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Columbus
Dispatch...
Counties say cuts hit
them too hard
Group presses for power to hike sales-tax rate
By Jim Siegel
Friday, April 8, 2011
Using words like devastating, local-government leaders told lawmakers
yesterday they are bearing too heavy a burden for the state’s budget
woes, and it will force cuts in safety forces.
“Counties realize they’ve got to do their fair share,” said Larry Long,
executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Ohio.
“But the problem we have is we think we are being asked to do too much.”
Among the suggestions Long had for helping counties cope with cuts is
the ability to increase their sales tax to 2 percent. Now, counties are
allowed to impose a sales tax of up to 1.5 percentage points above the
state’s 5.5 percent rate for general budgetary purposes. Long said 46
of 88 counties already have maxed out.
Franklin County has a sales-tax rate of 0.75 percent for its budget. In
central Ohio, Licking and Pickaway counties are maxed out.
Gov. John Kasich’s proposed $55.5 billion budget would cut
local-government funding by 25 percent per year, reducing it from
$665million this year to $339 million in 2013. If the current formula
stayed in place, funding should increase by $555 million over two
years, Long said.
Kasich’s plan also accelerates the phase-out of reimbursements for lost
tangible personal-property taxes, which would cost local governments an
additional $312million.
Many officials hit on a similar theme: that while they anticipated
local-government fund cuts of up to 20 percent over two years, they
were blindsided by the 50 percent cut on top of reduced property-tax
reimbursements.
Kim Maggard, auditor for Whitehall, said the city stands to lose
$618,000 just from local-government funds, an amount equal to its
yearly budget for police dispatching and administrative clerks.
“Something has got to give, and unfortunately it will be seen in
services and safety to our citizens,” she said.
Eastlake Mayor Ted Andrzejewski pointed to his dwindling budget
carry-over balance and said the cuts would cost his city $450,000 in
each of the next two years.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do, guys,” he said. “Where are we
going to cut? It’s going to come from police and fire. I’m not making
that up to be dramatic.”
The concerns did not fall on deaf ears.
“The testimony today was very dramatic,” said Rep. Bob Peterson,
R-Sabina, a former county commissioner. “I think all of us want to find
ways to restore some of that funding. Our challenge is finding the
money.”
Long said the real problems will strike in 2012. Unlike state
government, which runs on a fiscal year from July 1 to June 30,
local-government budgets run on a calendar year. The state
local-government fund cut in calendar year 2011 would be about 5
percent, he said, but it would grow to 31 percent in 2012, and 33
percent in the first half of 2013.
The cuts “will cripple township general-revenue funds that are already
depleted,” said Matthew DeTemple, leader of the Ohio Township
Association.
Advocates for local governments did find some things to like about the
budget bill. The biggest money saver, they said, would come from a
proposal to increase employee pension contribution rates by 2
percentage points, and lower the rates for government employers by the
same rate.
There also was general support for increasing the threshold for paying
prevailing wages, making it easier to share services and allowing
counties to implement modified workweeks. They said a recently signed
bill to weaken collective bargaining for public employees also could
yield savings, but not in the next two years.
“Will they make up for the loss of all the revenue? Definitely not in
the short term,” said Susan Cave, executive director of the Ohio
Municipal League.
The House Finance subcommittee heard a different message from Gene
Krebs, senior policy director for Greater Ohio Policy Center, who
whipped through a variety of statistics and graphs, most stressing that
Ohio has too much local government.
“This data shows we are wildly over-governed,” he said.
Read it at the Columbus Dispatch
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