State Senator Dale Miller of Cleveland has been in the general assembly since 1997. He's seen projected deficits before...but three-point two billion dollars?
Bite: "I have not seen anything that comes close to this." .
State Tax Commissioner Richard Levin, another guest on today's show, says the recession made fiscal 2009 the worst year for tax collections in a half-century.
Bite: "And when we have a recession, when we have a slower economy, the state collects less income tax revenues because less people are working or people are working shorter hours and the state collects less sales tax revenues because people are buying less."
Levin expects the revenue picture to brighten next year, but that's NEXT year. For now, the gap remains and the state constitution requires that it be closed. Obviously one solution would be to raise taxes, although lawmakers insist they don't want to go that route. However some Sound of Ideas listeners encouraged them to think harder about that option. Bette from Cleveland wrote in an email: "In public as well as in personal life, things we need and want must be paid for - and in public life that means raising user fees and taxes, when justified."
And Cleveland minister Patricia Hanan said:
Bite: "The idea that somehow it is inappropriate for us to pay for these things is repulsive to me. I think that as citizens who believe in the responsibility of the public to care for its citizens, we must raise taxes and not disturb the public programs."
But other callers told lawmakers they need to first have state government share the pain of that the rest of Ohio is feeling. Jay from the east side is a business consultant, suggest following a business model. .
Bite: "There is a comment used in 'workouts' called 'sharing the pain. And what I see now across the board is all these companies and taxpayers are making sacrifices and they're looking at government and not seeing those same sacrifices. They're not seeing much downsizing if any. Not seeing reductions in pay across the board from government workers and there seems to be a very widening gap here that there's no sharing of the pain on the other side and the other side is using our taxpayer dollars." .
And another caller....Andrew in Twinsburg....echoed that criticism.
Bite: "The reality is I work for a company where I saw 40 per cent of my friends let go, I have a 35 per cent salary decrease. I have to make adjustments in life and I don't know where is the sanity to manage this company which is called government the same way as a private institution."
Not surprisingly, that message got a warmer reception from Republicans that Democrats. Here's Republican state senator Timothy Grendell of Chesterland.
Bite: "I have a bill that's been pending that would reduce state government in Ohio from 24 departments to eleven. We have over 300-million people in the United States and we have 17 federal departments. In Ohio we have under 11 million people and we have 24 departments."
Grendell's measure has found little traction though, even in a Republican-controlled Senate. Cleveland state senator Dale Miller says it's not likely to either, despite the budget crisis.
Bite: "It's just not as simple as reducing the number of departments and there's no way on God's earth that my distinguished colleague's plan is going to save the state two billion dollars. I doubt that it would save us anything."
Still, savings are going to have to come from somewhere and finding 3 billion dollars worth with a deadline just two weeks away means some lawmakers are going to have to reverse gears on spending....or taxes. What we have at the moment is not only a budget hole but a pretty deep political hole to climb out of as well.