The budget Mayor Charlie Luken presented to City Council found $2 million in cuts.

        Not to be outdone, the two Republicans on Council will introduce their own budget today, with an estimated $6.5 million in cuts.

        Pat DeWine and Chris Monzel say they can save about $3.5 million by opening city services up to competition from outside companies. They include:

        • Parking meter collections. Savings: $68,620.

        • Management of city parking garages: $968,000.

        • Operation of the Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center: $1 million.

        • Computer and phone services. Savings: $913,096.

        • Fuel management. Savings: $425,000.

        Few private businesses buy their own fuel or service their own computers, Mr. DeWine said. Yet the city owns 17 gas stations and its own fiber-optic network.

        And by putting street sweeping out for bid, they said, the city could sweep thousands more miles for the same cost.

        The GOP budget incorporates most of Mr. Luken's cuts — then goes further.

        It would cut funding for the African-American Chamber of Commerce ($40,000), the Sister Cities program ($22,830), the Human Relations Commission ($169,960), the Greater Cincinnati Film Commission ($57,000) and a third of all funding for miscellaneous human-services programs ($1.5 million).

        The Republicans also want to cut the city's cellular phone bills, now at $434,995, by 25 percent.

        One in every four city employees has a cell phone, they said. That's 1,420 phones, with annual bills as high as $1,700 each.

        And what would the Republicans spend all that new money on?

        They want $655,000 to help fund the Ohio River Bike Trail from downtown to Lunken Airport, and $350,000 to give contracts to church groups to clean up 45 city playgrounds.

        Council will hold a public hearing on the budget tonight at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 801 Plum St.

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