The Disappearance of Proposition 2

Here in Ohio the Democrats and media are “hammering” Gov. Kasich and the Republicans for the cuts in the Local Government Funds that they passed in 2011.  It’s becoming a major campaign issue as even many local Republican mayors and council members are asking for the cuts to be restored.  Will it have an impact on the 2014 elections?  It’s beginning to look like it will.  And all the while, Republicans hardly offer a defense.

So let’s look back at 2011.  Ohio was facing an $8 billion dollar deficit.  Ohio towns and cities were finding themselves saddled with huge employee benefit expenses.  And cities and towns were on their own until the hole they were in would qualify under the “Emergency” definition.  It was only at that point that the State Auditor’s office could step in to help.

So the legislation took action at the behest of Gov. Kasich.  They addressed the issues in three ways:

1.      They cut the Local Government Fund payments to towns and cities (helped reduce the states deficit)

2.      They passed legislation (Senate Bill 5) giving cities and towns more control over their employee’s benefits costs (designed to help them deal with the cuts in funding)

3.      They added monitoring for “fiscal caution” status to the State Auditor’s office (giving it greater ability to help towns and cities who were having issues)

This looked like a good set of solutions to the issues that both were facing.  But that’s not where things stopped.

In 2012 Ohio’s public unions worked with Democrats in an attempt to repeal Senate Bill 5. They got a proposition on the ballot and conducted a campaign to convince voters to vote in favor of repealing Senate Bill 5.  Their main message was that Police and Fire staffing levels would be cut if Senate Bill 5 wasn’t repealed.  Voters took the bait and Proposition 2 was passed by a large majority.

But that left Ohio’s towns and cities with cuts to the Local Government Funds, but without the added flexibility to deal with the lost revenue that came with Senate Bill 5.  As a result, cities and towns have had to cut services, including in some cases Police and Fire protection.

So now the very same individuals who pushed for repeal of Senate Bill 5 are blaming the Republicans for the impact that their proposition caused.  And cities and towns are left with growing employee benefit costs that are well out of line with what the private sector would pay.

Unfortunately Republicans are so scared of the term “Senate Bill 5” that they refuse to tell citizens the truth.  It looks like November elections in Ohio will be much more interesting than they need to be. 

This may just be a case of Ohio Republicans snatching defeat from the jaws of victory!