December 4, 2009
Hi, everyone - We expect the "budget fix" negotiations to dominate the activity of the General Assembly again next week.
By the way, the OPERS Board has finalized their proposal of changes to the system's benefits which they plan to take the General Assembly next year. An outline of their proposal is posted HERE
The FCC has also announced its ruling on the timeframe for state and local reviews for tower sitings for broadband and other communication systems. That announcement can be found at www.fcc.gov.
And, of course, the Federal Trade Commission has once again delayed any enforcement on identity theft Red Flag rules that must be adopted by some local governments and many private sector entities until June 1, 2010. The FTC's web site is www.ftc.gov.
Hope everyone has a great weekend. John
November 16, 2009
Hi, everyone - Attached is the schedule for Legislative Committees this week. Though the number of bills of interest are up a bit, much of the energy of the state will continue to be pushed and pulled by the current known hole in the state budget and disagreements over solutions to that problem.
The new necessity of adopting enabling legislation over the next few months on casinos will just further add to the uncertainty about the future of this legislative session.
Have also attached a letter from the Attorney General with information on how to access that office's consumer protection program. We had interest on that program at our conference and thought we'd pass this information on to everyone.
Hope everyone has a great week. John
October 30, 2009
Hi, everyone - There are no sessions of the General Assembly scheduled until November 17, thus few committees will meet next week and have bills of municipal interest.
And below we have a note about a change in our group BWC rating pool. We hope that clears up any questions.
Have a good weekend and good Election Day. John
******
Effective September 24, 2009, the Ohio Municipal League’s Worker’s Compensation Group Rating Program is being administered by CompManagement Inc, a Sedgwick CMS Company.
GatesMcDonald, the previous administrator of the program informed us earlier that month that they would be placing less emphasis on group rating and more emphasis on their other services. We felt it necessary to look for an administrator that would be willing to provide the full level of group rating services we had been accustomed to. Some of the employees who had been assigned to our account at GatesMcDonald accepted positions with CompManagement thus ensuring continuity of the program. For those cities and villages that have been participating in the OML Group Rating Program over the years you will now be receiving correspondence and notices from CompManagement Inc. The OML will continue as sponsor of the program.
October 21, 2009
Hi, everyone - Here is a letter we have sent to the Governor and the leaders of the House and Senate expressing our concerns about two proposals that are floating about. These proposals would pass along to your communities and other local governments the cost of the "underfunding" in the state budget of the Board of Tax Appeals and the State Employment Relations Board. Despite the modest cost of these ideas, this is obviously a trend we would discourage.
On another matter, even though the new Mayors' Court costs for the State Public Defender took effect October 16, the State Treasurer has yet to issue a new form for the remittance of those fees. Please, talk to you Law Director or Village Solicitor for advice on this remittance. John
October 16, 2009
Hi, everyone - We have a few committees of interest (see Here) scheduled for next week. The Senate has canceled all sessions for next week. The House canceled Tuesday's session, but is still scheduled to meet on Wednesday.
We have also an invitation to join in a conference call from the White House on the H1N1 flu, for those who might be interested.
Hope everyone has a good weekend. John
September 18, 2009
Hi, everyone -
We should note that the Supreme Court ruled by a 6-1 margin that the application of the state's new Commercial Activity Tax on grocery store transactions constitutional. For better or worse, without that ruling, the state's precariously balance budget would found itself with a $350 million hole immediately and a $200 million hole in future revenue annually.
Hope everyone has a great weekend and hope to see many of you at our Annual Conference. John
September 11, 2009
Hi, everyone - While we have little legislative activity of note for next week, we do have a few items of interest.
First, the Ohio Retirement Study Commission this week took testimony from all the public retirement systems on their plans for bringing their liabilities in line with a 30-year window. The changes proposed for OPERS are attached in detail. PERS CHANGES
As for the Police and Fire Fund, the system is proposing increasing over 3 years the employer contribution for all police and fire pension contributions from 19.5% for police and 24% for firefighters to 25% of payroll for each. Employee contributions would increase from 10% to 12% over five years. New police and fire personnel could not retire until they turn 52 and those in the DROP program would have to stay 5 years, if they choose that option. There would also be a reduction in the amount of Police and Fire Fund money devoted to health care.
According to the system, even these changes would only reduce their liability to 39 years, not 30. We found it ironic that a Pension Fund, which by its very nature has to look forward, blamed much of its problems on its inception in 1967 and the $400 million in liability it took on at that time, despite municipalities paying much of that liability back, lo, these past 42 years. Of course, if you can blame your problems on those who made decisions 42 years ago, you certainly can live life guilt-free! Who's still around to quibble?
The issues surrounding all of these pension issues are still in their infancy. Whether they get any legs is still a very unsettled question. That question could become even more unsettled depending how court cases and gambling issues, in and out of the budget, resolve themselves. An election year could also have a bit of an influence on both the matter of time in session and the controversy that will swirl around these changes.
On another matter, the State Auditor's office has agreed verbally that the new Mayor's Court fees, included in the budget, should be levied October 16, not January 1, as we reported earlier. With the Secretary of State, LSC, the AG and the Auditor now in agreement, we think that October 16 date is your safest bet for levying those additional costs.
Hope everyone has a great weekend. Go Bucks! John
September 8, 2009
Hi, everyone - The Bureau of Workers' Comp (BWC) is planning a number of changes to workers' comp premium rates next year. In theory, the changes relate to the concept that those employers in group rating plans are given discounts that are steeper than they should be and those employers outside of group rating plans are charged too much.
