Legislators hear concerns about Taft's budget plan

The funding is not expected to keep up with the costs of providing mental health services.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
LIBERTY -- Richard Darkangelo was preaching to the choir when he urged four Ohio legislators to oppose Gov. Bob Taft's proposed biennial budget.
"We feel your call. We feel your passion, and we want to help you as much as we can," Rep. John Boccieri of New Middletown, D-57th, after Darkangelo gave an impassioned presentation Friday. Darkangelo is executive director of the Trumbull County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board.
Taft's budget includes a proposal to increase funding for the Ohio Department of Mental Health by 1.1 percent in 2002 and .8 percent in 2003. That is not expected to keep up with increases in the cost of providing mental health services.
The Trumbull and Mahoning county mental health services boards each received about 40 percent of their funding for 2000 from the department.
Presented their case: Darkangelo and other representatives of local alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health services boards expressed their concerns about Taft's proposal at a legislative breakfast at the Holiday Inn MetroPlex.
The state legislators who attended the breakfast were Boccieri, state Sen. Robert Hagan of Youngstown, D-33rd, state Sen. Timothy Ryan of Warren, D-32nd, and state Rep. Sylvester Patton of Youngstown, D-64th.
Many Democrats already have said they are opposed to Taft's proposal. At the breakfast, Boccieri, Hagan, Ryan, and Patton each said they agreed with the opinions of Darkangelo and his fellow administrators of mental health services.
That didn't stop Darkangelo from restating his case.
Fear for the future: "We're devastating the [mental health] system," he said, adding that if Taft's proposal is approved by the Legislature, "we aren't going to be here."
Ronald Marian, the executive director of the Mahoning County Mental Health Board, said Taft's proposal represents a step back for his agency.
"What we built up, we don't want to lose," he said.
Taft is planning to use money typically allocated to state agencies to help pay for education reform during the next two years. Ryan said that many state legislators also feel that "nothing's important enough to fund except education."
"The governor, you hope, can't be that stupid," he said.
Ryan and other Democratic legislators, however, may be outnumbered when the time comes to vote on Taft's proposal, as Republicans control the Legislature.
Each of the four state legislators said they would stick together in their opposition to Taft's proposal.
Marian said the state mental health services association will try to encourage Republican lawmakers to vote against the budget proposal.