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PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS BULLETIN TO YOUR COUNCIL, DEPARTMENT HEADS & STAFF Bulletin # 5 March 2, 2001 Annexation Bill Passes Senate. As expected the Ohio Senate this week passed and sent to the House SB 5, a bill which embodies the same unacceptable changes to the annexation law as passed by the Senate last year as SB 289. There were no amendments offered to the bill in the Senate. It is now time to begin or increase your efforts to convey to the members of the House Local Government and Townships Committee, where SB 5 will be considered, and your own House members that SB 5 is a threat to the future economic well-being of your community. Voting in opposition to SB 5 in the Senate were: Senators Jacobson, Mead, Brady, Fingerhut, Furney, McLin, and Prentiss. House Passes Three Budgets; LGF Issue More Imminent. The House this week, with very little controversy, passed the budgets of the Ohio Department of Transportation, The Bureau of Workers' Comp and the Industrial Commission. All three budgets are primarily non-General Revenue Fund budgets. This brings to the fore the state's two GRF budgets, the education budget and the general operating budget. The Finance Committee of the House will now more closely concentrate on these two interrelated budgets. The outcome of these two budgets will be the plans for the spending of the vast majority of state GRF dollars for the next two years. Even though these budgets are separate, obviously, the more dollars put into the education budget, the fewer dollars will be available for all other department budgets and programs like the Local Government Fund. House consideration of these budgets will begin with the Governor's proposed budget, which includes funding one-quarter of his proposed increase for schools by freezing the Local Government Fund, the Local Government Revenue Assistance Fund and the Library and Local Government Fund at 2001 levels with virtually no increase in that assistance through, at least, June, 2003. That means that the growth you were told to expect in those funds and for which you budgeted in January will not be coming from July 1 through December 31 of this year. Despite the promises, that check will not be in the mail, at least not to you. It is vitally important that your legislators hear from you on this issue. If they don't know that this issue is important to you and what this assistance means to your community, who knows what will happen to these funds as the legislative process continues and legislators look for additional dollars for education and other programs. Legislators and the Governor know that the League opposes this freeze. What they don't know, unless they hear from you, is how important this freeze is back home. Please, call your legislator today and tell them that ignoring state promises made to local governments is unfair. LGF, L-GRAF and the Library Funds are not the state's Rainy Day Funds. Estate Tax Panel Meets. The Joint Committee on Estate and Death Taxes met for the first time this week. Senator Robert Spada and Representative Robert Latta will serve as co-chairs of that panel. The committee's charge is to come up with a plan to eliminate the state's Estate Tax by 2006. That plan is to be reported by the committee by December of this year. We will keep you informed on the progress of this committee. We expect in the near future the League will present testimony on the problems the elimination of this tax presents to municipalities and townships. In the year 2000, townships and municipalities received $294.7 million from the estate tax, according to the Ohio Department of Taxation. Don't Forget the Legislative Luncheon! If you haven't already signed up, we have enclosed yet another form for you to register for the League's Legislative Luncheon at the Statehouse. With as many municipal issues as we face this session of the legislature, we really need for as many municipal officials to come to this event and talk to their legislators as possible. Hope to see you on the 14th! COMMITTEE SCHEDULE FOR THE WEEK OF MARCH 5, 2001 TUESDAY, MARCH 6 SENATE WAYS & MEANS, After Session, South Hearing Rm., Chr. Blessing, Phone: 466-8068. HB 9 NATURAL GAS SALES (Setzer) Subjects retail natural gas suppliers and governmental aggregators to certification by the Public Utilities Commission, authorizes governmental aggregation for competitive retail natural gas services, and authorizes the PUCO, upon application by a governmental aggregator, to require a natural gas company to provide distribution service on a comparable and nondiscriminatory basis within the area of the governmental aggregation. (1st Hearing - Sponsor, proponent & interested party) WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7 HOUSE LOCAL GOVERNMENT & TOWNSHIPS, 10 a.m., Rm. 121,
Chr. Roman, Phone: 466-1790. HB 41 MUNICIPAL INVESTMENTS (Sulzer) Permits a municipal corporation to include the treasurer of a city or village, rather than the city director of law or village solicitor, among the officials who may order the investment of moneys in the municipal corporation's treasury. (2nd Hearing - Proponent, opponent & interested party) HOUSE RETIREMENT & AGING, 10:30 a.m., Rm. 122, Chr.
Schuring, Phone: 752-2438. THURSDAY, MARCH 8 HOUSE ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT, 9:30 a.m., Rm. 114, Chr.
Hollister, Phone: 644-8728. |
