How Ohio’s economy is affecting state government

How Ohio’s economy is affecting state government:

Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, and the Republican-led Legislature are wrangling over the exact size of a projected shortfall. The administration has put the figure at between $733 million and $1.9 billion by the end of the two-year budget cycle, which ends in June 2009. The high figure represents 3.6 percent of the state’s $52.3 billion budget. Legislative Republicans say their research finds rising revenues and reduced spending, but they have not offered specific numbers.

Strickland’s plan for s queezing the budget gap includes eliminating up to 2,700 state jobs through attrition, layoffs and early retirements, closing two state mental hospitals and starting a state-run Keno game through the Ohio Lottery Commission. The Keno proposal has been controversial because Ohio voters have three times rejected expansions of casinos or instant gaming, and attempts by individual lawmakers to legalize video slot machines at Ohio racetracks have been repeatedly rejected. Strickland argues that Ohioans favor gaming that is regulated through the voter-backed lottery.

Specific agency strategies for addressing the budget gap are still being negotiated, but the state Department of Education has said it will cut money for school buses, professional development for teachers and technology support for districts to meet its budget target. Plans are also under way to release 200 youth offenders and to move some nonviolent adult inmates into less expensive community-based programs.

Strickland has said he will not raid the $1 billion rainy day fund to address the first $733 million, but he may if the deficit reaches $1.9 billion. In his State of the State speech, he proposed a $1.7 billion economic stimulus package that would be funded through bond sales. He has set up a couple political committees to push passage of the issue in November.

Source: Associated Press