Thursday, June 30, 2011

Congratulations to Governor Kasich and the Ohio Legislature

Today, Governor John Kasich kept his promise.

Many doubted it could be done. The promise I'm referring to, of course, is balancing Ohio's biennial budget, without raising taxes. In fact, an income tax cut was preserved, after being delayed by the last administration.

Governor Kasish started the process with Ohio being $8 billion in the hole. That's what the outgoing Ted Strickland administration left us with. Faced with growing expenditures, but relatively flat revenue due to essentially no population growth, the previous administration refused to restructure their last budget to reflect the economic reality.

They robbed from various funds, and took billions in federal handouts, and then patted themselves on the back for it. They refused to address the underlying problem, which was the huge difference between the state's revenues and it's spending. They chose the easy path and avoided making the hard, but necessary choices to reset Ohio's budget to one of sustainability.

Our new budget reflects reality and establishes a new, sustainable, baseline going forward, so that taxes in Ohio, already among the nation's highest, won't have to be raised. Raising taxes would only make Ohio even more uncompetitive with other states when it comes to attracting and retaining businesses, causing even further job loss.

There are some painful cuts to education spending and local governments. Cuts across most departments were necessary. But there are also a number of significant reforms as part of this budget, not just cuts. Reforms that will make Ohio state government more efficient in the services it performs.

Reforms like getting rid of the multiple-prime system for bidding public constuction projects like schools and university buildings. Ohio was the the last remaining state using such an outdated form of contracting for public buildings. This will save around 10% on future building costs.

The grownups are back in charge. They did what was necessary for Ohio taxpayers. They might not be popular for it. Nobody likes cuts, and nobody likes to make cuts. But they had a job to do, and they did it. And they did it the responsible way.

The Columbus Dispatch agrees:
Kasich and this legislature came into office in January facing a disaster: an $8 billion deficit left by former Gov. Ted Strickland and lawmakers who failed to put the state on a sustainable fiscal basis by matching spending with revenue. Instead, they kicked the problem down the road, using federal stimulus money to paper over the problem.

Putting the state back on a sound fiscal foundation, with the tools to keep it that way for the foreseeable future, is an extraordinary accomplishment.

Ohio's left and the Democrats will continue to squeal about this budget, and about the cuts they should have made but papered over with Obama money instead. And I'll say to them what I've been saying all along.

Ted Strickland, Armond Budish, Chris Refern and the like: You knew Ohio had a major multi-billion dollar deficit. You had your chance to address it the right way and make the responsible, albeit difficult choices.

You. CHOSE. Not to. Your petty sniping now is nothing more than sour grapes.

Ohio is on a path to a better financial future, due to this governor's leadership. Check out this video that highlights some of the difficulties and Governor Kasich's comments during the budget process.



So, congratulations to Governor Kasich and the Ohio House and Senate for taking the disasterous situation that was left to you, cleaning up the mess, and doing what was right.

Bytor on Twitter

7 comments:

  1. The $8 Billion was a myth, according to Kasich's own OBM director. Revenues weren't flat, that's why Kasich's budget gets a $1 billion surplus for Strickland's budget. Strickland CUT BILLIONS in GRF, Kasich is raising it to unprecedently high levels.

    Nobody said he couldn't do, but that he couldn't do it without taking hundreds of millions from local government and schools. We were right.

    Between the Strickland surplus and the growing revenues, Kasich's OBM director says the deficit was closer to $5 billion, which previous Governors have had to deal with including... Strickland.

    The budget isn't structually balanced because it has tax cuts at the tail end and well over a billion in one-time money that will need to be resolved.

    Ohio doesn't have the highest taxes in the nation, it's not even close.

    Quoting the Dispatch is pointless, they are Kasich loving bootlickers who refuse to criticize him for anything he does.

    Enjoy your majority while it lasts, because the reaction to the overreach is coming.

    But keep believe the fairy tale that is the Kasich delusion.

    He didn't reform squat. He sucked hundreds of millions from local governments so that he wouldn't have to reform state government. He's kicked more cans down the road than Campbell's.

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  2. LOL Modern is making the rounds.

    You can keep spewing your plunderspin and false information around, but it doesn't make it true.

    Funny that only the progressive sites like plunderdumb seem to be quoting this bobmshell information of yours.

    Its so hilarious that all we have to do is put the word "Strickland" or "Kasich" in a post, and know that Modern will come squealing within a couple hours with his made up information. Soooooo predictable.

    What a sad, angry life you must have, constantly trolling every conservative blog and newspaper comment section in the state. With supposed information that only Plunderdumb seems to have, but not backed up or reported by any other media. Everyday. Sheesh, I better stop thinking about it. Its depressing.

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  3. Strickland CUT BILLIONS in GRF, Kasich is raising it to unprecedently high levels.

    WRONG. It was a creative accounting trick by Strickland.

    Strickland used BILLIONS in federal "stimulus" funds to support Medicaid spending, which normally would have come from the GRF.

    This made the GRF in his last budget seem artificially low.

    So Strickland's "cuts" to the GRF were actually just a free handout from his buddy Obama.

    If you subtract all Medicaid spending from the 2 budgets, new non-Medicaid GRF spending is actually $1 billion lower than Stricklands.

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  4. Ohio doesn't have the highest taxes in the nation, it's not even close.

    Wrong again, Modern. We have the 7th highest state and local tax burden already. Here's the link to that on that right-wing outlet known as...CNN

    http://money.cnn.com/2009/04/10/pf/taxes/state_tax_rates/index.htm

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  5. Here's the link again. Blogger cut it off

    http://tiny.cc/bun3a

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  6. I find it amusing that we as people no matter what side of the aisle we are on, are at a point where we praise a guy for doing his job...Yeah you got a budget through, isnt that what you were elected to do???

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  7. It's not spin; it's what OBM Director Tim Keen has admitted to. There was no $8 BILLION deficit, thanks to the surplus Strickland left for Kasich and the economic recovery that started under Strickland.

    The Buckeye Institute blasted this budget and said that Strickland did better in controlling spending.

    Second, your not really quoting CNN, but the conservative Tax Foundation, which doesn't even weigh tax burdens, but what it considers "tax friendliest" states (which is different.) The data cited is outdated (and wrong.)

    By most economists standards, Ohio has an average tax rate compared to the rest of the nation.

    Given how much trouble this Administration has in following the constitution, I guess in hindsight I can see why getting a balanced budget through with one party control in the legislature as they were constitutionally required to do could be called an "achievement."

    Funny thing is, that they did it with only hours to spare.

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