Officials plead to preserve funding

The cuts would leave $1.1 billion going to the local governments.
COLUMBUS -- Representatives of cities, counties, public libraries and other local governments came to the Statehouse on Wednesday with a single message for lawmakers: Don't cut state funds for local governments.
"We used to have a partnership agreement that we were all in this together," Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic said. "It was a compact. ... Don't be ashamed to say this is a covenant that needs to be kept," the Democratic mayor said.
Plusquellic was among the 200 or so who gathered to meet with lawmakers and plead their cases to restore funding that helps cities, counties, libraries and other local governments.
Local government officials are hoping lawmakers restore funding to the so-called local-government fund and are pressing for the formation of a special committee to recommend a stable and permanent funding source for the local-government fund.
Proposed cutbacks
In the two-year, $51.3 billion state budget proposal that he presented to lawmakers, Republican Gov. Bob Taft proposes to slash monthly distributions to counties and cities by 20 percent, to villages and townships by 10 percent and to libraries by 5 percent compared with current funding levels.
In the fiscal year that ends June 30, the state is distributing about $1.2 billion to local governments.
The Taft administration proposes to cut about $100 million from the local-government fund for the fiscal year that begins July 1, reducing it to $1.1 billion, and to $1.05 billion the next fiscal year.
The proposed local-government fund cuts would start Jan. 1 if they remain in the state budget bill, which is pending before the House Finance and Appropriations Committee.
The current two-year, $48 billion state budget runs through June 30. Lawmakers must enact the next biennial state spending plan by July 1.
Opponents say the cuts, if not restored, could have dire consequences.
"I believe the governor has balanced the budget on the backs of counties and libraries" and other local governments, said Kerry Metzger, a Tuscarawas County commissioner and a former Republican state representative.
Safety concerns
With most cities' budgets' comprising police and fire protection services, public safety could be the hardest hit area by cuts to local-government funds, local-government officials say.
"The local government fund is the people's fund for the people's protection," said Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman, who's seeking the Democratic Party nomination for governor next year.
"This is a very dangerous action that they may take," Coleman said of the proposed cuts.
R. Michael Taylor, state secretary of the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio, said layoffs of police officers and firefighters could result if the local-government funds are reduced.
"Police departments are getting more and more responsibilities and less resources," said Taylor. "If you want good public safety, you have to pay for it."
Pamela J. Hickson-Stevenson, president of the Ohio Library Council, said 75 percent of Ohio's public libraries are funded exclusively by the local-government fund.
Many more, said Hickson-Stevenson, who is also the director of the Portage County District Library in Northeast Ohio, receive a majority of their funds from local-government fund dollars.
"It affects everybody," Hickson-Stevenson said.
House Speaker Jon A. Husted, a suburban Dayton Republican, said majority House Republicans are looking at helping local governments in other ways than additional funding.
Husted defended Taft's budget plan that also includes a proposal for a 21 percent across-the-board state income tax cut as a way to help Ohio's economy.
"We have to grow our way to prosperity. We can't tax ourselves there," Husted said.
In the fiscal year that ends June 30, the state is distributing about $1.2 billion to local governments.