Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Friday unveiled his proposed budget for fiscal years 2020-2021, one he called “a budget for Ohio’s future” containing no tax increase.
The Republican governor called his executive budget a minimalist conservative approach that focuses on building a stronger workforce, protecting the state’s natural resources and helping adults and children, specifically around mental health and addiction.
DeWine’s biennial budget proposes nearly $33.7 billion in General Revenue Fund (GRF) spending and almost $74.3 billion in spending from all operating funds for fiscal year 2020, a 4.6 percent increase in overall spending from 2019. The fiscal year 2021 budget totals $35.3 billion in GRF spending and $76.1 billion overall.
“The budget we are sending to the Legislature today is a budget for Ohio’s future, and it reflects our need to invest in Ohio and Ohioans,” DeWine said in a statement. “Our budget plants seeds of hope and opportunity for tomorrow through smart, strategic investments in Ohio today.”
DeWine’s budget anticipates continued slow and steady growth in existing revenue sources and does not add to the state’s rainy day fund, which stands at nearly $2.7 billion. Separately, lawmakers are looking to increase the state’s motor fuel tax.
Highlights include:
- $550 million over two years for student wellness and success programs, including mental health counseling, mentoring and after-school programs
- $90 million annually for child protective services (a $30 million annual increase)
- $31 million annually for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to replace aging diesel buses, heavy-duty trucks and cargo handling equipment and to repower diesel engines in tug boats and locomotives
- $3.9 million to create a Narcotics Intelligence Center to strengthen criminal investigations and help combat drug trafficking
DeWine also proposed creating the H2Ohio Fund to ensure safe and clean water statewide through planning, developing and implementing long-term solutions. The fund could reach $900 million in 10 years.
State Democrats met DeWine’s proposal with some skepticism.
“We have serious concerns regarding the fiscal stability of the current proposal,” Ohio House Democratic Leader Emilia Strong Sykes, D-Akron, said in a statement. “We can’t build a budget on broken economic assumptions or wishful thinking. We need to be honest and realistic about where new spending comes from.
“A budget is a promise, and restoring our promise as an opportunity state begins by investing in the future and modernizing our tax system to put more money back in the pockets of working and middle class people to pay the bills, send their kids to college or save for retirement,” Sykes added.
In a statement, Robert Alt, president and chief executive officer of The Buckeye Institute, said the state’s leaders have an opportunity “to find savings for Ohio’s taxpayers.”
For example, reforms to Ohio’s Medicaid program could save taxpayers $200 million annually without sacrificing access to quality care, while eliminating “special interest pork projects” could save taxpayers more than $360 million.
“We are concerned that when economic conditions take a negative turn, revenues decline, and Medicaid costs rise, policymakers will be forced to make deep and painful cuts as they had to do in the early 2000s,” Alt said.