State budget likely to contain funding cuts for townships and other government bodies

WARREN

Following action this week by the Ohio Senate to approve its version of the next two-year state budget, there are nine days left for legislators to iron out the remaining details before final approval by June 30.

Among the biggest headlines have been cuts in the income tax rate and taxes to small businesses.

But of more concern to some local government officials are measures that cut funding to townships and other government bodies though a tax that the state starting phasing out 10 years ago and plans to resume phasing out during the next two fiscal years, starting next month.

A month ago, Larry Moliterno, a Boardman Township trustee, traveled to Columbus to address a committee of the Ohio Senate about the $576,000 the township currently receives through a program called TPP.

The full name is tangible personal property tax, which is a tax companies used to pay in Ohio to the school districts and local governments in which they were located, but the state eliminated them starting in 2005 to help promote business growth.

Through 2010, the state said it would reimburse the schools and local governments for their lost tax revenue. The legislature adjusted the process of reimbursing the schools and local goverments, however, and continued to reimburse at various levels, then froze the reimbursements at 2013 levels, according to the Ohio Office of Budget and Management.

Now Gov. John Kasich’s 2016-2017 budget proposes phasing out the rest of the TPP payments to local governments.

That measure affects communities with lots of businesses the most, such as Boardman and Howland townships — which is why Moliterno and Howland Police Chief Paul Monroe were among the Mahoning Valley officials who testified against it a month ago before an Ohio Senate committee.

“The roughly $576,441 that we receive today represents a very large amount of funding to Boardman Township,” Moliterno said. “If that were to be taken away, it means taking away six police officers or eight firefighters or two years of our annual paving budget.”

The state’s proposal would reduce Boardman to $277,000 in 2016 and to zero in 2017.

Read MUCH more in Sunday's Vindicator.