Strickland to present plan to repair Ohio finances

Photo

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland (D-Lisbon)

The governor faces tough challenges, local elected
officials say.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER

With a struggling economy and an anticipated major state budget shortfall, Gov. Ted Strickland will outline his plans to turn around Ohio during today’s State of the State address.

Strickland, a Democrat formerly of Lisbon, recently said the state’s budget shortfall by June 2009 is between $733 million and $1.9 billion.

The governor’s already initiated cuts such as limiting travel, reducing at least 1,500 state jobs, closing two mental health facilities, limiting personal service contracts and equipment purchases. That would save the state $733 million, he said.

The governor is also considering eliminating another 1,200 state jobs, cutting some programs, expanding the lottery and using a portion of the state’s $1 billion “rainy-day fund.”

State legislators from the Mahoning Valley expect Strickland to discuss other ways to cut spending and increase revenue for Ohio during today’s speech.

“We have to live within our means like all Ohioans do,” said state Sen. Jason Wilson of Columbiana, D-30th. “We have to watch our money and spend it wisely.”

That means careful investments in fields such as renewable and alternative fuels and on education, particularly the creation of a community college in the Mahoning Valley, Wilson said.

The governor’s energy plan to rely on renewable and alternative fuels will be a main topic of his address, said state Sen. John Boccieri of New Middletown, D-33rd.

Boccieri also anticipates Strickland’s discussing health-care access for more low-income children.

“There is no question he faces some very tough challenges,” he said. “This is a governor who wants the state to live within its means. People are struggling and hurting all over the state, and he recognizes it.”

Mayor Jay Williams wants the governor to protect funding for education and the Local Government Fund, which provides money for communities.

“The state is facing some challenging times,” Williams said.

State Rep. Robert F. Hagan of Youngstown, D-60th, wants to hear the governor talk about health care and innovative ways to create jobs in Ohio. Ohio was one of three states in the country to lose jobs last year.

The poor, senior citizens and the mentally ill, which need the most help from state government were repeatedly ignored before Strickland became governor last year, and they are still in great need of assistance, Hagan said.

What Strickland will say today is being kept under wraps.

“He’ll lay out the state agenda including moving this state in the right direction in terms of the economy, education and health care,” said Keith Dailey, Strickland’s spokesman.

Dailey declined to give specifics but said Strickland would discuss his accomplishments during his first year as governor “and his vision for a more prosperous future.”

Strickland pulled out a few surprises during his March 14, 2007, State of the State address.

That speech called for property tax relief for the elderly and disabled, a freeze in higher-education tuition, the use of $5 billion from the state’s tobacco settlement money to finance new schools and to pay the state’s debt for previous school construction, and an expansion of government health insurance to more children.

All of those proposals were passed into law by the state Legislature last year.

skolnick@vindy.com