Senate looks to gut $1B from budget - Charlotte Business Journal:

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That would include $417 million in targetedx cuts to agency budgets resulting ina still-to-be-determine number of state job reductions, Senate GOP leaders said Friday as they unveiled their plan to balance the two-year budgey that begins July 1. Their budget bill would trim morethan $1 billiob from the $114 billion spending plan passed by the Democrat-controlle d Ohio House in April. At the same however, Senate Republicans said their budget proposal woulxd boost spending for primary and secondary schoole rather than cut funding for them as proposedin House-approved budget. It woulr raise funding for gradeas K-12 school district by 0.
25 percentg in fiscal 2010 comparedr to the current year andanother 0.5 percent in 2011. Senatde Republicans also rejected Gov. Ted Strickland’s sweeping evidence-basesd school reform plan, calling it “fundamentall y flawed” because it is based on school staffing needs insteax ofstudent needs. They want the governor’sz proposed education model to be reviewedx by a bipartisanstudy council. Senate President Bill R-Ashland, said he wants the where Republicans holda 21-112 majority, to pass a budget bill June 4 or 5.
That woulx set the stage for a House-Senate conferencre committee to hash out the differences in theirf versions of the bill and present a balancede budgetfor Strickland’s signature by a June 30 deadlinew set by state law. “We want to work with the governorrand House,” Harris said, “to do what is righr for this great This budget is part of that.” Like the House version, the Senats Republicans’ bill does not call for tax increasess and safeguards the broad tax reforms favored by the business community and approved by legislatords in 2005. It also protects a two-yeaer tuition freeze at community colleges, such as Columbus and one-year freeze and 3.
5 percent cap on increasew in fiscal 2011at four-year statre universities, including , that were proposed by Strickland and passedf by the House. Senate Republicans were able to provide such safeguardx despite having to workwith $912 million less than what the House had counted on when it passed its budget The revenue shortfall became apparent in early May when the Stricklandx administration reported state income tax receipta through April 30 were 15 percent lower than a year ago and well belos the administration’s revised budget forecast in Besides the $417 million in cuts for stat e agencies, Senate Republican budget-balancing moves includ e mandating $42 million in cost-containment measures for the Medicaid health-carde program for the poor and locking in $200 millio in agency service cuts ordered by Strickland earlier this “We think spending more money is not the Harris said.
“The answer is getting more Ohioans back to work and helpin more businesses and industries in Ohiobe successful.” Eliminating 34 proposed fee increase for employers, including ones affecting the agriculture and construction industries. • Requiring statde regulatory agencies to eliminate bureaucracy and red tapefor • Holding the line on new health-care mandates that drive up the cost of healt insurance for employers.
• Eliminatingv a proposed fee ofapproximately $8 milliom per year for the disposal of construction and demolition • Preserving funding for the and Ohio State University Extension for research and innovation • Enhancing a $100 milliobn film tax credit to attract the motiob picture industry to Ohio. • Supporting expansioh of the state’s Job Retention Tax Credit and Technology InvestmentTax Credit. • Providing more fundinyg for state Rapid Outreachj grants to attract and retain businessesin Ohio.