Frankly, we do not want to quote numbers, simply because those numbers for individual communities have floated quite a bit in the many meetings we have had with BWC. There are also other discounts which BWC may or may not retain which are outside the scope of group or non-group ratings. Additionally there are paperwork requirements, which may be a cost for you, which apply to non-group ratings, but not to members of a group rating plan and may be a consideration in your choice to be a member of a group rating plan.
In the next few weeks, the League's TPA, Gates-McDonald, will begin marketing the League's group rating program, in which we have an interest.
Given this new environment created by BWC, we thought it was important to let you know about these significant changes in the way BWC wants to restructure their rates for employers. This change will effect employers in both the public and private sector.
For some of you, this will mean a rate increase, but at a much more moderate rate than the first numbers we saw in our meetings with BWC. For others there could be a rate reduction. And for other communities, these changes will mean rethinking whether being a group or not is a good idea, depending on the rate and other factors.
We're sorry we can't be more specific, but we're not the folks doing the moving actuarials on this. We will keep you informed as we get better and more solid information. Thanks. John
August 4, 2009
***The memo (see below) we sent out gave the wrong date for the extension for adopting Red Flag policies. The new deadline is November 1, not October 1. Sorry. John
Hi, everyone - We just got an update on the need for municipalities to adopt "Red Flag" policies to protect against identity theft. A new deadline for those policies to be in place has been set by the Federal Trade Commission as October 1. This is a federal law, with regs coming out of the FTC, which affects financial institutions and other entities which may be a "creditor." For most of our members that seems to mostly affect utility departments, though it could be other things.
Whether this affects your community or not is a question for your legal department or solicitor. A good synopsis of what the FTC is expecting can be found at www.ftc.gov. Below their press releases on their front page is a place to click on for Red Flag advice, on the right side of the screen. Their "How-To" guide is very understandable.
Hope all is well. John
July 22, 2009
Hi, everyone - In the recent budget, increased court costs that must be imposed in mayor's and other courts were established to fund the state's public defender's office.
A $25 surcharge on bail, a $30 court cost on felonies, $20 court cost charge for misdemeanor traffic and a $10 court cost charge for non-moving violations, other than parking violations are included in the bill (HB 1). All of these additional costs should be imposed effective January 1, 2010. We will get more information to you as that information becomes available, prior to the effective date.
We also noted in an earlier update that the budget included a $1 a ton increase in refuse tipping fees to fund OEPA. We thought all fees for ODNR were scrapped. Thanks to one of our readers, we found that the final budget still retains an additional .25 a ton for ODNR also. So the increase on refuse is $1.25 a ton, not $1 a ton. The increase is effective August 1. Sorry I didn't catch this earlier. John
July 21, 2009
Hi, everyone - As a follow-up to the budget, the Governor vetoed 61 items in that document late Friday. The only two of direct interest to us was the permanent reimbursement for loss of tangible personal property tax and the allowing of angled parking inside municipalities on state routes, regardless of the width of those routes.
On the first item, while we appreciate the efforts of Senator Stewart and many others to make the TPP permanent, cities and villages will be reimbursed in full for TPP losses through the biennium. Having the point brought up and supported by many in the General Assembly, we think we can win that point again next budget for, at least, another two years. In these times with state government, vows of "forever" on matters fiscal are often but promises that we will have the same matters on the table two years hence.
On the angled parking, interest in such was not so wide-spread that ODOT couldn't get a veto from the Governor on this matter.
We do have some court cost increases still in the budget, which we reported on earlier. We will outline those again once we have a certain effective date for those fees.
There is also an allowance for letting municipalities and townships to expand the use of Special Improvement Districts for the expansion of solar energy. Under that provision, folks in SID's could do solar projects for their homes or businesses, take advantage of federal tax credits for those projects and put the rest of the cost for those projects on their property taxes, much like special assessments.
While we certainly hope state revenues pop back, the balance of the budget relies on estimates and the successful implementation of a plan for thousands of slot machines at Ohio's seven race tracks. It is expected that the slot proposal and, perhaps, other items in the budget will face law suits. Any challenge to the slot proposal will go directly to the Ohio Supreme Court.
Given the volatility of Ohio's economy in the midst of a volatile national economy, there are those skeptics in Columbus who believe this is not the final chapter for consideration of this biennial budget. We believe the over-under for some serious reconsideration and cuts to this budget is December 31 of this year. The "over" might be a safe play, if slots are all the rage by then. The "under," unfortunately, has law suits, rising unemployment and revenue estimates with a fragile history going for it.
Let's hope for the best. John
July 14, 2009
Hi, everyone - Attached is our first read of the final state budget, which was passed by the House and Senate yesterday. Without a third interim budget, the Governor is expected to sign the bill, with his vetoes, sometime before midnight.
July 10, 2009
Hi, everyone - As you might expect, with the budget stalemate, no committees with bills of municipal interest will be meeting next week. Without further action before the end of July 14, state government would, in some ways, have to shut down. We expect that will mean a great deal of progress on finding a compromise on the budget over the weekend or the passage of another continuation budget next week.
This week, both sides of the aisle lobbed a few criticisms at the respective other side of the aisle. A key indicator that actual progress is being made on a budget is when we see none of that criticism emanating from the Statehouse. Progress, especially in the face of strong disagreements, at the Statehouse usually mirrors the silence of a papal enclave.
A lot of criticisms back and forth does not bode well for a solution. Silence means discussions that might find a solution are in progress.
We'll see how the weekend and next week go. Hope everyone has a good weekend. John
July 2, 2009
Hi, everyone - As you probably know, the House, Senate and Governor are at a stalemate at the moment on the state budget. The Governor has signed a seven-day continuation budget at 70% of the past year's spending for most agencies. The House has passed an additional seven-day extension that would keep the government open until July 14. The Senate has not yet acted on that extension that would begin on July 8. If necessary, we would expect the Senate would act on that extension early next week.
