Local economies in Ohio are beginning to feel the squeeze placed on them by our state elected officials. Earlier this week, news broke that in Mount Sterling, a village in southeastern Madison County, that the village would be disbanding its entire police force because of budget issues. Unfortunately this is not the only case of Ohio localities cutting services to alleviate budget shortfalls and survive.
In the city of Lancaster, which is located in Fairfield county and has significantly more residents than Mount Sterling, is also struggling to continue to provide services for the community due to cuts from the state and declining tax revenues.
While our statewide elected officials continue to claim that Ohio can increase jobs without raising taxes, the reality is, these tough decisions are now being transferred to Ohio’s local communities. City councils, school boards, and county commissioners are already feeling the pinch.
In Lancaster alone, the Mayor is proposing a .25% income tax increase to be placed on the November ballot. The city hopes the tax would offset the $1.25 million budget shortfall caused by the recent Kasich budget cuts. Not only is Lancaster Mayor, David Smith proposing a tax increase, but the community is also looking into cutting services, closing a fire house, eliminating 25% of the fire department, and also scaling back their police force by 10%.
How do budget cuts, decreasing taxes, and stripping unions of collective bargaining lead to an increase in available jobs? To Ohioan’s who have been paying attention, it might seem that we’re losing more jobs than we’re gaining.
This budget pinch is being felt throughout the entire state. More and more workers – teachers, police officers, and fire fighters are concerned that if voters don’t repeal SB 5 in November by voting no on Issue 2, local communities will likely see a loss of services and security that are offered.
In the economic situation that Ohio is currently facing, we have to have a reasonable plan to jump start our economy and get people back to work. Ohioans can no longer believe in political rhetoric coming from our statewide officials. We need jobs, stable jobs that pay livable wages, and we need to provide hard working Ohioans the right to voice their opinions over their safety at work. While Governor Kasich continues to promote tax breaks for corporations and millionaires, middle class Ohioans are struggling to find jobs in a state where our unemployment rate increased over the past two months.
In addition, on August 22nd, Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols stated that extending benefits to unemployed workers, “makes no sense”, as Gov. Kasich made the decision not to apply for federal funds that would help out-of-work Ohioans. This decision is unfair to those desperately in need of those funds and will continue to put our struggling economy further at risk. It’s been a tough week for the State of Ohio as SB 5 continues to spark controversy throughout the state. Meanwhile, local communities are struggling to make ends meet by facing the toughest decision – raising taxes or cutting services to the community.
