Ohio budget gets $1.5 billion boost

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Ohio’s budget director delivered roughly $1.5 billion in rosy state revenue projections Wednesday as legislators headed into final negotiations over the state budget.

Tim Keen told a budget compromise committee that tax revenues were up $1 billion over estimates for the fiscal year that ends this month and $421 million for the next two-year budget cycle.

The current-year boost comes from stronger income tax filings, he said, as the state tries to recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression. The anticipated money in the coming years is a result of an increase in certain tax estimates.

However, Keen cautioned state lawmakers that most of the additional bucks had already been accounted for.

For instance, he said, this year’s dollars will go toward unpaid bills, Medicaid, property tax relief and payments to universities among other state obligations. State lawmakers had pre-spent in their budget plan any additional money that he saw coming, he said.

Still, the new numbers are likely to set off a debate over whether more money should be stashed away or shifted to other priorities.

“There’s going to be a lot of jockeying,” House Finance Chairman Ron Amstutz told reporters.

The deadline for lawmakers to pass the budget bill is June 30.