A Realistic State Budget
Friday, January 23rd, 2009 By Marc Kilmer
Gongwer News Service($) reports that Senate President Bill Harris is cautioning Governor Strickland not to count on federal aid when putting together his budget proposal. As Senator Harris puts it, the budget should be based on the “realities of the state economic situation” not on hypothetical federal aid. Imagine that — basing a budget on economic reality. It’s sad that this type of thinking makes the news. The idea that the blueprint for state funding should be based in reality should be the norm, not something that is noteworthy.
Given that Governor Strickland is one of the most vocal cheerleaders for federal “emergency” aid to the states, it would make perfect sense if his budget tried to take that into account. But the size of that aid is unknown. The conditions put on that aid are unknown, as Senator Harris points out. Heck, we don’t even know if the aid will be passed by Congress. It looks likely that the feds will bail out the states, but maybe fiscal sanity will prevail in Washington and Congress will shoot it down.
Senator Harris should be commended for sounding the trumpet of caution on this issue. I hope that when the state Senate begins considering the budget that Senator Harris will continue to be fiscally prudent. As we saw last year, when recessions hit revenues decline. The projected $7 billion deficit will likely deepen. It’s time for Ohio to start looking at the variety of wasteful spending contained in the budget and begin cutting out the fat.
February 10th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
[...] late February Senator Bill Harris made the observation that Governor Strickland shouldn’t base his budget on hypothetical federal aid. Of course, [...]