In the meantime, the Senate established a new panel to examine the ins and outs of the Governor's proposal to put slot machines (Video Lottery Terminals) at the state's seven racetracks. The House then turned around and opened hearings (today, Monday and Tuesday) to hear from folks about what would happen if the Senate doesn't agree to the slot proposal and the estimated $900 million in biennial revenues that may come from that proposal.
Those dueling hearings are all the committee work we expect next week in the General Assembly, but will let you know if that changes.
In the meantime, any contact you can make with your legislators over the weekend about the importance of the Local Government Fund to your community would, as always, be helpful. Though we have the estimates that the fund, along with state GRF, will continue to decline, we certainly don't want anything to occur in this next set of budget negotiations that would harm that fund further.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July! John
June 29, 2009
Hi, everyone - This afternoon, the General Assembly and Governor decided to go with a seven-day interim budget, as differences continue to exist among the parties. HB 16, the Industrial Commission budget, will be the vehicle which authorizes agencies, with a few exceptions, to spend for the next week at 70% of FY09 levels. The bill will also include the transfer of state "Rainy Day" money sufficient to get through this current fiscal year, which ends tomorrow.
June 17, 2009
Hi, everyone - HERE is a letter delivered to all the members of the House today on HB 141, a bill that revises Ohio law on home sewage treatment systems. A provision in the bill says that a public health agency can order an owner onto a central sewer system, implies that the owner of the central system must accept that property owner's tap-in and cannot require annexation in trade for such a tap-in. Obviously, we opposed that provision and the League testified to that effect.
A possible vote on the bill by the House Environment and Brownfield Committee was delayed by the committee today.
Because there is also a companion bill (SB 110) in the Senate, any contacts with your House or Senate members on this issue would be greatly appreciated.
Also it is becoming widely-reported that the administration is floating a wide variety of cuts of up to $2 billion to help fill the $3.2 billion deficit that is projected in the state's new biennial budget. So far, the descriptions of those cuts include a large of array of social programs and no mention of Local Government Funds.
However, we do expect soon Department of Taxation's new estimates on future LGF revenues. We do not expect those projections to be pretty. LGF rises and falls on the rise and fall of state General Revenue Funds. Given that, a lowering of expectations for LGF in the range of 15% should not come as a shock. We'll make sure to send out those new estimates to you as soon as we have them.
In other news, we do not expect the state budget conference committee to meet publicly until sometime next week. John
June 10, 2009
Hi, everyone - Today, by a 5 (Pfeifer,Lundberg, Stratton, O'Donnell and Cupp) to 2 (Moyer, Lanzinger) margin the Ohio Supreme Court voted to uphold the General Assembly's ban on local government residency requirements for local government employees.
The opinion is available at www.sconet.state.oh.us. Click on the article about this case on the right hand side of the Court's front page, then click on the "opinion link," which is above the Court's press release about the case. John
And Now, We Have a Senate Version of HB 1.
On Tuesday night, the Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee adopted its final version of the state budget along partisan lines. That budget was passed this afternoon (Wednesday) by a partisan vote of 20-11. There were no substantial amendments adopted on the floor.
Prior to passage from the committee, the panel adopted an omnibus amendment and six other amendments. Highlights of those amendments include:
• A new transportation and fuel tax commission that will study and report on Ohio’s status in both regards and create a report by June 30, 2010.
• The requirement that the state establish a website that will, for a fee of $10, publish some notices, primarily county public notices, that would replace the need to publish such notices in newspapers of general circulation.
• Allow angled parking on state routes, without restrictions, inside municipalities, unless the municipality changes such a parking policy.
• Allows residents receiving a municipal loan for the installation of solar panels to pay back that loan on installments, similar to a special assessment.
• Requires a ballot issue for Cuyahoga County for a reorganization of that county’s government. This amendment was clarified, during the Senate’s full session, to require a 2/3 vote of the Cuyahoga County Commissioners prior to the issue appearing on the ballot.
• Eliminates the solid waste fee increases which were included in the Governor’s budget and the House budget.
• A revision of “force account” law to increase the caps on force account projects by 25% now and increase the cap on such projects as the CPI goes up over the next five years. (This amendment needs a little more work and we will be working with the interested parties on this over the next couple of weeks to clarify this amendment.)
• Permits the Director of Health to waive any requirements established by rule for adult care facilities licensure. This power goes beyond the Director’s current ability to waive such requirements, except for fire and safety requirements or building standards.
• Retention of a House provision for the Department of Administrative Services to obtain group life insurance coverage for all municipal and county court judges.
The final bill also still includes an amendment that first appeared in the House budget, supported by the Ohio Contractors Association, that would attempt to bar the state and local governments from bidding out, by reverse auction, road and other construction projects. While we do not know how wide spread such practices are, why on earth would the state limit its and local governments’ ability to explore all options which might result in lower bids? That’s a question you might want to raise over the weekend with your local legislators.
HB 1, the state budget, now moves to the House, where the House will reject the Senate’s amendments and call for a committee of conference. Such a committee will begin its work, formally or informally, next week. Discussions about the work of that committee have, of course, already begun somewhere about the Statehouse.
June 1, 2009
A Brief Analysis of the Senate Substitute HB 1 (State Budget)
The Ohio Senate unveiled its first swipe at a revised state biennial budget last Friday afternoon. Breaking with tradition, the substitute bill was unveiled virtually on time. That, along with publishing a comparative document of over 700 pages, as they unveiled a bill that shrunk from 4400 pages to a mere 3300 pages new version of the budget is an impressive job by the Senate and the Legislative Service Commission. The Senate is scheduled to hear the bill for possible amendments and possible vote in the Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee beginning on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. and Wednesday, at the same time, if necessary. There will be no public testimony at those hearings.
