State GOP leaders should handle budget with care

Republican leaders in the Ohio House and Senate should temper their zeal for developing a spending plan for public education with this dose of reality: Cutting non-mandated services in state government to the bone will throw Ohio into economic turmoil.
A case in point is the Department of Development. If legislative leaders slash the department's budget, the Taft administration will be stymied in its effort to persuade General Motors Corp. to keep its car assembly facility in Lordstown.
GM is seeking a costly incentive package from the state to remain in the Mahoning Valley. It has announced plans for a new compact car to replace the top-selling Chevrolet Cavalier and the Pontiac Sunfire, which are built at Lordstown, but the company has yet to select a site for the high-tech plant.
Priority: We believe there is no greater priority for this region than the continued presence of the automaker. Thousands of well-paying jobs are on the line. The loss of those jobs and the domino effect will be devastating to the Valley's economy. And the devastation will ripple across Ohio. This isn't only about the economic well-being of one region.
Hence we urge the General Assembly to make sure the department of development has enough money to pay not only for the GM incentive package but for its other job-creation initiatives.
To his credit, it was Gov. Bob Taft who voiced concern about the future of the Lordstown plant when he met last week with Vindicator writers. Taft, who is involved in budget negotiations with the speaker of the House and the president of the Senate, believes that the two-year budget he has submitted to the legislature provides the proper balance between meeting the Supreme Court's school funding order and paying for mandated programs and addressing the needs of higher education and Ohio's job-retention and creation effort.
Major cuts: Even so, $288 million must be cut from the current $41 billion budget before June 30, when the fiscal year ends, and $562 million must be slashed from the next two-year budget.
Included in the governor's plan is an increase in spending for state colleges and universities that is also of great importance to the Mahoning Valley. Youngstown State University is hoping for an increase in state dollars, which will enable it decrease slightly tuition for freshmen and associate degree students. The decrease is part of President Dr. David Sweet's push to increase enrollment.
Given the impact of the state budget on the Valley, we would urge legislative leaders to heed the governor's warnings and to cut with care.