Panic sets in as time runs out to alter Ohio budget

COLUMBUS

The Republican-controlled Ohio Senate is winding down its deliberations on the $55.6 billion budget that will guide state spending over the next two years.

For local governments, school districts and others affected by the resulting decisions, now may be the time to panic.

There won’t be many more opportunities to make the case why GOP lawmakers and Gov. John Kasich should reverse course and find other ways to present a balanced budget to the populace.

One of the major sticking points in the biennial budget is a shift in state spending away from local governments, quickening the phaseout of tangible personal property and other taxes that have been distributed to school districts and other public offices. Another is the Kasich-backed reform to Ohio’s Medicaid system, including potentially less funding for nursing homes and more for in-home care.

Those funding issues have brought crowds to the Statehouse to make their voices heard during finance committee hearings on the budget bill.

Last week, one city official held up pictures of police officers who would lose their jobs if changes weren’t made to the budget to ensure more funding for local governments. Another, a Kasich supporter, blasted Republican plans to eliminate Ohio’s estate tax.

Here’s what a few others had to say, in written testimony submitted to lawmakers:

Edward FitzGerald, Cuyahoga County executive: Cleveland-area communities “will be faced with a choice of reducing services, laying off employees and/or raising taxes. While I applaud efforts to encourage shared services, I do not believe that cuts of this magnitude can be offset by greater efficiencies, especially not in the short term and especially when cuts in state assistance come on top of revenue declines caused by the recession.”

Steve Arndt, Ottawa County commissioner: “Many counties have been doing more with less for a number of years. The cuts proposed in this budget will generally mean that most counties will have no option but to do less with less for our joint constituents.”

Susan Cave, executive director of the Ohio Municipal League: “City and village officials recognized the state budget would contain cuts to many, many things... They were preparing to share in the pain. What they did not expect was the magnitude of those cuts and the disproportionate share of the state budget deficit those cuts represented.”

Chester Jourdan Jr., executive director of the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission: “The proposed cut to the local government fund could not come at a more terrible time. Due to funding cuts in several federal programs that are critical to Ohio communities, the compounding loss of state funding will significantly hinder local governments’ ability to even perform daily functions.”

You can expect more of the same from school district and local governments officials in the days to come.

The challenge for Republicans will be to communicate to Ohioans that the path they’ve chosen — weaning public offices from the state teat and thus forcing them to make better use of the resources they have — is the right one.

Marc Kovac is The Vindicators Statehouse correspondent. Email him at mkovac@dixcom.com or on Twitter at OhioCapitalBlog.