Though there were many changes made in the bill (HB 1) from what the Governor and House proposed, two changes sought by the administration, of interest to us, were not included in the bill.
First, in the House version was a provision that required all employers with more than 10 employees to set up 125 health cafeteria plans for their employees, at the employees’ expense. For many employers, especially in the public sector, we felt many such plans were unnecessary, given the extent of health coverage already available to employees. We worked with the Department of Insurance to develop an acceptable compromise on this issue, but even that compromise did not show up in the Senate substitute bill. Expect this compromise to pop up once again when the Senate and House begin their eventual and inevitable conference committee.
Second, the Department of Administrative Services has an amendment, which was not included in the Senate version, that would substantially alter laws regarding contracting for construction. While this new system may be great for large state and university projects, we believe this system does not hold out as much hope for our members and may be totally unworkable for our smaller members. We have asked that cities and villages be excluded from that new process. DAS has agreed to that exclusion, though we have not seen language to that effect just yet. Once again, we expect that amendment will resurface during the conference committee.
We should also mention that Local Government Funds, in all versions, including the Senate’s, have remained intact and untouched, so far. The bad news about that is that LGF rises and falls on the same trajectory as the rise and fall of total state General Revenue Fund and the GRF is not in good shape by any measure. Despite revenue estimates from the administration that have usually been fairly pessimistic, “downright gloomy” might be the better technical economic term, at least, in the short term. It is not unrealistic to believe that whatever version of the state budget passes, we may see some additional adjustments downward over the next year of more. For those trying to assess the future of their LGF revenue, the Department of Taxation plans to publish new estimates on the future of those funds, by jurisdiction, sometime in the middle of June.
Additional items of interest in the Senate version of the budget include:
• The retention of the $1 a ton increase in solid waste disposal fee, which would go to the state. Most of that money would go to Ohio EPA, with a small portion going to the Department of Natural Resources.
• The deletion of the increase in Construction and Demolition disposal fee, proceeds of which would be shared by DNR and the Ohio EPA.
• Deletion of the House provision to add two attorneys to the staff of the Environmental Appeals Review Commission.
• Retention of new court costs to be remitted to the state for the support of the Ohio Public Defender’s program. That includes a $30 fee for felonies, a $20 fee for misdemeanor violations other than non-moving violations and a $10 fee for non-moving violations other than parking tickets.
• Authorization for municipalities to establish low-interest loan programs to assist residents in the installation of solar panels.
• Retains a House provision that lowers from fifteen to ten days as a bidding period when the municipality is selling personal property through an internet auction.
• A new amendment that would make permanent the state’s reimbursement for loss of the tangible personal property tax for all local jurisdictions, including municipalities.
• A new amendment that would allow a board of park commissioners, with a certified building department, to enforce the state’s non-residential building code, to the exclusion of other overlapping local jurisdictions.
• A new amendment that allows all public authorities to access the Department of Commerce’s data base on prevailing wages and include the use of that information in their contracts, rather than attaching a schedule of those wage rates to the contract.
Lastly, we evidently have some problems in the residential building community. Who could have imagined? The House put in the budget a caveat that provides that the Residential Construction Advisory Committee must provide the Board of Building Standards with any rule it recommends on the state residential building code. The Senate added that BBS could not adopt any rules related to that code or its enforcement without getting a recommendation from RCAC and that anyone wanting to get a change in that code must go to RCAC first, not straight to BBS. It also allows the RCAC to establish the residential building code from a national code. Previously, RCAC was required to follow such a national code. This is, of course, a bit amusing in that the advocates for a residential building code touted the glories of a national code for the virtues of uniformity that it would bring to Ohio. The Senate changes require all members of RCAC to leave 180 days after the enactment of the budget and divvies up the new appointments to the RCAC among the Director of Commerce, the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate. Previously, the Director of Commerce made all appointments to RCAC.
Should you want additional details or want to view LSC’s comparison document of the three versions of the budget now on the table go to www.lsc.state.oh.us.
It is possible that we will see additional amendments of interest between now and when the Senate passes their version of the budget later this week. Heck, it’s possible we missed something in this review given the size of the documents. On both counts, we will keep you informed, as soon as possible, if either is the case.
However, given the nature of the legislative process, most real news will come when the conference committee begins meeting.
May 28, 2009
Hi, everyone - Given events surrounding the budget, we will not have a Bulletin tomorrow. The Senate has announced that a substitute version of the budget will be unveiled for acceptance by the Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee at 3:00 p.m. tomorrow (Friday). Given the difficulties of getting your arms around and redrafting a 4400-page document, the oddsmakers are putting the over/under actual time at 9:00 p.m. tomorrow night, but we'll see.
The Senate has scheduled public testimony on that substitute bill to begin at 9:30 a.m. Saturday. Following that testimony, the Committee will adjourn until 2:30 p.m. meetings on both Tuesday and Wednesday for possible amendments and possible vote. There will no public testimony at either the Tuesday or Wednesday meetings. Amendments for the committee are due next Monday.
We expect the full Senate will act on the substitute budget next week and that the House will insist on its amendments and call for a committee of conference to hammer out the differences between the Houses. The Governor, with his line-item veto for the budget, will, obviously, play a large part in that hammering.
With that schedule, we do not expect to have any new information available on the budget until sometime over the weekend or Monday. We also do not expect any bills of municipal interest that may need some sort of action on our part or yours in the House next week. Of course, if that changes, we'll let you know.
Should be an interesting weekend and hope you have a great weekend too. John
May 22, 2009
Hi, everyone - Attached is the schedule of bills of interest for next week. It's a little redundant, all Senate Finance hearings on the budget (HB 1). Testimony on the bill is virtually complete and next week will be when the Senate tries to knock out a version of the bill that they can send to the inevitable House-Senate Conference Committee.
