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The
Columbus Dispatch...
Adapt
to cuts, locals told
By Jim Siegel
Friday August 26, 2011
Two
months after passing a two-year
budget that cut local government funding by $633 million, GOP budget
experts
continue to press cities, townships and schools to make significant
changes to
live with reduced funding levels.
Asked
during a roundtable budget
discussion whether funding cuts that helped spare a state tax increase
would
just push up local tax rates, Sen. Chris Widener of Springfield,
chairman of
the Senate Finance Committee, said some areas might raise taxes, but
“in my
opinion, that only delays the inevitable — consolidation and
collaboration.”
“There
are a lot of good case studies
out there, when local government officials decide they can’t do
business as
usual anymore. There are tools in this budget and other legislation
that will
give them the roadmap to success.”
Citing
numbers from the Federation of
Tax Administrators, state Budget Director Tim Keen noted that, as a
percentage of
income, Ohioans’ tax burden ranks 33rd highest in the nation, but if
local
taxes are added, the ranking jumps to 16th.
“Frankly,
local governments aren’t in
a position to go out and seek more revenue,” he said, echoing a
position held
by Gov. John Kasich. “It hurts the competitiveness of the state of
Ohio. We’ve
got to get our cost down, and a lot of that burden falls on local
governments.”
Asked
later about continued calls to
consolidate services and find other money-saving solutions, Susan Cave,
executive
director of the Ohio Municipal League, said, “Sometimes it’s easier
said than
done.”
Major
consolidation efforts require
significant time and planning, she said, making it an unlikely option
to offset
the deep state cuts over the next two years. Those cuts follow a
“brutal” 2009
and 2010 for local tax revenue — which is barely recovering or, in the
case of
property taxes, is declining further.
The
full brunt of the state cuts will
start in January, Cave said, noting that a number of municipalities
have
already made layoffs. “2012 is going to be really difficult,” she said.
Local
governments also will lose about
$250 million per year from the elimination of the estate tax, starting
in 2013.
Read
the rest of the story at The
Columbus Dispatch
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