DaytonDailyNews.com

COLUMBUS — State parks will remain open but local communities will have to figure out how to serve the mentally ill, the mentally retarded and residents with drug and alcohol problems with less state help.

The outlines of how Gov. Ted Strickland's plan to fill a new $540 million hole in the state budget will affect Ohioans began to appear on Thursday, Sept. 11, but full details won't be known until Sept. 22.

That's the deadline Strickland gave state agencies to come up with specifics for slashing $198 million in spending for the two-year budget period ending June 30, 2009.

Besides the cuts, Strickland is using $342 million in "cash management" actions such as taking cash from non-tax funds created by fees for state services and licenses to fill the hole. While he didn't categorically rule out a tax increase, Strickland made clear on Wednesday, Sept. 10, that he's not likely to seek one to get through the crisis.

"That would not be helpful to our economy recovering," he said.

In a letter to Strickland on Thursday, Cheri L. Walter, chief executive officer of the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities, said his cuts wouldn't help local communities cope with drug, alcohol and mental health issues.

"Our field is on the precipice of collapse and yet there seems to be little recognition of this as budget decisions are made," Walter wrote. Her association represents county alcohol, drug addiction and mental health boards.

While prisons, youth services and much of education was exempt from the cuts, "there seems to be no acknowledgment that when funding is cut for behavioral health services, more individuals will end up being committed to DYS (Department of Youth Services) and DRC (Department of Rehabilitation and Correction) and we'll see less student success," she added.

Strickland ordered 4.75 percent cuts for most state agencies but 2 percent cuts for community and hospital mental health services and revenue-generation activities in the taxation department.

Sean Logan, natural resources department director, must come up with nearly $3 million in cuts but said state parks will remain open and officials "do not anticipate that the public will see a difference" at parks.

Keith Dailey, Strickland's spokesman, said the governor believes his decisions are the best "that can be made considering the extraordinary challenging economic environment that is facing all Ohioans."

Coupled with $733 million in budget adjustments made last January, the total of cuts and other changes so far comes to $1.27 billion for the current two-year budget period.

Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1608 or

whershey@DaytonDailyNews.com.