By all accounts, that Senate version of the budget will be out of balance by as much as $2 billion, just as the House version sent to the Senate was out of balance, factoring in the Governor's announcement that he still needed about $750 million from the state's reserve fund to balance the current biennial budget and disputed revenue estimates.
The League testified on the budget this week. You can read that testimony on our website HERE.
The Senate has canceled floor sessions for next week. The House, so far, still has a Wednesday session scheduled. The House will also hold committees on several bills, but none of the bills scheduled are of municipal interest.
Also we have posted HERE a memo from the President to all federal departments which urges the departments not to promulgate rules which override state policies and state laws. National League of Cities has some thought that this policy holds out hope that the federal government will also be hesitant to override municipal policies and laws. Given the relationship between the states and the federal government, outlined in the U.S. Constitution, which does not extend to municipalities, we think such optimism may be a bit premature.
Hope everyone has a great, safe and thoughtful Memorial Day weekend. For all who served, thank you. John
May 15, 2009
Hi, everyone - Attached is next week's schedule for committees with bills of municipal interest. The Senate Finance Committee has not announced its schedule yet, though the League and a couple of other local government groups at scheduled to testify on the budget May 20 before that committee. Though some budget hearings are expected next week, much of the activity surrounding the budget will be negotiations between and among all the parties, not hearings.
We also have a question that some of you could help us with. Since the tax season has passed, we know many of you are getting estimates of how your municipal income tax performed for 2008, compared to 2007. If you can let us know the percentage growth or, more likely, reduction in that tax between those two years, we'd really appreciate it. Thanks.
Hope everyone has a great weekend. John
May 8, 2009
Hi, everyone - Usually the state budget nudges other issues aside at some point. This year, the budget seems to be shoving other issues to the curb for awhile. The Senate is concentrating on the budget before it, while the House is adopting a light schedule for next week.
Next week, the Senate will hold budget hearings, mostly on education. The House and Senate do not have any committee hearings on the bills of municipal interest which we have reported in past weeks.
Frankly, tensions between the houses of the General Assembly and with the Governor grew in intensity this week. The Senate was not happy with the House using revenue estimates that allowed $622 million in more spending in the final House budget. Then the Governor said as much as $900 million in "rainy-day funds," used to balance the House version of the next budget, would have to be used during the current budget, which ends June 30.
Faced with a big hole in the budget that was presented to them as "balanced," Senate Republicans are, oh, what's the word? Unhappy (only because we're a "family-rated" Bulletin) with both the House and Governor over the budget the Senate must now wrestle under control.
With significant tax increases off the table for this next biennium, for several reasons, unless state revenues take an unexpected turn upward, expect this budget fight to be one full of political vinegar, from both sides of the aisle.
We will keep working on the issues most important to cities and villages, most of which, at this point, do not involve state spending, in the budget. But, this will definitely be a very difficult, perhaps even an extended, struggle for the General Assembly and the Governor.
By the way, we have posted on our website, a new study on the use and structure of tax incentives by the Department of Development. Some of the changes recommended by that study would constrict the ability of local governments to offer such incentives.
Hope everyone has a great weekend and that Mother's Day is a great one for all moms and their children - John
May 1, 2009
Hi, everyone- Attached is the committee schedule for next week for bills of municipal interest. This week, the House passed their version of HB 1, the state appropriations budget for the next two years. It was passed on a party-line vote. The bill was not amended with many changes of interest to municipalities. The one exception was that the additional review for air quality and wastewater permits, designated as "environmental justice" reviews was deleted from the bill before it left committee.
We will continue to follow the budget, but our next detailed review of the budget will not occur until the Senate Finance Committee begins to make changes to the document. We will, of course, alert you to any significant changes that start floating about prior to that time.
On that front, we are expressing concerns to legislators and the Governor an idea, coming out of the Department of Administrative Services, that would make significant changes to contracting law for state and local government. Given the complexity of those changes and the absolute lack of local government input on those ideas, we think this proposal should not be included in the budget, though DAS would like that easy route. We will continue to urge that those changes be considered as a stand-alone bill.
If you would like more information on this amendment, please, access on our Home page.
Hope everyone has a good weekend. John
April 24, 2009
Hi, everyone - Attached is the committee schedule for next week. Have also attached an analysis of the House Majority's rewrite of the Governor's budget. That alternative budget will come under scrutiny of the full House next week.
Hope everyone has a good weekend. John
April 2, 2009
Hi, everyone - Yesterday, the Ohio House and Senate passed the ODOT budget (HB 2), canceled today's voting session and began a two-week break. The Governor signed the bill last night.
The budget included enough bonding capacity for ODOT to send the promised two $100 million rounds of Local Transportation Improvement Project (LTIP) to the Ohio Public Works Committee. The first round in July will increase the next round of LTIP money from $60 million to $160 million, with the additional round of $160 million to follow.
The budget also includes two rounds of $50 million in new Clean Ohio grants and loans.
All references to residential building codes were dropped from the final bill. That keeps the legal questions of whether the state residential building code can be the exclusive residential building code for Ohio the same as before the bill was passed. It also opens the door for Ohio to receive $96 million in federal stimulus money for making buildings in Ohio more energy efficient.
And, last night, with Governor Strickland's line-item veto of provisions in the bill that would require local government to constrict their ability to maximize the use of federal stimulus money for public projects by diverting money to pay private utility and cable companies for utility relocation, that issue is deleted from HB 2. We very much appreciate the Governor's final decision on this issue.
