Ohio vets bonuses exceed $72M

COLUMBUS — Veterans of recent and ongoing military conflicts have collected more than $72 million in voter-approved bonuses to date, according to updated statistics compiled by state officials.

Upward of 82,000 military men and women have received checks since payments began five years ago, according the Ohio Department of Veterans Services.

In Trumbull County, servicemen and women made 1,562 claims for bonuses totaling $1.1 million; Mahoning had 1,462 claims totaling more than $1 million; and Columbiana had 783 claims approaching $588,000.

In November 2009, voters signed off on a constitutional amendment allowing the state to borrow up to $200 million to pay cash bonuses to Ohio military men and women who served at least 90 days of active duty in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq in current conflicts in those areas, plus those involved in Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990s.