Local Government Fund Coalition Calls for Budget Conferees to Adopt Senate Version of LGF Funding and Support

COLUMBUS, Ohio, June 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Leaders of Ohio's local governments call on legislators to support the substitute version of the state budget bill passed by the Senate (sub. HB 153) and to share the benefits of the state's revenue increase with cities, villages, townships and counties across the state carrying nearly $2 billion of the burden in the original version of the budget's $8 billion in cuts.

The senate version of the bill adds back $100 million in revenue sharing for local governments to pay for a range of vital community services from police, road maintenance, fire and ambulances, to parks and recreation to public health clinics, homeland security and natural disaster response. Gov. John Kasich's proposed budget reduced the LGF nearly 50 percent, from $665 million in 2011 to $339 in 2013.  The proposed budget also eliminates the estate tax and revenue sharing with the rollback of the tangible personal property and utility tax.

"In light of the state's improving revenue estimates, the Local Government Fund Coalition calls for conferees blending the house and senate-passed budgets to increase the allocation to the LGF," said Susan Cave, executive director, Ohio Municipal League and member of the Local Government Fund Coalition. "Local governments took the hardest hit in the original round of budget slashing and should be first when it comes to sharing the additional revenue."

Community leaders say the original budget merely shifted nearly $2 billion of the state's $8 billion deficit to local governments.

"With the budget gap being about $8 billion, or 17 percent of the total state budget, asking local governments to shoulder a 50 percent reduction in the LGF, along with the reductions in the TPP, estate tax and utility tax revenue just shifts the burden to local governments," said Larry Long, executive director, County Commissioners Association of Ohio and member of the LGF Coalition.  

The Local Government Fund Coalition (www.everyohioan.com), made up of leaders of municipalities, townships, park districts and Ohio's 88 counties, calls on legislators to reduce the proposed cut Local Government Fund to a proportional reduction more in line with the state's 17 percent deficit and to decrease the burden on already stretched local budgets.

Ohio's largest and smallest communities have specified in budget testimony the large-scale layoffs and cuts in local services that will follow the massive cuts in funding.

"Fair and proportional are the two key aspects we expect in the budget process," said Jim Woodward, executive director, Ohio Parks and Recreation Association and member of the LGF Coalition. "The LGF is the one line item in the budget that touches each and every Ohioan. We call on the conferees to be fair and let local communities pay their fair share to reduce the deficit – not an unsustainable burden."

Members of the Local Government Fund Coalition include the following statewide organizations: County Commissioners Association of Ohio, Ohio Association of Regional Councils, Ohio Municipal League, Ohio Parks and Recreation Association and the Ohio Township Association.

The effort is supported by: Coalition of Large Ohio urban Townships, Cuyahoga Mayors' and Managers' Association, Greater Dayton Mayors' and Managers' Association, Hamilton County Municipal League, Licking County Planning Commission, Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission and Northeast Ohio Mayors' and Managers' Association.

SOURCE Local Government Fund Coalition