|
 |
Funding Sources,
Bureaucrats and Lobbyists
By Bob Rhoades
Gov. Kasich’s recent attack on labor unions has focused on the actual
act of negotiations and arbitration. One of the things that no
one has focused on is state funding in general.
There are many forms of funding for the various state agencies.
Many state processes and agencies are funded simply by the state income
taxes that people and companies pay. Gasoline taxes pay for road
improvements. Fishing and hunting licenses pay for ODNR and
keeping our state wildlife functions funded. There are as many
funding sources as there are agencies. As you can see, if managed
correctly, the funding for the various agencies is pretty
constant. People always drive vehicles, buy gas, buy insurance,
feed themselves, etc.
Every administration in the recent past does one thing in the very
beginning that makes no sense, they institute a hiring freeze. A
hiring freeze means that jobs not filled before that point aren’t going
to get filled for usually about 6 months. So what’s the
problem you say? Less people to pay must be a good thing.
Under normal situations that would be true. In state government
that isn’t true. Many agencies don’t get their money from state
coffers. It comes from federal grants.
One of those agencies is the Ohio Department of Health. The
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) sponsors a myriad of programs at the
state level and most of the programs come with funding for
personnel. The reason for this is the information gathered by
these programs is used by the Federal Government to monitor our
health.
A good example was the Pandemic Flu that we experienced last
year. Trends and monitoring of outbreaks are critical to keeping
the population healthy. But can it be that much? Sure can,
probably 80% or more of the funding for that agency comes from federal
grants. What the administration has never understood is that no
matter who pays for those jobs they have to be done. When you
don’t use the money that you are offered through the grant process, you
lose it. Multiply that by the number of agencies the state has
and it’s a pretty good chunk of money.
Another agency that is not traditionally funded is the State Fire
Marshal’s Office (SFM). There is no tax money used in that
office. The funding source is 1 tenth of 1% of every fire
insurance dollar spent in Ohio. That pretty much goes on all the
time. But every year the order will come down that arson
investigator can’t go out at night. Fires sort of happen when
they want to, not 9-5. Part of the reason for this funding
problem is that SFM is a division of the Department of Commerce, not
the Department of Public Safety. Commerce sucks a couple of
million off the top for “administrative costs” which goes into their
general fund. Why commerce? Because of all of the things
the SFM regulates like, hotels, motels, fireworks, underground storage
tanks, licensing of inspectors and other things.
Lobbyists have long had a grip on this which needs to stop. It
only makes sense that SFM be in public safety because it is a public
safety function. The Division of EMS which is in Public Safety
licenses all levels of EMT’s and firefighters but SFM is the training
arm, enforcement arm and licensing arm. It sort of ends up being
a duplication of services or sometimes lacks coordination because of
the way it’s structured. In checking around there is no other
state that is structured this way and it makes no sense. Numerous
administrations have said they were going to fix it but no one ever has.
Lobbyists are a huge problem or a huge benefit, depending on which side
of the fence you are on. Their influence on legislation and other
things, in this case enforcement, is a huge problem.
The EPA has funding sources available for drinking water and waste
water projects most of which are being administered by them from
Federal Sources. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also
known as the federal stimulus bill is one of those sources. These
are pass through funds from the federal government that come with
funding for personnel as well as the grants.
Victims of Crimes get funding from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office,
the Ohio Department of Health and the Office of Criminal Justice
Services. These funds are pass through funds from the federal
government but they create jobs that are paid for with funds that don’t
come from state funding allowing the state funding to go to other
things.
These few examples show the wide variety of funding sources that help
the State of Ohio work every day. For any person, let alone the
governor to get a grasp on all of these funding sources is a monumental
task. Singling out one aspect such as collective bargaining as
the large problem that will fix everything makes little sense. It
is a futile attempt to fix a large problem that will make little
difference on the situation and probably blow more money that could be
used for something else. If collective bargaining is done away
with, what replaces it? Do we go back to municipalities offering
packages that don’t even cover the cost of living?
Municipalities have settled into a system with their employees. It
guarantees both sides the ability to control what is going on.
The contracts that are in place have clauses that say what both sides
can and can’t do. If collective bargaining goes away, do
contracts also go away? Step raises which are usually negotiated
into these contracts, guarantee that employees continue their education
and give the citizens the best protection they can get.
The people who get municipal jobs in the police department, fire
department and public works are educated to State specifications and
tested to state specifications. These standards guarantee that a water
or sewage operator in Ansonia is trained to the same level as one in
Greenville or Columbus. The same is true of law enforcement and
fire. Perhaps that should be done away with also. Perhaps the
state of Ohio should get out of all of our lives. When a system
isn’t broken, it probably shouldn’t be fixed.
|
|
|
|
