thing. Just bookmark the site,
read what he's got to say, and of course support
the site information they provide. Jack Winsor we're sticking with ice.
(03:11):
You're getting ready to get what you called granular. And
remember I've got a weed dwelling audience. Jack, So don't
feel too afraid to get into some weeds that most
of the people you talk to might not be hipped to.
But give us the straight to the straight skinny there, Jack.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah, So I'll just I'll keep it simple. So DHS
they really surged resources here to Ohio for that operation Buck. Guys,
we just talked about before the break. Two hundred and
eighty arrests were announced. And you know, one of the
things that the press likes to talk about, Brian, is
that citizens could be investigated or arrested and that should
(03:49):
be illegal. That's not the case. Homeland security investigators can
certainly investigate citizens or for nationals who here. And part
of why Columbus was targeted we now know in retrospect.
Right when Operation Buckeye was announced late December, we didn't
(04:11):
know this. Now we do. One hundred and thirty five
million dollars left John Glenn Columbus International Airport and it
was essentially a Somali cash smuggling operation. And so all right,
quote ono.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
We know about this because the TSA agents observed the
hundreds of thousands of dollars in suitcases that were going
through the bag scanners at the airport, right, Well, that.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Would seem to be the case. We're still trying to
get the story straight on that, and I don't want
to get accusatory. All we know at this juncture is
there's one hundred and thirty five million dollars. I'll keep
it at that. We are looking into that. By the way,
John Solomon at just the News has done a fantastic
job breaking and covering the story, but that's part of it, right,
(05:02):
So I really just want to debunk that mainstream media
myth that because ICE or DHS is involved, that they
can't look into people who might be alleged citizens or
foreign nationals. That's absolutely not the case. If there is
a foreign component and it's a threat to national security,
then all bets are off and they're here to investigate.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
It's the commission of any American citizens get arrested for
crime all the time. If there's reasonable suspicions there's a
crime going on. Doesn't matter whether you're a US citizen
or a foreign national, you're going to get investigated.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
That's exactly right. And by the way, ICE is still here,
and what we're hearing is that the arrests are about
two to three per day. So there has been a
tapering off, but my guess is we might see a
surge again. And you know, the bottom line is there
are two things going on. We want to make sure
that people who are here illegally and who are the
(05:56):
worst of the worst. And if you go down that
punch list of people who were arrested, many of them
have convictions or have been sighted and skipped court dates,
and so they have been apprehended. But then there's also
that component of is their fraud, waste and abuse, say
in the daycare system, in the home health system, in
the transportation system, and does it have a foreign component.
(06:19):
The answer is yes, and we're still gathering how big
that is. But Brian, we're probably talking about billions of
dollars when it's all said and downe.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
So in other words, we're analogous to the situation that
we've all been made aware of in Minnesota.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
I would say yes, And in fact, I don't know
if you know this. You may. I was boots on
the ground with a very very interesting character.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
I like him.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
His name is John Rocker for former Major League Baseball star.
He came to Columbus, Ohio to check it out and
one of the things that we just stumbled on was
the Somali Education Resource Center. Now we couldn't find it
because their online listings showed them closed and they were
not where they were supposed to be. We got there,
it is an office building. They did have a working
(07:04):
doorbell and video monitoring system. Well. As it turns out,
they've received forty three million dollars fourteen million dollars last year,
but their credentials were revoked midyear, and so when we
started having conversations after being out on the street, what
we learned was six and a half million dollars may
have been paid to the Smalley Education Resource Center improperly.
So lawmakers now are working to call that back. But
(07:27):
the key to that is that ties directly back to Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Wow, But trying to claw back six million dollars from
what someone I'm sure has zero assets at all, and
all that money's already been sent back to al Shabab
through Minneapolis or even directly via wire transfer, You're never
going to get that money back to Where's the failure?
