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Veteran Lawmakers from Opposite Sides of the Political Aisle Weigh in on Ohio's Budget

To say Representatives Bob Hagan and Jay Hottinger have different views of Gov. John Kasich’s budget is putting it mildly.
Hagan: “It’s an insensitive budget.”
Hottinger: “It’s a realistic budget.”

Hottinger, a Republican from Newark, admits that at first he was upset with all that he saw in the proposed 55 billion dollar, two year spending plan.
“My initial reaction, Karen, what was my initial reaction was heartburn, okay? But heartburn is better than heart attack. I thought it was going to be a heart attack but it was just heartburn.”

Hottinger now says he’s embracing the budget for the reforms and restructuring in it, and he says there are more policy decisions in this spending plan than in any of the nine budgets he’s seen as a lawmaker. But Hagan, a Democrat of Youngstown, says unlike his Republican colleagues, he sees very little in this budget to like.
“He has heartburn and it could have been a heart attack. My people have been burned by this budget and we’re really struggling.”

Hagan is especially concerned about the slashing to the local government fund – a 25 percent cutback in the first year and a 50 percent cut in the second. Hagan thinks those cuts in particular show the budget is taking the state in the wrong direction.
“There are some tough decisions that are made. None of those decisions of which are good decisions about making sure that you put a tax on those people who are making over $200, $250,000. For the last 15 years, they’ve enjoyed an incredible way of life, and now we’re asking them to participate in a process that will bail us out.”

But Hottinger says that’s not going to happen, because he and many other Republicans feel wealthy Ohioans already pay enough, and that it’s a bad path to head down.
“He thinks it’s more a revenue problem. I continue to think it’s still more an expenditure problem, a spending problem. And so it’s kind of pick your poison. It’s difficult making cuts, okay, and that’s uncomfortable. It’s also difficult raising taxes and that’s uncomfortable. And so I just happen to think that raising taxes aren’t going to be the answer to make Ohio more competitive.”

While Hagan says higher local taxes are a certainty if this budget passes without major changes in these big cuts, Hottinger says that’s not necessarily the case.
“We are trying to attempt to give local governments more tools in the toolbox as well to have the capabilities to be able to do some things on the expenditure side of the equation. There are some things that we are looking at to help them do some things on a regional basis, on a collaborative basis.”

But Hagan says that’s code for mass layoffs, which would cause a crisis in the middle class.
“When you talk about tools in the toolbox, what that means is you’re giving the local government the tool to fire people, the tools to get rid of people, the tools to cut services, the tools to eliminate services and jobs. And that suggests to me that we’re really in trouble.”

But both Hagan and Hottinger do have concerns about K-12 education funding. Certain payments that school districts were getting from the state from taxes that are no longer collected are being phased out more quickly than districts expected. Hagan says that’s a cut to schools, no matter how it’s portrayed. And Hottinger says he hopes that can be softened during the budget process.

The full interview with Reps. Bob Hagan and Jay Hottinger is on “The State of Ohio”, on WVIZ/PBS this weekend, and on the Statehouse News Bureau website here.

David C. Barnett was a senior arts & culture reporter for Ideastream Public Media. He retired in October 2022.