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No. 23 October 26, 2001 PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS BULLETIN TO YOUR COUNCIL, DEPARTMENT HEADS & STAFF Residency Bill Up for Possible Vote. A fifth hearing and possible vote on HB 258 (Flowers) is scheduled for the House Local Government and Townships Committee on Wednesday, October 31 at 10:00 a.m. in House Hearing Room 121. It is the only bill of municipal interest scheduled for a hearing next week. The hearing is open to proponents, opponents and interested parties. Under provisions of the bill, no municipal employee who is either certified or licensed by the state could be required to live in any specific area of the state. If passed, this bill would attempt to overturn all charters, ordinances, civil service policies, employment contracts and collective bargaining agreements which contain contrary provisions. Beyond that, this would be the first time that we can find that the General Assembly will attempt to pass a bill to overturn local charter elections of any kind. On this point, HB 258 is saying that when it comes to municipal employees, the General Assembly shall set this or any other condition of employment, not local leaders, not local voters and not local collective bargaining agreements. What next? A bill that dictates how many firefighters each Ohio community will have? Another bill that dictates that all police officers and firefighters must get the same pay raises? Local personnel decisions should be left to local leaders, local voters and local collective bargaining. Please, let your state representative know that overturning local voter decisions and local personnel decisions is bad public policy. Additional testimony from municipal officials would also be very welcome. Please, let us know if you plan on testifying at this very important hearing. HB 191 Heard. The House Ways and Means Committee heard testimony both for and against HB 191 this week. Under provision of the bill a municipality which collects over $100 million in annual income tax receipts (Columbus, Dayton, Cleveland, Toledo, Cincinnati) would have to ship back to each commuter's place of residence (city, village or township) 25% of the income tax paid to the central city. Our initial estimates are that this would reduce the income tax receipts in those five large cities by 8-18%. Joel Taylor, Finance Director of the City of Columbus, told the committee that with the passage of HB 191, "The City of Columbus would be forced to layoff uniformed police and fire personnel, as well as stop other day-to-day city services that impact the safety, health and welfare of our citizens, our employers and our employees." Taylor told the committee that the bill would reduce the city's income tax receipts by up to $40 million. Terry Schulte, testifying on behalf of the city of Mason against the bill, said that even though her city would benefit in the short-run under this bill, the eventual result of reducing the city of Cincinnati's budget drastically would be a "downward economic spiral that may be impossible to reverse" leading to a negative impact on the entire region. Mason is a suburb of Cincinnati. The rebate approach found in HB 191 will also act as a disincentive for central cities to work toward attracting new jobs, according to Schulte. Robert Kalish, Mayor of Baltimore, near Columbus, told the committee in supporting testimony that, the central city should send money to commuter hometowns because, "In Baltimore, I don't know that our taxpayers and voters will tolerate any more increased burden, so we can't just increase our taxes or remove the credit." The League is opposed to HB 191 for the reasons outlined in Legislative Bulletin No. 20. House Bills of Interest on Floor of the House. Three bills of municipal interest are scheduled for House floor votes next week. SB 128, which requires boards of health to get municipal or township legislative approval for smoking regulations, HB 329, which eliminates the veto of East Liverpool, Mason, Milford, and Martins Ferry over the LGF formula in their counties, and HB 365, which allows a municipality, township or county to seek early assistance from the State Auditor in difficult financial times and short of seeking Fiscal Emergency status are all scheduled for floor votes at the Tuesday session of the House. Village Fiscal Officer Bill Now Before the Governor. HB 245 (Evans), which allows a village to create the appointed position of fiscal officer in lieu of an elected clerk-treasurer, has passed both Houses of the General Assembly and is now before the Governor for his signature. We want to thank Representative Dave Evans for sponsoring this important League-supported legislation. Long-time Municipal League Employee, Spouse, Die in Colorado Accident. It is with great sadness that we learned this morning that Carl Broberg, former Director of Research for the League, died early Friday as a result of injuries sustained in a tragic auto accident on October 5 in Colorado. Carl worked for the League from 1972 to 1996. Carl's wife, Daphne, died immediately following the accident. Daphne worked for the Columbus School District for more than 30 years. Our deepest sympathies go out to the Broberg family. No details of an expected Columbus- area memorial service for Carl and Daphne were available at press time. We will post details on our website (omunileague.org) when we know. Petitions Filed on Annexation Referendum. Supporters of a referendum on SB 5, the anti-annexation bill passed by the General Assembly, submitted 231,829 signatures with the Ohio Secretary of State's Office on Thursday afternoon. The Petitioners submitted some signatures from 87 counties. The Secretary of State now sends those petitions back to the county Boards of Elections to check the validity of the signatures. Should 201,000 of those signatures be valid and there be enough valid signatures from at least 44 counties, the question of the referendum would be placed on the November, 2002 ballot. Should there not be enough valid signatures, supporters will be given an additional ten days to gather the additional required signatures. Should the supporters of the referendum be successful in either this first go around with their signatures or following the grace period, and thus be successful in getting this question on the ballot, SB 5 would not take effect until voters decide its fate next November. If after the validity check and the grace period, the supporters are not successful, the effective date of SB 5 will be today, October 26.
Susan J. Cave Dear Sue: Today, the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC) took a tough, but necessary, step with regard to public employers at a meeting of the Ohio Workers' Compensation Oversight Commission. Due to an increase in the number of claims and expected claims' costs, BWC will need to increase workers' compensation insurance premiums for public employer taxing districts, on average, 6.4 percent for the coming year. This move will result in an increased cost to public employers of $15 million. The first bill reflecting this increase will arrive in January 2003. However, in an effort to assist your members during these difficult economic times, the Oversight Commission, on my recommendation, approved a 50-percent, one-time dividend to Ohio's public employers for the same period. This means that cities, counties and school districts in Ohio will receive a break of approximately $144 million in 2003. This amount is money that, while budgeted for workers' comp insurance premiums, will be able to be used at the employer's discretion. As an insurance company, it is necessary, based on these expected future claims' costs, for BWC to raise premiums. However, as a state agency we are pleased to be able to also offer the dividend to Ohio's public employers who face tight budgets. In addition to the 50-percent savings, a special program for public employers, created at today's meeting, will grant an additional 25-percent in savings to your members who demonstrate commitment to reducing their future workers' compensation costs. BWC will host 11 Public Employer Summits around the state this winter, focusing on the important aspects of controlling the cost of workers' compensation and sharing proven methods from successful public employers. To receive the 25-percent savings a public employer's elected official, chief financial officer, or key decision-maker (i.e., Chief-of-Staff or equivalent position) must attend one of the Summits. Those who do not attend, or who send staff substitutes or surrogates will not qualify for the 25-percent savings. The Summits will take place during late January and early February of 2002. Registration information, along with exact dates, times and locations will be sent to you as soon as they become available. It is my hope that you will partner with us in this effort and strongly encourage the Chief Executive for each of your individual members to commit to attend one of our Summits. If every public employer attends a summit session, Ohio communities will benefit from an additional $67 million in savings. Money that can be spent on fire protection, police departments or text books. If you would like more information or have any questions on the potential savings to your members, or have any questions regarding today =s actions, please contact Mike Dew, BWC Stakeholder Liaison, at (614) 644-7588.Sincerely, James Conrad |
