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No. 07 March 22, 2005 PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS BULLETIN TO YOUR COUNCIL, DEPARTMENT HEADS & STAFF General Assembly in Recess. The Ohio General Assembly broke for spring break at the end of last week. They will not return to session until the week of April 4. During the break, staff and senior legislators are expected to work out the details of any changes the House majority wishes to make in the governor’s proposed budget. It is expected that a substitute budget bill, including those changes, will become public about a week or so following the return of the General Assembly to Session. We will keep you informed on all the municipal issues in the budget as soon as details on those issues become available. “Thanks.” Thanks to all who participated in our Statehouse efforts on March 16 to emphasize how important the state’s local government funds are to all local governments and libraries. Over 200 local officials showed up at a Statehouse press conference to rally support for the local government funds. Groups participating in the event included: the League, the County Commissioners’ Association of Ohio, the Ohio Township Association, the Ohio Library Council, the Ohio Parks and Recreations Association, the Fraternal Order of Police, the Ohio Association of Professional Fire Fighters (IAF), the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police and the Ohio Fire Chiefs Association. At the news conference, Mayor Don Plusquellic of Akron and President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors spoke on behalf of the League. There were also speakers representing the CCAO, Library Council, OTA and the Parks and Recreation Association. The event and visits by the participants to their local legislators following the news conference were an important and effective part of our efforts to educate legislators about the importance of local government funds and the damage the deep cuts proposed by Governor Taft to those funds will cause in local services. On the day prior to the Statehouse event, a similar and very successful event was held in Cleveland for the Northern Ohio media by Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell, suburban mayors from northeast Ohio and other local government and library officials. On Thursday, March 17 and Friday, March 18, dozens of municipal, labor and other local and library officials did a great job of pleading the case for local government and library funds before the House Finance and Appropriations Committee. On behalf of the Board of Trustees and staff of the League, we extend our deepest appreciation to everyone for the fine efforts you put forth last week on the issue of the local government funds and other issues in the budget. Without the generous giving of your time to make the case for the local government funds, our efforts to ensure that your communities receive the state aid that has been promised to your citizens for 70 years would never be successful. We strongly urge you to continue your great efforts in support of local services by joining us on April 12 for our Annual League Legislative Day at the Statehouse. A reservation form for that event is enclosed or can be downloaded from our website at www.omunileague.org. In the meantime, remember your local legislators are home during this spring break. It would be a great time to talk to them one more time about the budget and other timely municipal issues. |
