More than a budget: Kasich aims to shake up Ohio governments

Mar. 20, 2011, Mansfield News Journal

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

CentralOhio.com

With an $8 billion budget hole and a pledge not to raise taxes, Gov. John Kasich had no choice to issue cut after cut in his first budget proposal.

But he also went a few steps further, by suggesting changes that could mean a radical departure from the way Ohio government does business.

“Years of neglect, switching programs into the next fiscal year, smoke and mirrors, refusing to address the basic fundamental structural problems of our budget. That’s what it is, a structural imbalance in our budget because we didn’t take care of the foundation,” Kasich said in his State of the State address. “… We’re trying to give everybody flexibility from state rules and regulations. Let’s have common sense.”

Kasich plans to get rid of what he considers to be costly regulations that come via collective bargaining and prevailing wage agreements.

Then there’s the hammer. Kasich is asking that, by 2013, state aid to local governments be cut in half. To deal with these cuts, he’s asking governments to share services, personnel, and to buy in bulk. He also seeks to remove obstacles to privatization and is promising to get rid of other costly mandates and regulations.