Strickland: Tax increase still not a good idea

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Ohio Governor Ted Strickland (D-Lisbon)

COLUMBUS (AP) — A tax increase is still not a good course of action in light of a court decision on slot machines jeopardizing nearly $1 billion in school funding, but it would be “foolish” to rule it out before considering all options, Gov. Ted Strickland said Tuesday.

The Ohio Supreme Court decided Monday that the question of whether to put lottery-run slot machines at Ohio’s horse racing tracks should be allowed to go before voters. The decision has forced the governor and lawmakers to reopen what had been a painstaking budget debate about two months after they believed it was settled — at least for a while.

Strickland reversed his views on gambling expansion to propose the slots plan, and lawmakers put language in the state budget that recognized his authority to establish the slots and appropriated the money that the machines were expected to generate. With a $933 million hole in the state’s education funding plan, the rhetoric from both sides Tuesday was a repeat of what it was two months ago.

The Republicans who control the Ohio Senate put the responsibility in Strickland’s lap. The governor asked for cooperation from the Senate. It’s not clear how the parties will resolve the funding hole. It’s the Legislature’s responsibility under the Ohio Constitution to balance the budget, but Republicans consider the education funding to be a separate component.

“I don’t think it’s how soon we have to act,” said Senate President Bill Harris, an Ashland Republican. “I think it’s how soon does the governor have to act? We gave him a plan. And he has not yet recognized that we gave him a plan. So no, I don’t think we have any obligation.”

Harris referred to the Senate’s original proposal to the governor to put the slots question on the ballot, and to competitively bid the licenses so the state could maximize its revenue.