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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > July > 19 > Entry
Editorial: Ohio finally has budget but no plan
After the prolonged dust-up about Ohio’s budget, the dust hasn’t settled. This is very much an ongoing story.
In some ways, the dust should not be allowed to settle. Take the spending cuts that were made. Rather than just make them and move on, Gov. Ted Strickland should put somebody in charge of measuring their impact, precisely quantifying what’s being lost.
Will the actual harm be as intense as spokespeople for safety-net programs predict? Or worse? Will people go hungry, lives be lost, families be devastated?
The cuts were as last-minute as the ridiculous gambling proposal that was enacted.
The cuts reflected last-minute revenue projections. Neither legislators nor journalists nor anybody else had time to get an authoritative feel for their impact.
State government makes decisions that affect people in direct, dramatic ways. Often the politicians talk about the potential indirect, subtle impacts of their policies, as in stimulating economic development. They can overstate their influence.
But their impact is clear in determining whether mental health care is available, whether seniors can avoid nursing homes, and whether people who lose their jobs can turn to food banks for sustenance and public libraries for a way back to a job.
Things might get worse from here. Many people believe the Strickland administration and lawmakers are wildly optimistic about future revenue; they worry there will have to be more cuts before the next budget is written in two years.
The projected money from the slot machines that the new budget authorizes at racetracks, for example, might not materialize. The gambling might not even start very soon.
The economy might still worsen. And the next budget won’t have this year’s $5 billion in federal stimulus funds to fall back on.
One estimate is that the next shortfall will be $8 billion. (The current two-year spending plan is $50.5 billion.)
True, the recent news out of Columbus could be worse. The overwhelmingly Republican Senate did give the Democratic governor enough votes (just barely) to get something enacted. As a party, the Republicans took the opportunity to pin all the bad news on the Democrats, but only to the degree that was consistent with getting the deed done.
Gov. Strickland lost substantial public standing during the ugly fight. But he does get to run for re-election as the governor who resisted a tax increase even when many in his party thought a tax increase — or a delay in planned tax cuts — was necessary. That seemed to be what he wanted.
And the spending cuts could have been worse, if the governor had gotten his original way. The final version of the budget cuts libraries by less than half as much as the governor proposed (but still by an awful lot). Food banks, mental health service and child care were also cut less.
The burden was spread a little to higher education (which also gets to raise tuition, as a trade-off), hospitals, nursing homes and non-public schools. On balance, that was the right direction.
But to take much comfort in the good news would be to miss the big picture and what’s likely yet to come.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment | Categories: Editorials, Martin Gottlieb, Ohio government, Social Services
Comments
By Reality
July 19, 2009 11:20 AM | Link to this
Ohio: You’ve lost your “tax base”. You’ve lost your “tax generators”, you’ve lost the industry that generates your tax base and tax generators. Since you’ve lost yourselves in gobblygook…let me explain… Your “tax base” were the employees employed by the “tax generators” (DUH…the State of Ohio does a good impression of Homer Simpson>>>The tax generators were>>>”Industry”…viable businesses). You’ve taken away their profitability by excessively taxing them…thier profit goes down, they can’t pay their owners (shareholders), let alone their employees…and you wonder why??? Ohhhhh!!!! Now I know why!!!!! Socialism doesn’t teach the concepts of supply and demand…buying low/selling high…providing goods services that will generate capital (IE: Money) that will pay the shareholders/employees…and “taxes” to the state on said profits. You want it (money) NOW….but do not/will not understand the concept of capitalism. Capitalism provides excessively more than your socialism does…but you hate it so much that you impressively blame it on your demise. It is you who destroy…not production caused by capitalism. 1984 is your mantra…can you explain it away as Orwell tried to do?By Frank
July 20, 2009 9:10 AM | Link to this
Industy in America is off between 40-70%. The State of Ohio Budget is 20% or 20 billion higher than its current tax base. A 3% cut in employee base is not even realistic to what every company in Ohio has done to survive. Close 10 of the 69 Universities, 10% and you may have a chance to survive. Otherwise, you will create a bigger deficit and end up closing 12 just to be 10% over budget.By Frank
July 20, 2009 9:11 AM | Link to this
Industy in America is off between 40-70%. The State of Ohio Budget is 20% or 20 billion higher than its current tax base. A 3% cut in employee base is not even realistic to what every company in Ohio has done to survive. Close 10 of the 69 Universities, 10% and you may have a chance to survive. Otherwise, you will create a bigger deficit and end up closing 12 just to be 10% over budget.