Budget impasse hurts all Ohioans

Dec. 9, 2009 - A group of Senate Republicans have stubbornly dug their heels in and are refusing to budge in providing any answer to the state’s latest budget deficit.

Gov. Ted Strickland proposed back in October a fix that would help fill an $850 million dollar budget divot by stalling the last phase of an income tax cut for 2009 — a proposal OCSEA supports and believes is a responsible solution to the state’s dilemma.

But a budget stalemate has emerged between Senate Republicans on the one hand and House Democrats and the governor on the other. The logjam has many Statehouse watchers wondering whether things will ever be resolved with respect to Ohio’s latest budget deficit, or if education will fall victim to this latest trick by conservatives.

Republican Senators have refused to sign on and have come up with their own substitute bill. This latest concoction—while doing nothing to fix the budget hole in the short term—includes a mix of construction and prison sentencing reforms that the Senators claim they just have to have, if they’re going to go along with the tax cut freeze.

But OCSEA and other government watchdog groups say these reform proposals have no place in a midyear budget bill and that the right thing to do is let the bill move forward as is.

Meanwhile, deadline after deadline has passed to get the budget bill passed. Tax Commissioner Rich Levin said he needed resolution by Dec. 7 to ensure tax forms are complete for next year—but that deadline passed.

Hanging in the balance is education funding, which would get more than a little shaved if lawmakers don’t buck up.

However, this week’s Senate Finance Committee sessions have already been cancelled.

“These lawmakers need to stop playing chicken with the state budget. The bill is simple; it’s straightforward and will get the job done. Anything else is just muddying the waters,” said OCSEA President Eddie L. Parks.

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