Gov-elect Kasich, GOP get advice from business group

Government’s primary role is to provide for the health, safety and welfare of the citizenry, but at what cost? That’s the question public officials at all levels are asking themselves as they try to weather the national economic storm. And, it’s the $8 billion question confronting Republican Gov.-elect John Kasich and the soon-to-be Republican controlled Ohio General Assembly. The $8 billion is the anticipated shortfall in the upcoming two-year state operating budget.

And while there are as many ideas for dealing with the budgetary crises as there are think tanks and study groups, there also is a truism: When expenditures surpass revenues, cuts must be made.

Eight Ohio-based metropolitan chambers of commerce, including the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, along with the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, released a report last week that recommends “sweeping changes designed to help Ohio improve economic performance and reduce costs.” The report is to be presented to Kasich and the General Assembly as they develop the blueprint for balancing the $50 billion-plus biennium budget. The new governor will be sworn in Jan. 10.

The chambers say their ideas could save the state an estimated $1.4 billion in the next two-year budget.

The recommendation that has thus far received the most attention deals with Ohio’s costly prison system. The coalition is in favor of diverting nonviolent criminals from state prisons to save money. However, this cannot be accomplished without an overhaul of the state’s criminal sentencing laws.

Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, is pushing a bill that would save the state about $14 million in incarceration costs by increasing the use of halfway houses and GPS devices. The measure would impose the same sentences for crack and powder cocaine offenses and expand inmates’ ability to reduce their sentences through good behavior. Currently, the penalties for crack cocaine offenses are greater than for powder cocaine.

Too costly

The chambers support Seitz’s initiative, saying the state’s criminal justice system is underperforming, costs too much and the outcomes are inadequate.

Other recommendations that should garner public support include: linking public employee pay to performance; changing the contribution formulas to the public pensions system; providing incentives and assistance to promote local government efficiencies, sharing of services and consolidation; examining the tax credits, exemptions and deductions that cost the state $7.7 billion a year.

The year-long study contains ideas that will not be easily adopted, particularly those that are perceived to be a threat to special interest groups, such as labor and business. Linking public employee pay to performance would bump up against labor contracts, while eliminating some of the tax benefits businesses receive will generate opposition from chamber members.

But given today’s economic realities, it’s not enough for the special interests to sit back and find fault with the chambers’ study. If they don’t like what they see, they should come up with their own ideas for closing the $8 billion gap in the budget. The clock is ticking.