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Budget director offers snapshot of coming state budget process
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
Gov. John Kasich’s budget director offered a quick snapshot Thursday of the coming state budget process.
There weren’t a whole lot of surprises — the economy is rebounding, expect more tax cuts but don’t think the administration is going to spend taxpayer money frivolously.
“The fiscal condition of the state is very sound, very strong,” said Tim Keen, who heads the state’s Office of Budget and Management. “We’ve come through some very difficult budget times. We are fiscally stable. We have resources. This leads to an expectation that this next budget ought to be easy, there’s money to take care of a lot of issues folks would like to address.”
But Keen cautioned against the latter thinking, saying the administration remains committed to making government more efficient and effective. That includes a continued focus on Medicaid and efforts to revamp how the state delivers services to its neediest residents.
“My message is that we should not let our expectations get ahead of the reality that we will face in the next budget,” Keen said. “The governor’s view is that we need to carefully review the allocation of resources that are provided for in the budget.”
Keen, who was part of a panel discussion at the Impact Ohio 2014 Post Election Conference in Columbus, did reiterate the governor’s continued focus on the state’s tax rates.
Translated, that means watch for more income-tax cuts.
“We are going to continue to work on redressing some of the weaknesses in the Ohio system,” he said. “We rely too heavily on the taxation on income.”
He added, “We need to continue toward the elimination of the personal income tax.”
Income-tax cuts could mean increases in other types of taxes, however.
Keen said any reform package offered by the governor would result in a net tax reduction.
“Significant progress on the personal-income tax” will require reworking other areas of the tax code, he said.
Rep. Ron Amstutz, R-Wooster, who serves as chairman of the House finance committee, said there likely would be continued discussions on what the state can do to assist schools and local governments hit by funding cuts.
But on another tax-reform issue, Sen. Bob Peterson, R-Sabina, said he expected the Ohio Senate to act in coming weeks on legislation to simplify the state’s municipal income-tax filing requirements.
House Bill 5, which passed the Ohio House a year ago, would synchronize filing extensions, penalties, due dates and code definitions for Ohio’s various municipalities, replacing an existing system in which tax-filing rules and requirements are different from city to city.