Jack Windsor, I mean, I got to this is statement,
where's the failure? Jack Windsor, are do you place any
blame at the hands of you know, Thedwine administration or
(07:54):
maybe auditor Key Faber. I know he's trying to crack
down on some of this a lease he's paid lip
service to that. I mean, is this a just across
the across the board, just collective, typical government program where
no one bothers to follow where the money's going.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Yes, it is. And look if the Wine is going
to stand on his little soapbox, which he needs literally
because he's about my height, if he's going to stand
on his soapbox and say, you know, the buck stopped
with me during COVID, well, then Governor, the buck stops
with you on unemployment, on Medicaid now on this And
so we've heard this from everything is fine to Wine before,
(08:30):
right Brian, where he's come out and said, oh, you know,
the improper payments through the unemployment system are not significant. Wrong.
We broke that story billions of dollars. The director left,
and then he came out and said, hey, you know,
the improper payments or lack of oversighted Medicaid, isn't that significant? Wrong?
We found that that might be six billion or more
per year. The director is now gone, and so he
(08:51):
has the goal to get out in front of people,
in front of cameras and say, well, this is just
the cost of doing businesses and there's not significant fraud here.
I think he's going to be wrong again, and I
think that the buck does stop with him. Now, what
I will tell you when we investigated the alleged medicaid
fraud here in Ohio that was initiated by state Representative
Mike Devilla, a Republican out of Borea, what we found
was that the Auditor's office had for a long time
(09:13):
attempted to do some auditing, but the Dwine administration said, no,
we can't do that because it's a hip of violation
to share too much of this information. So there was
a there were There was language put in the biennial
budget that passed last year that gave five million dollars
to Auditor Keith Favor Favor to audit the medicaid system.
So favorite it has now ratcheting powers, and I expect
(09:36):
that he's going to be more able to do the
job he was elected to do. And I don't necessarily
put it at the feet of Keith Faber. I put
it at the feet of Governor Mike dwine.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
And to the hip of sharing. That's it seems to
be a nonsensical argument because medical providers often share a
hip of hipA qualified information with third parties. They just
enter into a confidentiality agreement where the third parties have
to follow the hipp A law within government. That seems
to me like something that will be presumed.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Jack Well, and that's one and two. I want you
to think about how asinine it is. Right you have
a state auditor whose job it is to audit state agencies,
and you have a governor saying, well, you can't audit
this agency. I mean, it is the definition of insanity.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
But it's on my job description, says Keith Favor, I'm
supposed to be doing this.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Jack Windsor will continue. We'll get one more.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
We're going to dive onto the area of property taxes,
hot issue and one that I think some of the
elected officials are sweating about, given that there may be
a ballt an issue to a completely eradicate properly taxes
and Jack Windsor from the Io Press Network, one more
coming up.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Next fifty five KRC KRC the Talk Station.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Hey fifty thank you Joe Streker for the Dead Kennedy's
awesome Jack Windsor from the high Press netwhere we call
this appropriately themed bumper music. So Jack, we're gonna move
on over with Jack. Remember he is from the high
Press Network. Find a bit of hot press the Ohio
(11:12):
Pressnetwork dot com and get a subscription. Great stuff focusing
on Ohio, and hopefully we'll go a different direction with
Vive Gramaswami as governor of the State of Ohio, who
will I am certain, use all the resources within his
power to crack down on fraud, waste and abuse. There
is a lot of it in Ohio. But we also
are dealing with property taxes something else is a bit
of a sticky wicket. I know that the budget that
(11:34):
was passed well resulted in some line item vetos by
our favorite friend, Governor Mike Dwine, who thought he might
have had a better plan going on steaming in the background.
So some efforts by our elected officials to give us
some relief and shot down, and then some were advanced
but really not quite adequate. Are we What are we
(11:55):
going to do? Because I guess the looming elephant in
the room is that idea that a ballot initiative might
eradicate property taxes and they are ill equipped to deal
with the aftermath of that, Jack.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Yeah, so let me can I sprint through what was
done real quick and then address Okay, awesome. So I
do want to point out that Governor DeWine did veto,
as you mentioned, four provisions in the biennial budget. But
what lawmakers figured out was if they took each of
those provisions, put them in separate bills, and got Democrats
to support him, then DeWine would actually sign them. And
that's exactly what happened. It was political theater that delayed
(12:30):
taxpayer relief. Yet again, congratulations to Wine, but some bills
were signed at the end of twenty twenty five. House
Bill one twenty four is a foundational reform on how
property values are assessed, and it modifies the sales assessment ratio.
