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Franklin County Residents Detail Impact of Service Cuts

At One Ohio Now Roundtable

May 12, 2011


For Immediate Release:
Contact: Andrea Fejes andrea@oneohionow.org, 614-221-4570

WORTHINGTON, OH – Franklin County residents talked about the damaging impact the proposed state budget
would have on them and called for an alternative that includes revenues at a roundtable hosted by the One Ohio
Now coalition this evening.

Scott DiMauro, a Worthington High School Social Studies teacher, said, “Now is the time to invest in our children’s
future. We need a high quality education system that prepares our students for successful careers and provides
our businesses with a strong future workforce.”

Mr. DiMauro spoke about residents’ pride in calling Worthington home. It provides a vibrant quality of life with its
strong schools, nationally recognized libraries, and dynamic arts groups. This quality of life is threatened, however,
by the budget cuts proposed to schools, local governments and health and human services.

Worthington City School District is already proposing eliminating staff and teachers in order to address the
reductions in state funding. This will not only have an impact on the local economy, but also on the quality of
education students receive.

Shelly Benton, a social worker with Columbus Area Mental Health, Inc., said, “Previous budget cuts have already
affected my agency’s ability to serve the Central Ohio community by providing high quality mental health services.
The proposed budget once again cuts funding for important services that help people become healthy, active
community members.”

“Mental health agencies are currently doing more with less,” Benton said. Behavioral health services provided
locally are a necessary part of the community safety net, and will be severely compromised by the proposed cuts.

One Ohio Now, a coalition of over 45 organizations concerned with education, health and human services, public
transportation and labor who are advocating for a balanced approach to meeting Ohio’s needs believe that we
cannot balance this budget with cuts, one-time sale of assets and privatization.

Andrea Fejes, coordinator for One Ohio Now, said at the roundtable, “State lawmakers are passing the buck to
local governments, forcing our schools, communities and libraries to either gut programs and services or raise taxes
to make up for the loss of state support.”
Brian Bellous, President of CWA Local 4502, expressed, “Typically it is the services that our elderly depend upon,
help make homes within the community safe and provide a nice quality of life for residents that are impacted first.
We need to invest in our communities so Central Ohio is a place people want to come to live and work and we can
protect the most vulnerable.”

“We need to consider long-term solutions to our budget issues that benefit all Ohioans, not just the wealthy and
large corporations,” Wendy Patton, policy analyst with Policy Matters Ohio said. “State leaders should review both
sides of the ledger and boost revenues in a way that does not hurt working families but restores equity,
accountability and balance to Ohio’s system of public finance.”

“Tough times call for tough decisions. Cutting vital services like education and behavioral health and forcing our
local governments to make up the difference is irresponsible,” Fejes said. “Our elected leaders need to support the
fundamentals in society – education, safety, protecting the most vulnerable – in a manner that is equitable for all
taxpayers.”

The impact of this budget proposal strikes at the heart of Franklin County’s most important services. Ohio is not
going to grow economically unless we adopt a balanced approach — one that includes revenue — to our current
challenges.

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One Ohio Now is a coalition of over 45 member organizations, including health and human services, transportation,
educators, school board members and labor, united for a balanced approach to meeting Ohio’s needs.

Advocates for Budget Legislation Equality•AFSCME Council 8•America Votes – Ohio•Center for Working Class Studies – Youngstown State
University•Children’s Defense Fund – Ohio•Cleveland Jobs with Justice•Cleveland Tenants Organization•Coalition on Homelessness and
Housing in Ohio (COHHIO)•Columbus Jobs with Justice•Communications Workers of America •Community Partners for Affordable Accessible
Health Care•Empowering and Strengthening Ohio’s People •The Empowerment Center of Greater Cleveland•Environmental Health
Watch•Georgetown Federation of Teachers •The Hunger Network in Ohio •Legal Aid of Southwest Ohio•LiveCLEVELAND!•Lutheran Metro
Ministries•Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative (MVOC)•Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless •Ohio AFL-CIO• Ohio Association of
School Business Officials (OASBO) •Ohio CDC Association•Ohio Center for Progressive Leadership•Ohio Civil Service Employees Association
(OCSEA)•Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding •Ohio Conference on Fair Trade•Ohio Education Association (OEA)•Ohio
Federation of Teachers (OFT)•Ohio Poverty Law Center• Ohio PTA•Ohio Public Transit Association (OPTA)•Ohio School Boards Association
(OSBA)•Ohio Voice•Ohio Youth Voices•Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Ohio•PolicyBridge•Policy Matters Ohio•ProgressOhio•SEIU
1199•Toledo Jobs with Justice•UFCW Local 1059•UHCAN

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