Government Advantage Group
Memo
To: OARC Members
From: Kevin L. Futryk & Beth Easterday-Futryk
Date: December 29, 2009
Re: 2009 End of Year Report
To say the least, 2009 was a year of many challenges for Ohio’s state government. As we’ve reported previously, deliberations over the state budget, whether balancing the FY 2008 – 2009, deliberating the FY 2010 – 2011, or finding a way to fill the $852 million hole created by the Supreme Court decision over Video Lottery Terminals at racetracks, for over 8 months the focus of the General Assembly was on budget issues. Unfortunately, this came at the expense of moving other priority issues for the Ohio House and Ohio Senate to the back burner for the 2009 Session. Partisan disagreement and bickering between Democrats and Republicans was the highest it’s been in years.
2010 may bring more of the same, with a twist. Being a major election year, all statewide offices are up, as are all seats in the Ohio House, ½ the seats in the Ohio Senate, and all Congressional seats, partisan rancor will most likely be at a fever pitch most of the year. And while all sides agree issues such as reauthorizing the Third Frontier initiative for the May statewide ballot, deciding how to handle Columbus’ opposition to the proposed casino site, and passing implementing legislation on last November's successful ballot issues on veterans' benefits, livestock standards and four casinos, issues such as the capital spending bill and future budget correction measures will likely show the deep philosophical divide between Democrats and Republicans.
For OARC, the year was filled with a variety of activity, which we believe helped position the association and its members with Ohio’s state government. For the state operating budget, we were successful this year in finally securing the OEPA 208 funding that the Areawides have been seeking for years. The hard work of many of our members, the support of key leaders from the Governor, the OEPA, and key legislators, resulted in the Areawides successfully securing this needed funding.
For the ODOT budget, OARC was invited early in the process to learn the budgets goals and objectives, prior to it being formally introduced to the General Assembly. We were asked to partner with ODOT on several of the budgets objectives, and responded by testifying as proponents of HB 2 (Thanks Bob Lawler!!). On one of ODOT’s key budget objectives, the Transportation Innovation Authority language (TIA’s), we were active participants in trying to obtain the compromise necessary to keep the language as part of HB 2. At the end, the language was removed by the legislature, but OARC has remained an active participant in the ongoing deliberations on HB 166, the stand-alone TIA legislation. This month, the House Transportation committee favorably recommended HB 166, which included all of the changes requested by OARC. The bill still needs to be approved by the full House, and then receive Senate consideration.
Without a doubt, the major issue OARC members were involved in centered on ARRA funding, and our ongoing efforts with ODOT regarding discretionary funds and public transit. With a prospective second round of federal stimulus funds, and the need to address public transit operating issues in the near term, we can expect that ODOT will be eager to continue partnering with OARC in 2010. Our goal is to continue to build on the achievements we made in 2009, and further strengthen the role of MPO’s and Regional Councils in transportation, planning, environmental, and economic development policy.
As noted above, 2010 may be another challenging year from a state budget perspective, depending on how Ohio’s economy responds to the ongoing economic recession. For the most part, the state has tapped all the “easily available” revenue solutions. The FY’s 2008 – 2009 and 2010 – 2011 budgets’ tapped all the state’s available budget surpluses (i.e. Rainy Day Funds), increased a few dozen easily accessible state fees (e.g. state’s solid waste tipping fees), most recently delayed implementation of the final 4.2% reduction in the state’s 21% income tax reduction, offered Early Retirement Incentives (ERI’s) to all available state employees, and cut agency budgets between 5% - 20% in recent years. The concern looking forward is how, in the FY 2012 – 2013 budget, will the state make-up some $5 billion in one time federal money (out of a $51 billion budget), and begin to pay back approximately $1.8 billion in federal “loans” for unemployment benefits the state has to begin re-payment of in 2012. The Governor has already announced that in 2010 his office will begin a “top to bottom evaluation” of the entire budget, and Republicans in the Senate and House have already introduced bills to consolidate and streamline Ohio’s government, promote prison sentencing reforms to deal with overcrowding and a bloated Rehabilitation & Corrections budget, privatize Worker’s Compensation, promote further reforms to Ohio’s Medicaid program, and reform Ohio’s 100 plus year old construction contracting laws, a “pilot” of which was included in the recent Income Tax Rate Freeze measure.
Why are we mentioning all of this to you here? Because as the state begins to grapple with how to fill a $7 billion hole in their next budget, all potential revenue streams and expenditures will be looked at. Government consolidation and operating efficiencies will most likely be high on most policy makers lists. If there is a way to promote “regionalism” as a way to consolidate and improve efficiencies, we will need to promote this on OARC’s behalf. We will be diligently monitoring all budget discussions in 2010.
This brings us to our final point for this report. OARC’s effectiveness as a statewide organization is only as strong as its member’s local relationships. We believe we saw the strength of many of your local relationships during budget deliberations, something that greatly aided our efforts around Capital Square. We will continue to encourage you to reach out to, invite to meetings and function, and interact with your local state legislative delegations on a regular basis. As you’re all well aware, term-limits have created various challenges at the state capital, the most difficult being the loss of institutional knowledge. Having a strong understanding of the role and function that MPO’s and Regional Councils serve enables us to spend more time getting them to focus on the issue at hand, rather than educating them on what you do.
Please do not hesitate to contact us relative to any item in this report, and “Thank you” for your continued confidence in our service to the Ohio Association of Regional Councils.