$15K for NCAA matchup flowed through JobsOhio fund

COLUMBUS (AP) — Receipts show an affiliate of Ohio’s privatized job-creation office spent $15,000 in taxpayer dollars for a Dayton-area development agency to help underwrite the 2012 NCAA basketball game attended by Gov. John Kasich, President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

The Columbus Dispatch reported today that receipts show the JobsOhio-affiliated Ohio Business Development Coalition also gave $35,000 in public money for the Toledo Mud Hens to develop a local branding campaign.

The newspaper found much of the $8.4 million in public money JobsOhio repaid the state in March went to salaries, benefits, parking and cellphone bills, or to promotional efforts like web sites and a $1.35 million state ad campaign.

Information on future JobsOhio spending could be limited after lawmakers recently declared its main funding stream private.