State spends $3.2M to collect $1.2M in fines

COLUMBUS (AP) — Newly released Ohio Department of Health figures show the state has spent $3.2 million to impose $1.2 million in fines on violators of Ohio’s smoking ban.

Republican state Sen. Bill Seitz of Cincinnati says the state’s $2 million net cost of enforcing the law is money that would be better spent on education, health care or other programs. The health department provided the numbers on a request from Seitz, a critic of the ban and a smoker himself.

Department indoor environment chief Mandy Burkett says the price tag is not unreasonable and says the state will eventually see savings in other areas, including health-care costs.

Voters approved the statewide ban on smoking in indoor public places in 2006, and enforcement began the following May.

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