As city leaders evaluate budget, residents air concerns over 29 shootings in 10 days

That budget draft, which breaks down proposed spending for the city's estimated $1.59 billion 2024 budget, currently includes a roughly $11.4 million increase to the Cincinnati Police Department budget. Monday night, city council held a final public hearing for the budget and community members turned out to speak about where they felt money to cut down the amount of violence — especially violence involving youth — should be allocated. "The need is now, the need is now for what we do right now," said Bill Bresser, CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Cincinnati. "We have a waiting list currently at all of our sites. There were 500 kids that showed up today at Boys and Girls Clubs. You can't measure how many kids don't actually get messed up with the gun violence epidemic that's going on that go to the Boys and Girls Club." Between Zoom speakers and community members who attended in person, 75 people signed up to speak at the public hearing. Some brought up concern about the frequency of shootings in Cincinnati recently and spoke about the need for more youth programs in the city.