Months of tax revenues coming in under estimates have Gov. John Kasich trimming back his two-year state budget by $800 million. Statehouse correspondent Karen Kasler reports that has budget watchers wondering what will be cut.
Nothing is off limits
The state has a $615 million shortfall in this year鈥檚 budget, with revenues coming in behind forecasts for eight of the last nine months. With that in mind, Gov. John Kasich announced he鈥檚 pulling back his budget proposal by $400 million for each of the two years in the spending plan.
But as Kasich made the announcement before a room full of reporters, he wouldn鈥檛 get specific about what would get cut.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not going to write the budget here, though you鈥檇 like us to do it. We鈥檒l sit down and look at all the options,鈥� Kasich said.
The budget includes a 17 percent income tax cut, money for Medicaid expansion, and a slight increase overall for K-12 education, among other things. Kasich said almost nothing was off limits when considering cuts.
鈥淓verything has to be under the microscope. You just can鈥檛 say willy-nilly you鈥檙e just going exempt all this,鈥� Kasich said. 鈥淏ut we鈥檒l be sensitive about areas we have to be sensitive about, but decisions have to be made.鈥�
Bipartisan concern
At his announcement, Kasich was flanked by his fellow Republicans, House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger and Senate President Larry Obhof. It seemed to be a show of solidarity as those legislative leaders are developing their own budget proposals. Republicans had been expressing concerns about how to craft a budget when revenues are off by more than a half a billion dollars for the current fiscal year.
But from deep in the minority, Democrats have been saying the same thing. Rep. Jack Cera is from Bellaire in eastern Ohio, and said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e anxious to see where those cuts are going to be. I鈥檒l take them at their word that they said everything鈥檚 on the table, which is a concern because we wonder how they鈥檙e going to be able to do these without really further damaging the needs that we have out there.鈥�
One of the few things Kasich did make clear is that he would not consider dipping into the state鈥檚 rainy day fund, which he proudly touts is above $2 billion. Democrats have been urging him to consider doing that to help local communities dealing with falling revenues of their own, and rising costs related to the opioid crisis. Cera notes the House is preparing its version of Kasich鈥檚 budget now.
鈥淲ith all due respect to the governor, he鈥檚 not the only person in Columbus that gets to have a say over what the budget is.鈥� Cera said. 鈥淚f the House Republicans and the Senate Republicans want to cut important services to the people of Ohio, then that鈥檚 their choice.鈥�
Room for growth
Kasich does say that while he鈥檚 trimming the budget by $800 million, there鈥檚 still some slight growth in it. And that鈥檚 a problem for a conservative think-tank that watches the budget. Greg Lawson speaks for the , which recently put out a blueprint of possible cuts in the form of its 鈥減iglet book." That report lists items the group feels should be taken care of by private business or non-profit organizations, including arts funding, tourism promotion and industry-specific groups.
But Lawson acknowledges that maybe now isn鈥檛 the time for a tax cut, but that the budget needs to continue to do something toward overall tax and spending reform.
鈥淚 think we need to be cautious. But I think that we need to also be careful that we don鈥檛 fall into the trap of saying, 鈥極h well, let鈥檚 stop all of this reform today, not do any more of it.' Or worse than that, 'Let鈥檚 increase taxes so we can just keep spending.鈥� No, let鈥檚 look intelligently at some of these things,鈥� Lawson said.
and more moderate groups such as the have called for lawmakers to close loopholes that cost the state billions. Those include no tax on sales to churches, breaks on business purchases from farming equipment to airplanes, and credits for campaign contributions.
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