Transportation Innovation Authorities, (TIA's), an issue which we had worked with ODOT in a very productive manner, were also deleted from the final bill by the conference committee. That, however, is an issue we can continue to work with ODOT and the General Assembly on in a separate bill.
Overall, we think the administration and the General Assembly did an admirable job in producing a very good and workable ODOT budget. We congratulate them and appreciate all of the hard work they did to adopt this budget.
Speaking of appreciation, we want to thank all of our members who were able to take the time to join us yesterday for our biennial Legislative Luncheon. It was a great event attended by 250 municipal officials and legislators. We appreciate all who could make the time to attend.
Finally, given the legislative break, we do not expect to have any committee schedule for next week, so there will not be a Bulletin on Friday. We do expect the House Finance and Appropriations committee to meet April 13-16, so we may have a brief communication for you next Friday.
Hope everyone has a great weekend. John
March 27, 2009
Hi, everyone - Attached is the committee schedule for the General Assembly for next week. A two-week spring break is scheduled after next week's sessions.
Currently, the ODOT budget is still dominating activity at the Statehouse. The conference committee for that budget is scheduled to hold meetings on both Saturday and Sunday of this weekend.
Have attached additional correspondence from us to the conference committee on the issue of who pays for utility relocation for federal stimulus projects.
Have also attached a communication from the International Code Council urging your opposition to another aspect of our fight in the ODOT budget over residential building codes. In addition to trying to describe the state's residential building code as the exclusive standard in Ohio, an amendment was inserted that Ohio would not be adopting the International Code until the state's residential
code advisory group agrees. Unless we have a code which is stricter or equivalent to that code Ohio will not receive $96 million in additional federal stimulus money, even though we know many of your communities meet or exceed those standards.
Given that, we thought it might be useful for us to send along to you the communication from the ICC.
We should also note that the Governor announced federal stimulus transportation projects this week. Those $774 million in project can be seen at http://recovery.ohio.gov/news.
And the Ohio Public Works Commission, just finishing up with latest state stimulus grants and loans, show that they provided local governments with $239 million for local infrastructure projects. That leveraged into $478 million in projects overall.
Hopefully we will know that the next additional $200 million in assistance is coming through ODOT or another source by early next week. There is also two rounds of $50 million each for the Clean Ohio Fund, but that matter is not a difference between the two Houses.
Hope everyone has a great weekend and hope to see many of you at our Legislative lunch next Wednesday. John
March 25, 2009
Hi, everyone - HB 2 (ODOT budget) is now in conference committee and must be passed and signed by March 31. It is possible that the bill could come to a vote as early as this Thursday.
HERE is a letter we have sent to the conferees, all members of the General Assembly and the Governor's office. It expresses concerns we have with four provisions of the bill. Those are:
A lack of funding for $200 million in OPWC in the Senate version.
Opposition to a Senate version provision that would give stimulus money to public utilities for utility relocation.
Support for a revised version of Transportation Innovation Authorities.
Opposition to language related to the state's residential building code, inserted in the Senate bill. A memo from our counsel to our Executive Director about our concerns regarding the constitutional flaws in this language is also attached and has been attached to our communication with legislators and the Governor.
We have been discussing these concerns with state officials since the Senate passed their version of the budget late last week and will continue to do so. We have made enough progress to now support TIA's. On the other three items, while some progress has been made on one of those items, we still oppose the three other Senate-inserted items mentioned above and have asked for their deletion from any final conference report.
Any help you can give us with your local legislators on all or any one of the items we are opposing would, of course, be greatly appreciated. We know time is short, but that is the nature of the ODOT budget when we move from the Senate to the House and Conference Committee.
Thanks and if you have questions on any of items mentioned in the attached memos, please, let me know. John
March 13, 2009
Hi, everyone - Not much by way of full session next week, but attached is the schedule of committees of interest next week.
This week the Senate passed SB 2 which outlines state department distributions for the federal stimulus package. Just a necessary step, but the bill can be viewed at www.legislature.state.oh.us.
In keeping up on this, we're noticing a number of news items that indicate some dissatisfaction about the involvement of regional planning agencies in the distribution of the federal stimulus money. Please, let us know if that is a problem in your area.
By the way, we still don't have what we consider an acceptable clarification of the court costs in the budget. Hopefully, we will have that for you next week. Fortunately, it's the biennial budget, so we have time to figure that out.
Finally, just because we're hopefully close to the end of winter, if anyone wants to give us a sense of how they fared with road salt this winter, including any stories of how
the ODOT redistribution program worked or didn't, we'd like to hear from you. Maybe we can get a little ahead of next winter or make sure problems are minimized.
Thanks and have a great weekend. John
March 6, 2009
Hi, everyone - With the Transportation budget (HB 2) passed in the House this week and the actual biennial budget introduced (HB 1), activity surrounding the biennial budget will begin to heat up in the House. The Senate, while working on ancillary budgets such as Transportation, will also likely hold some of its preliminary hearings on the biennial budget prior to receiving the biennial budget from the House. Given the nature of budget hearings, its probably best to check into our website HERE next week as the scheduling for those hearings are sometimes late and often change.
We will continue to work with the administration and the legislature on some concerns we have with the structure of the cooperative Transportation Innovation Authorities, which are contained in the Transportation budget. We are hopeful we can work through those concerns in the Senate.
HERE is a schedule of hearings of interest for next week.
In the biennial budget, we, as always, have a number of smaller items than the increases in fees for Municipal Solid Waste for EPA and DNR, that will impact some municipalities.
One change is that the Justices of the Supreme Court and visiting Appeals Court judges would like to not pay municipal income tax in Columbus, where they work, but to pay such a tax, if applicable, based on their residence, which may not have a municipal income tax. This change is similar to the tax rule in place now for members and employees of the General Assembly. This, however, would not apply to employees of the Court.
