Media on the budget that was released today:
Local governments would see a cut of 25 percent per year and state colleges and universities would be limited to 3.5-percent tuition increases under Gov. John Kasich’s new two-year budget.
That move would cost counties, municipalities and townships $167.1 million the first year and $388.2 million starting in the second year. Kasich said those governmental units will get money back by sharing services and relief from the state on such issues as requirements to pay prevailing (union) wages.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Local governments and schools districts are hit hard, facing nearly $2 billion less in total payments from the state in 2012 and 2013 under Gov. John Kasich’s budget proposal, according to details released shortly after noon.
The Local Government Fund is cut by $555 million in the $120 billion, two-year budget which amounts to a 25 percent cut in the first year and a 50 percent cut in the second year. Additionally, the Kasich budget makes tax policy changes raiding a trio of reimbursement fund payments that local governments and schools receive, costing the entities roughly $1.3 billion.
The tax changes quicken the pace of phase-outs of payments to local governments and school districts for previous changes in state policy. The changes were made during electric deregulation in 1999 and when lawmakers overhauled business taxes in the 2005 budget. That $1.3 billion is then moved into the state’s general revenue fund to pay for state government programs.
Kasich’s budget also includes extensive privatization moves, including selling off five state prisons for $200 million and the leasing of the state’s liquor distribution network to JobsOhio, Kasich’s private development board.
Kasich on Tuesday released a proposal that seeks to close an $8 billion budget gap through a combination of program restructuring, budget cuts and privatization of public assets.
Among his proposals is increasing higher education aid by $67 million and directing more K-12 aid to poorer districts.
He suggests continuing a cap of 3.5 percent on tuition increases, creating three-year bachelor’s degree programs and increasing teaching loads for faculty.
His proposal also includes a plan to sell five prisons to private operators and close four prison camps.
COLUMBUS —Ohio Gov. John Kasich released a state budget proposal Tuesday that seeks to close an $8 billion budget gap through a combination of program restructuring, budget cuts and privatization of public assets.
The plan seeks to retain the $800 million, two-year income tax cut that went into effect in January and add an additional $34 million in tax incentives designed to create jobs.
Among cost-cutting measures is a plan to sell five prisons to private operators to avoid mass closures and raise $200 million that was covered in the last state budget with federal stimulus dollars.
The facilities Kasich has targeted are North Coast Correctional Treatment Facility and Grafton Correctional Institution, both in Grafton; North Central Correctional Institution in Marion; Lake Erie Correctional Institution in Conneaut; and a juvenile prison in Marion that closed in 2009.
