© 2026 WOSU Public Media
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Cranley: I'm Using Veto To Create Structurally Balanced Budget

City of Cincinnati

Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley has used his veto power to fix what a council ordinance he believes would have resulted in a structurally unbalanced city budget.

On Wednesday, council voted 5-4 to reject a plan from City Manager Harry Black to boot cars with three or more unpaid parking tickets, a move that would have generated $600,000 for the city.

In Black's proposal, that money would be replaced with a $600,000 withdrawal from the urban development fund.

On Friday morning, Cranley released a statement saying that he shared Vice Mayor David Mann's concern about the "Paylock" car-booting system and worked with him to find a solution.

The ordinance was rejected Wednesday because it was using a one-time source of cash.

Cranley said that, on Monday, he will introduce an ordinance that "formally designates the $400,000 allocated for the homeowner's assistance fund and the $200,000 allocated for the heroin task force (both items I proposed) as one-time expenses."

Council's finance committee will consider the ordinance at a special meeting Monday and it will be up for approval at Wednesday's council meeting.

Mann said he led the charge to stop the administration from passing the car-booting ordinance because it would give "a financial incentive to a private company to use computer imaging for vehicles to boot."

"Under Mayor Cranley's proposal, people who park in Cincinnati will not be faced with Paylock boots and fines,'' Mann said in a written statement. "Mayor Cranley's ordinance also keeps the budget structurally balanced, so it is a win-win for the people of Cincinnati." 

Copyright 2021 91.7 WVXU. To see more, visit .

Howard Wilkinson joined the WVXU News Team after 30 years of covering local and state politics for The Cincinnati Enquirer. A native of Dayton, Ohio, Wilkinson has covered every Ohio governor’s race since 1974 as well as 12 presidential nominating conventions. His streak continued by covering both the 2012 Republican and Democratic conventions for 91.7 WVXU. Along with politics, Wilkinson also covered the 2001 Cincinnati race riots; the Lucasville Prison riot in 1993; the Air Canada plane crash at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in 1983; and the 1997 Ohio River flooding. The Cincinnati Reds are his passion. "I've been listening to WVXU and public radio for many years, and I couldn't be more pleased at the opportunity to be part of it,” he says.