One twenty six fundamentally shifts the burden invaluation challenges, so
(12:51):
it basically says, prove it instead of requiring the homeowner
to come and really the value of their home. So
it flips the script there.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
On that note, Jack, real quick, here they have to
provide the comps that they use in determining your homes valuation.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
That's right. That's wonderful. Okay, I like that.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
It's great, Yeah it is, it's fantastic. Sorry to sprint
through that, and I do no, it's okay. There, I
get rolling and I don't hear well, so I apologize.
House Built one twenty nine addresses long standing school funding
by expanding the twenty mil floor to encompass fixed some levees,
emergency substitute growth, and overall the adjustment should lower the
(13:29):
effective tax rate for homeowners. One eighty six it might
be the most impactful, which introduces the inflation cap credit
for school districts at the twenty mil floor, limiting annual
tax increases to the rate of inflation based on the
GDP deflator. And then there's House Bill three oh nine
that institutes a vital oversight by requiring county auditors to
(13:51):
annually review school district levees for over collections in any
revenue that exceeds VOTA approved amounts due to value increases,
and those excesses can be returned, which is huge. And
then House Built three thirty five caps revenue growth from
unvoted inside millaged and that's like you know, German to me,
but it is a form of relief. But here's the
(14:13):
eight hundred pound gorilla in the room. I think that
repealing property taxes or tearing down property taxes in Ohio
has a ton of momentum. And I think that that's
what we're going to have to talk about in twenty
twenty six because the government, actually it's not even going
to be the state government. It's going to be there
are over sixty five hundred taxing authorities in the Buckeye State.
(14:35):
That should shock everybody. Yeah, but police stations, fire stations,
schools are going to be like the mice and the
cheese might get moved, Brian, and I think that's the
big conversation that we're going to talk about in the
year ahead.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
How about that?
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Well, recognizing how federal government works, which is hurry up.
Going back to one of your points about returning over
collection of school district taxes. I like the idea, but
the federal government, when their agencies see that they've got
a on a pile of money they're sitting on toward
the end of the year, they start throwing it out
into the wind because if they don't use it all,
they're not going to get anymore. Who in the hell,
what school district got there is ever going to write
(15:08):
a check to return unspent funds. Don't you think this
is going to result in them just being rather liberal
with their expenditures.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Potentially, But I think what we're going to see, so
follow me on this. It's kind of complex. It hurts
my brain. Yes, However, that makes it incumbent upon the
citizens in that district to hold the district accountable and
to clamor. But secondly, state Representative Mike Devilla is at
it again. He's introducing a bill called the zero based Budget,
(15:38):
which would require because states will likely take on more
responsibility in funding schools, yes they will. So now if
that happens, then they have to come every ten years.
And it's like peeling all the paint off steal before
you paint it again. You've got to prove that you
need this money. I like that.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
I love it too, because they sell us to bill
the goods locally, Oh we need this.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
The whole place is falling apart.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
But when you got people in Columbus who have no
connection to your specific school district, they might look at
it with a clearer set of eyes. Jack wins or.
So that's you know what positive news, and I'm glad
we're going in the right direction. And I'm just waiting
to see what else has done because, like you said, man,
you know, if they unglue, if they take property taxes away,
the whole place is like, oh my god, what are
we gonna do? Jack went to find him online. Go
(16:25):
to the Ohio pressnetwork dot com. Excellent reporting there. Get
a subscription.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Jack.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
I can't wait to have you back on the fifty
five Caresing morning. S Jope, you have a wonderful weekend.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
It's an honor. Thank you, Brian, and thank you Joe.
God bless you have a great weekend.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
And you sir eight fifty six early on the program,
Brian Thomas News
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