There are also court cost increases earmarked to fund the state's Public Defender program. We will explain those increases next week. The current language is wrought with fuzz and we need to clarify the offenses to which each increase is attached. In a 3000-page bill, we suspect that will not be the last time we write a variation of the previous sentence.
Finally, there was a report issued a couple of weeks ago by a Task Force on the future funding of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Since the group was chaired by the Director of the Department and had some legislative input, we will certainly be attentive to that group's recommendations.
One of those recommendations that we are already following in the budget is the increases in MSW fees, which we have already reported.
However, the Task Force also recommended that DNR be allowed to apply for Clean Ohio grants, just like local governments do now.
The other idea is that local parks projects funding through the state capital bill shouldn't show up on DNR's books because somehow that shorts DNR of General Revenue Funds for their own projects.
The first idea is lathered in the soothing lotion that sharing Clean Ohio with DNR, after laying out the enormous financial needs that DNR has, will somehow help local government. The second is bundled in the warm blanket that local park systems often have their own revenue streams, so we really don't need the capital budget ever.
Clean Ohio was presented to the voters, twice, as a local government environmental program. We will oppose any effort to renege on those promises. If DNR wants to participate in that program, such a drastic change to the intent of the program should be something presented once again to those who chose the create Clean Ohio, the voters of Ohio.
On the second idea, we will be attentive, but relatively unconcerned. Unlike the back-and-forth that goes on in Washington, for better or worse, the capital budget is our "earmark" budget in Ohio. It is a bill entirely devoted to earmarks. It is what Santa is to Christmas, just a smaller list and mostly for grown-ups. If DNR wants capital budget reform, we can only wish them luck and watch out for any flying lumps of coal at the Statehouse.
Hope everyone has a great and warm (Sorry, I think, by this time of the year, that's redundant) weekend. John
February 27, 2009
Hi, everyone - The Federal Highway Administration has sent new guidelines to the Governor's office that tightens up the deadlines for submitting transportation projects eligible for the federal stimulus package. Details are HERE. All projects seeking money should be submitted to www.recovery.ohio.gov by very early next week.
February 13, 2009
Hi, everyone - Attached is the schedule for committees of interest meeting next week. Still a little slow as everyone gears up for the introduction of the budget.
We have also attached a press release announcing the website for requests for funding projects that may be eligible for federal stimulus dollars. We have talked to the Governor's office and that website is the central entry point for all requests related to that federal money, so, please, use it for any projects you think might be eligible. We think the sooner those requests are submitted the better. Obviously, no one knows just yet what might be eligible, but, at least, the kinds of projects eligible for OPWC grants are in the mix.
We also have a link to the Department of Taxation, which is available on our website (www.omlohio.org). The link is at the Local Government Fund link on the left hand side of our front page. The link will take you to the page for the Department Taxation where you can find information on Local Government Fund figures, which will now be updated monthly by the Department.
If you have any questions about any of these attachments, please, let me know. Thanks and have a good weekend. For those of you who have the President's Day off, enjoy. I'm doing it as William Henry Harrison, but with an overcoat and hat, this year. John
February 10, 2009
Hi, everyone - Below are a letter and bullet-point sheet from the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System about the elimination of health coverage for spouses under the age of 55 of PERS retirees. The change will occur January 1, 2011.We know this went to retirees, but not sure many of you, as active members, have seen this and thought it might be useful information.
If you have any questions about this information you can contact PERS at 1-800-222-7377. Their website is www.opers.org.
Thanks. John
February 6, 2009
Hi, everyone - We got a late notice that the House Finance and Appropriations Committee will begin some hearings on the State Budget next week. All hearings will be in House Hearing Room 313.
On Tuesday, the Office of Budget and Management and the Department of Taxation will make presentations beginning at 9:00 a.m. At 1:00 p.m. the Legislative Service Commission will make a presentation. The Department of Education will make a presentation on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. The Board of Regents and the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections will begin their presentations at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday.
So, despite our earlier report, we do have one committee of the General Assembly meeting next week. Thanks. John
February 6, 2009
Hi, everyone - This week Senate and House committee chairs and membership were announced. That information is available at www.legislature.state.oh.us. When we last looked the Senate information was not yet posted, but should be by the end of the day.
The Governor also posted his "Blue Book," which outlines the budget he talked about last week in his State of the State. The Blue Book is available at http://obm.ohio.gov. Though we expect no substantial changes in programs like the Local Government Fund, we'll hold off too much comment until we see the actual budget bill in the next week or two. The situation with the federal "stimulus" package is fluid and that package and the state budget are very interrelated, thus the Blue Book this year doesn't really give us the full story of what we're facing.
One thing we do know is that the administration, among many fee increases in the budget, will seek new fees for the Department of Natural Resources and Ohio EPA. The fees go to pull some DNR programs off the state General Revenue Fund and to boost revenue for EPA, which is an almost entirely fee-based agency.
The proposal is to raise fees on Municipal Solid Waste from $3.50 a ton to $4.75 a ton and raise Construction and Demolition disposal fees by $2.70 a ton in addition to the current $1.75 a ton. Most of the proceeds from the MSW fees would go to OEPA and most of the C&D fees would go to ODNR. Should the fees remain intact through the legislative process, it is estimated that the new fees would raise $17.3 million for OEPA and $15 million for ODNR.
We have attached a letter, from the Governor, at his request. In it, he asks you to lobby your members of Congress to support the federal stimulus package.
On that matter, should such a package pass additional local infrastructure dollars, in the form of grants through the state, may very well become available for projects that are ready to go. We expect the state to have a central website soon where you can express interest in those funds. Hopefully, we'll have more information on that next week.
