Written Testimony on Sub HB 153

Senate Finance Committee

June 2, 2011
By: Andrea Fejes, Coordinator

Chair Widener, Vice Chair Jones, Ranking Member Skindell and members of the Senate Finance Committee, thank
you for the opportunity to provide testimony on Substitute House Bill 153, the biennial budget. My name is
Andrea Fejes and I am the coordinator of One Ohio Now.

One Ohio Now is a statewide coalition of over 45 organizations ranging from health and human services and
education to public transportation and working families. Coalition members have come together over the past
year to examine the state’s crisis and suggest reasonable solutions that minimize the impact to Ohioans and
ensures our state emerges strong when prosperity returns.

In Ohio, as in most other states, we’re facing some pretty tough times.

The longest and deepest national recession since the Great Depression has made it harder for us to find work,
provide for our families, support our communities or maintain positive expectations for the future. The sad reality
is that just as people’s needs are rising dramatically, the resources to meet those needs are declining. In fact, Ohio
and other states have seen unprecedented losses of revenue in this recession.

Now Ohio does not have sufficient resources to provide essential services and invest in our future. In response to
this crisis, we have mostly relied on reducing services that assist communities and vulnerable families who are
struggling through no fault of their own.

We have seen the result of these cuts – libraries have decreased hours and closed branches; access to mental
health services has been reduced to those that are in dire need of help; county Job and Family Services agencies
have had to serve increasing numbers of families with fewer resources; and public transit agencies have restricted
services limiting people’s access to work and their communities.

We have also begun to hear what additional proposed cuts will mean to local communities. Elected officials from
cities across Ohio have testified before this committee that they will have to lay off workers, including police
officers and fire fighters, if the proposed budget is approved.

Summit County Sheriff Drew Alexander says the cuts could force him to lay off 32 employees, most of them
deputies. Dayton City Manager Tim Riordan testified that the city will have to lay off employees to deal with the
$9.2 million in cuts the city is facing. This is in addition to Dayton City Schools eliminating 294 jobs which includes
1 out of every 10 teachers. Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson has already laid off 321 city employees, including 81
police officers and 51 firefighters. Loveland will have to lay off their part-time police officers.

85 East Gay Street – Suite 1002

Columbus, Ohio 43215
614.420.2027 | andrea@oneohionow.org
www.oneohionow.org
It is clear that solving the budget with cuts alone will not help our state rebound from these hard economic times,
create jobs, or provide the services businesses and families look for when choosing a place to locate or raise their
families.

We should always review what works and what doesn’t and make adjustments. However, this crisis is too large to
solve with just one implement. We need all the tools in the toolbox to rebuild our economic foundation.

If we fail to support public education, reduce services that help our children grow up in stable homes, do not
sustain vital health care services and slash funding to local governments where many of the services that support
our families are delivered we undermine the future economic prosperity of everyone in our state.

That’s why it’s crucial that we keep investing in Ohio’s people, schools, infrastructure and communities. If we try to
deal with hard times only by cuts in spending, we risk hacking so much that we set ourselves permanently back.

We need to balance spending cuts with reasonable, wise revenue investments so that Ohio can rebound fully from
these times of trouble and strengthen the vital public structures that make Ohio a great place to live and work
such as schools, clinics, parks and police and fire protection.

One way to accomplish this is to ensure accountability by reviewing and reducing the more than $7 billion that
Ohio gives up every year in tax expenditures. These tax breaks, credits and deductions are simply spending by
another name. Some of them are warranted. However, unlike appropriations that are reviewed every two years,
many of these are put in place and not reviewed for decades. There is no way of knowing if they are accomplishing
the goals for which they were intended. Reviewing and reducing loopholes should be just one piece of the
additional revenues needed to avoid drastic cuts to basic services like schools, local governments and human
services.

We applaud the Senate for including in their changes the creation of a committee to review tax expenditures.
However, when such drastic cuts are being made to education, human services and local governments it is only
right that steps be taken in this budget to also reduce unnecessary tax loopholes.

We also appreciate the additional funding the Senate has dedicated to schools, local governments and human
services. However, many of the state's poorest school districts have seen steep declines in their local tax bases
due to eroded property values, and will suffer under the proposed budget. The cuts will hurt families in Ohio's
rural counties and urban areas alike. They fall the most heavily on the areas with the greatest need and on the
most vulnerable of residents - our kids. We need an approach that includes more revenue to prevent classroom
size from ballooning, facilities from crumbling, and to ensure quality education in all school districts across the
state.

And while the committee also attempted to soften the blow to local governments, many communities still face
huge cuts that will have a direct impact on local governments to provide services that make communities places
families and businesses want to locate. These cuts will result in un-repaired potholes, less patrol cars keeping us
safe and longer emergency responses. These cuts will harm our future economic prosperity. A balanced approach
would allow us to maintain investments in basic public structures like K-12 education, public safety and
infrastructure.

Ohio has faced recessions before and every governor, whether Democrat or Republican, has responded with a plan
that includes revenue. A majority of other states have also responded to this crisis with a mix of spending cuts and
revenue since the start of the recession. A balanced approach has helped before and we need it again. The
massive decline in revenue has dug a hole for Ohio that we can’t cut our way out of.

We need an approach that will meet today’s growing needs and build a foundation for tomorrow’s prosperity.
Again, thank you for your time and opportunity to provide testimony on behalf of the member organizations of
One Ohio Now.