Article published June 25, 2009
Ohioans decry deep cuts to services
Toledoans join others to protest ways to patch $3.2B state budget hole
Jessica Mead, left, and Lori Witham, librarians at Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, show their support at the main library.
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THE BLADE/DAVE ZAPOTOSKY
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By JIM PROVANCE
BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU CHIEF
COLUMBUS - Vicki Hill of Toledo was once a recipient of treatment services for addictions to alcohol and crack cocaine.
Yesterday, she stood with roughly 300 other advocates of mental health-and-addiction services outside the Ohio Statehouse in hopes of heading off what she fears may be the severe curtailment of the programs she had counted on.
"Funds are running out," said Ms. Hill, now chairman of the Recovery Council of Lucas County. The council advises county programs on the services most needed.
"They're asking us which services we can cut out that are less important to recovery," she said. "There are none. … We need them all and more," she said.
An hour before, leaders of unions representing state workers protested inside the building against Gov. Ted Strickland's proposal to reduce temporarily the state's share of contributions to their pensions.
And before that, health-care advocates gathered to urge lawmakers to restore the governor's proposals to cover as many as 110,000 uninsured Ohioans via new mandates on insurance companies and employers.
Patrons and employees have their rally downtown during the weekly Brown Bag concert. Ohio libraries are among the organizations targeted for budget cuts.
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THE BLADE/DAVE ZAPOTOSKY
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Groups angered by cuts already approved by lawmakers or proposed by Mr. Strickland are descending on the Statehouse as a joint House-Senate conference committee prepares to patch a $3.2 billion hole in the state's next two-year budget. Most of that hole is expected to be filled in with spending cuts.
Despite continued splintering of his caucus on the subject, House Speaker Armond Budish (D., Beachwood) said he is not worried that he won't be able to get enough members to vote for a budget without a tax increase.
"When you have a $3.2 billion deficit, there have to be cuts," he said. "We are looking at every possibility. With limited revenue, if we take a cut off the table we need to find money to do that."
As talks continued inside, some outside the building were taking the threats of cuts personally.
"Governor Strickland, have you no shame?" asked one sign at the mental health rally.
Mr. Strickland on Friday reversed his prior position and embraced a plan to bring thousands of slot machines to Ohio's racetracks to generate revenue. But that still left a $2.4 billion hole that he is proposing to fill with even more cuts.
The long list of recommendations would hit public libraries, cut cash assistance for the physically and mentally disabled, eliminate the popular Early Learning Initiative pre-school program, cut access to some Medicaid services, reduce eligibility for subsidized child care, reduce college financial aid, and close another juvenile detention facility.
Katie Phillips of Erie, Mich., is a program coordinator at the Thomas M. Wernert Center in Toledo, the same center where she has received psychiatric and counseling services for severe depression.
"Those programs are in danger of being cut, so instead of being a recovery educational center, it would just be a drop-in center with no activities," Ms. Phillips said. "We lose the recovery."
Mental health and other health advocates have called for an increase in taxes if necessary to preserve existing services.
But even the union leaders, who said reducing the state's share of payments into the retirement system is not the way to go, refused to offer any other alternatives to closing the budget gap. Mr. Strickland has promised to repay the lost revenue to the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System over time, but union leaders are skeptical.
Two other House Democratic members yesterday added their voices to four who called Tuesday for a possible tax hike to be placed back on the table of the six-member conference committee.
"If our choice is between slashing funding for our schools, food banks, libraries, and health providers and creating revenue through taxation, we believe it is time for Ohio's leadership to discuss tax increases as one option and stop the practice of tax cuts, tax credits, and exemptions," said Reps. Tyrone Yates (D., Cincinnati) and Kathleen Chandler (D., Kent) in a joint statement.
Contact Jim Provance at:
jprovance@theblade.com
or 614-221-0496.
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