tax credits / flickr
House Republicans added another series of amendments to the budget before passing it out of committee.The House added $1.25 million so the secretary of state can keep mailing out absentee ballot applications, and another amendment gets rid of language that would’ve stopped the state auditor from performing public records audits.More than 93 schools were in danger of losing money when implementing the new funding formula and the cut to the reimbursement program known as the Tangible Personal Property tax or TPP.
Republican Representative Ryan Smith of Gallipolis, who chairs the finance committee, says the House added more $100 million to bring those schools back to zero.“I think it was probably the best thing we could do to continue the TPP phase out but mute the effect of it—the negative effect. Because we put a lot of money into the school formula so that helped a lot but it didn’t help enough to make sure everyone was held harmless,” said Smith.The House is expected to hold a full chamber vote on the budget later this week.