There are no committees of the House or Senate scheduled next week.
Hope everyone has a great and warm weekend. John
January 27, 2009
Hi, everyone - Tomorrow, Wednesday, the 28th, the Governor will deliver his State of the State address at noon. You can see the address on ONN or at www.ohiochannel.org. After the address, copies can be obtained at www.governor.ohio.gov. From all reports, we expect the address to be fairly lengthy, with much of it devoted to education. Other budget issues will, no doubt, also be addressed.
We also have the formation, announced by the new Speaker of the House this week, of two new urban-oriented committees in the House. The first is the Environment and Brownfields Committee. The second is the Housing and Urban Revitalization Committee.
We do not yet know the members of committees appointed in either the House or Senate, but will get you that information as soon as it is made public. John
January 22, 2009
Hi, everyone - Attached is an invitation for this year's OML Legislative Lunch at the Statehouse which is on April 1. We very much hope to see many of you there, along with your members of the House and Senate.
By the way, we're still getting some questions on the Local Government Fund and the annual adjustment the state makes in those numbers to line up reality with estimates. Specific numbers are available under LGF information on our Here.
Next week's schedule will all be centered around the Governor's State of the State address, which will occur at noon on Wednesday, January 28. No committee work of substance is expected to take place.
Hope everyone has a great weekend. John
January 15, 2009
Hi, everyone - Here is some information we've gotten from the National League of Cities about what the economic stimulus package may look like originally. NLC is having an additional briefing with the Senate Majority Leader and Speaker of the House tomorrow (Friday), but we expect that to lead to some review and not much news until after the Martin Luther King holiday. We will keep you informed as information comes into us. Understand that the attached comes with a little editorial comment, but it is the best detailed information we have gotten so far.
Barring some crazy scandal, there will be little or no activity at the Statehouse next week.
Hope everyone has a great weekend. John
January 14, 2009
Hi, everyone - Obviously very little will happen in the General Assembly until after the Governor's State of the State at noon on January 28th (view at www.legislature.state.oh.us), the introduction of the Governor's version of the budget sometime after that and appointment of committees in both Houses between now and then. Don't expect much legislation to be introduced until, at least, until the end of the month.
We should mention that the commission studying local government collaboration and consolidation has begun its meetings. That entity intends to meet the last Friday of each month and is supposed to finish its work by July 1, 2010. Our President, Mayor Dean DePiero of Parma, Mayor Mark Mallory of Cincinnati and Councilmember Charleta Tavares of Columbus serve on that commission. Here is the full list of membership.
In other news, we were pleased that the new Speaker of the House, Armond Budish, vowed to work for cities during this session during his opening remarks to the Ohio House. He said that cities would see special treatment from the state for attracting new jobs. He proposed, conceptually, that the state could put a number of incentives on the table for cities to attract jobs, though such incentives could be contingent on more cooperative purchasing agreements, waivers of some local income tax revenue and consolidation of some services. We love the focus of that proposal, but, as with all proposals, cautiously and anxiously, await the details of the Speaker's thoughts on this issue.
On another matter, The League will be hosting a luncheon honoring all the members of the 128th General Assembly on Wednesday, April 1st in the Statehouse Atrium. Registration will begin at 11:30 a.m. The luncheon will be held 12 noon – 1:30 p.m. Please mark your calendar for this important event. Additional information will soon be sent to you and will also be available to you soon via the League’s website.
Go Bucks! Oh, wait...never mind. Hope everyone has a very safe week. John
January 6, 2009
Happy New Year, everyone - The General Assembly is now formally back in session, though we would expect very little legislative activity for a few weeks. All bills from last session will have to be reintroduced and new bills created. They will then have to be referred to committees, which haven't even been named yet.
Additionally, in this state budget year, much of the activity of the General Assembly will wait on the introduction, by the Governor, of a version of a new biennial budget. The introduction of that budget is complicated by the anticipation for a federal stimulus package that is expected to include aid to the states, which could help those states balance their budgets. Without that aid, the Governor has predicted that the state would go into the new biennium in July with the need to trim spending in the next biennium by $3-$7 billion, depending on the breath and depth of the recession. Having the state being able to balance that budget could have a very important impact on LGF and other programs important to our members.
Our guess would be that we won't see a state budget proposal until after the federal stimulus is in place. Given the many guesses about when that might happen (mostly mid-February) that would not be far off the usual timetable for introduction of the state budget. However, we are reticent to predict with any certainty much with a new Congress, a new President and this economy.
We have attached, for informational purposes, a set of talking points from the Governor's office about the federal stimulus package and the same from the National League of Cities, just so you would know some of the things folks are discussing. Of course, if you watched any of the Sunday talk shows or read the morning papers, you know that others, especially in Congress, will be pushing and pulling in other directions too. As always, with the General Assembly or the Congress, its usually a safe bet that whatever proposal goes in to the Congress is not the one that comes out.
We will communicating with our Congressional delegation about the importance of recognizing that any federal stimulus package should recognize local infrastructure and financial needs, as well as the needs of the state. We believe that, so far, those needs are recognized. We hope you will communicate that message also with your local member of Congress and U.S. Senators George Voinovich and Sherrod Brown. In doing so, we hope you will make clear what problems and needs face your municipal services and your local economy.
It would be great, if we all had a single list and a single view on this issue, but we know on this issue that is not the case. However, we do believe any information you can provide your members of Congress on the issue of how they might help your local economy would be valuable and, perhaps, shape a better bill.
As for the General Assembly, we expect only a couple of "housekeeping" sessions between now and January 28. On the 28th, a joint session is scheduled for the Governor's State of the State address. We hope between now and then to have committee rosters for both Houses and we will get those out to you as soon as they become available.Thanks. John
