Ohio Municipal League
175 South Third Street
Suite 510
Columbus, Ohio 43215

614-221-4349 Office
614-221-4390 Fax

email:
Legislative Inquiries
John Mahoney
General Inquiries
info@omunileague.org

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OML E- BULLETIN
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Senate Cuts Local Government Funds by 7.5%.

The Senate put through its version of the budget-fix bill (HB 405) last week on a 21-9 partisan vote. Included in the Senate version was a cut to all three local government funds (LGF, LGRAF and Local Government and Library Fund) of 6% from their July 1 appropriation levels. Because these cuts will have to take effect within the remaining 18 months of the biennium, rather than the full 24 months, the cuts are equal to a 7.5% cut over each of the next 18 months. Efforts on the Senate floor, by the Senate Democrats, to restore the $160 million in assistance to local governments and libraries were rebuffed by the majority Republicans.

The Senate's local government and additional state agency cuts were part of the Senate's plan to balance the budget without closing various business tax "loopholes," as proposed by the Governor and the House. The Senate also took fewer dollars from the state's almost billion dollar Rainy Day Fund, but borrowed more dollars from the state's tobacco settlement monies than either the House or Governor's budget proposals.

The House, immediately following Senate action, voted to reject the Senate's package and call for a conference committee to work out differences between the Houses. Conferees for the Senate will be Senators Doug White, Bill Harris and Eric Fingerhut. For the House, the conferees will be Representatives Jon Peterson, Charles Calvert and Ed Jerse. Though the administration does not formally sit on the conference committee, the Governor and his staff will also be active in the negotiations surrounding this conference committee. Conference committee meetings are scheduled to begin the week after the Thanksgiving Day holiday.

Both the Governor and the Speaker of the House, Larry Householder, have in the past been very supportive of not cutting local government assistance at this time of greatest need. Following Senate action and House's refusal to go along with that action, Speaker Householder made it very clear to the media that the cuts to local government funds will be a primary concern on the part of the House in the negotiations.

If we are to keep the local government funds whole, it is important that you once again let Governor Taft, Speaker Householder, Senate President Finan, Conference Committee members and your own local members of the House and Senate know how important these dollars are to your community. We have received many copies of letters from municipal officials lobbying their legislators on this issue. Your efforts on this issue have been great so far and we can't be discouraged by this setback in one house of the legislature. Both the House and the Governor, through their versions of HB 405, have said they don't want these cuts in local government assistance! This fight is not over!

With your help, we can still make it clear that balancing the state budget through cuts to local governments is not a good policy at a time of high security needs and recession. Many of the communities which would receive the largest cuts from an across the board local government fund cut are the same communities which are suffering the highest costs of new security and the worst end of the recession.

It=s Time to Reform Ohio Civil Service Laws.

The Civil Service Commission, which has been charged with making a thorough review of Ohio=s Civil Service Laws and recommendations for change will be holding regional hearings in November and December. If you as a city official or administrator have concerns with these provisions in Ohio statute, this is a prime opportunity to voice them.

The dates are: November 28, 2001 - Canton November 29, 2001 - Zanesville

December 6, 2001 Findlay

(You may contact the office of Representative Stephen Buehrer, Chairman (614/644-5091 or 419/822-0124) for exact times and locations)

The Committee members need to hear from city officials. Groups representing employees will be out in force. The OML presented testimony before the full commission in May of this year stressing the need for reform in the examination process, the hiring process including both preferences and extra credit, displacement and layoff procedures and appointments and promotions in the safety forces.

Cities need flexibility in order to recruit, hire and retain the best labor force possible for their taxpayers. The least flexible provisions are found in sections of the Revised Code relating to safety forces. Some suggested changes to these sections and others might include:

$ Clearly allowing public employees to choose from and use a variety of testing mechanisms.

$ Eligibility lists from which to choose initial appointments should include all who receive passing scores.

$ Promotions need to be based on merit and fitness and other relevant skills, abilities and education as determined by the employer.

$ Permissive authority to hire chiefs of the safety forces outside the ranks should be given.

$ Allow for locally designed layoff procedures which more clearly fit situations where there are fewer job classifications and employees.

$ Design the civil service statutes to be more user friendly; reorder them so that it is clear which sections apply to the statute, which to cities, which to counties, etc.