Teen jobless rate 23% in April

Teen jobless rate 23% in April

The rate for youth between the ages of 16-19 is nearly three times the 9% national average.

Tucker, Randy. Dayton Daily News, May 16, 2011.

DAYTON — Abbie Ballentine is among the dwindling number of Ohio teens and young adults expected to have jobs this summer.

The 18-year-old Springfield resident recently started working in the dairy store at Young’s Jersey Dairy near Yellow Springs.

“I have a girlfriend my age who’s been looking for a job for almost a year, and no one will call her back,” said Ballentine, a Northwestern High School graduate who said family connections helped her get hired at Young’s.

“I work about 20 hours (a week) now, and I’m looking for a second job. Not many people are hiring.”

That’s no surprise considering the unemployment rate for youth ages 16-19 was 23 percent in April — nearly three times the 9 percent national unemployment rate, according to the most recent Department of Labor figures.

Minority youth have been disproportionately affected, with the unemployment rate for black teens, for example, at 37.5 percent last month. But the trend has encompassed all major demographic groups, and most economic indicators point to another disappointing summer this year.

“This has been going on for quite some time, and there’s really no reason to think it’s going to get better this summer,” said William Even, a Miami University professor who co-authored a recent study on the impact of rising wages on youth employment for the nonprofit Employment Policies Institute in Washington, D.C., a conservative think tank.

Even noted the percentage of young people ages 16-24 who are employed in the summer has been declining since 2000. The Great Recession helped push summer unemployment for that group to 19.1 percent last July — the highest July rate since the government began tracking such data 1948.

Even said one reason for the decline in summer youth hiring is rising labor costs. He said business owners fear they can’t afford to hire more workers or are reluctant to assume the cost of new hires in a sputtering economy.

The government has raised the federal minimum wage by a little more than $2 during the past five years to $7.25 an hour. The amount is higher in many states, including Ohio, where it’s $7.40 an hour.

But even government agencies that subsidize wages for low-income youth have found a tight job market for the kids in their programs, said Rocky Rockhold, supervisor of special projects and youth activities at the Montgomery County Department of Job and Family Services.

“Companies have laid off and let go so many workers that they can’t provide quality supervision for a young person,” Rockhold said. “Even though we pay their wages, companies have expressed to us on more than one occasion that they’d love to bring on one of our youth, but they don’t have the resources to train or supervise them.”

In addition to the cost of labor, high unemployment has forced young people to compete with older workers for jobs historically held by teens and young adults.

“It’s true, the average age of our applicants has grown a little bit over the years as more middle-aged and older workers have applied,” said Joe Woods, regional marketing manager for McDonald’s. “But we’ve turned that into a benefit for our customers by having folks with broader skill sets; folks who are problem-solvers and have good customer-service skills.”

That might be good for customers, but it’s bad news for young job seekers with little or no work experience, said Matt Mayer, president of the Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions in Columbus.

Mayer believes youth unemployment should be considered a serious public policy issue with long-term consequences that could lead to a further drag on the economy.

He said young people need practical work experience to set them up for future success as contributing members of society.

“We’re not allowing kids in the long-term to pick up the skills and experience that help them figure out how to work,” Mayer said.

“I had a paper route when I was 12, then worked at pizza place and a Dairy Queen and a grocery store, and I matriculated up the system, learning jobs skills in the process. It’s much harder for kids to get those kinds of opportunities now,” he said.

Cieria Rodriguez-Toney, 2011 FosterClub Outstanding Young Leader

Congratulations to Cieria Rodriguez-Toney for being chosen by FosterClub 

to be recognized as a 2011 Outstanding Young Leader.

Prior to being elected as the Ohio YAB's first female President, Cieria served as Vice President for two years.

Cieria has participated in youth panels for several organizations, including Capital Law School's National Center for Adoption Law and Policy and the 2011 Northeast Ohio Independent Living Summit. She was invited by the Ohio Supreme Court to present during a 2010 Judicial Teleconference on Youth Voice in Court.

 Throughout the state, Cieria continues to support the efforts of county youth advisory boards, including:

• Co-presenting a workshop for Lorain County foster youth on how to build and maintain foster care youth/alumni communities
• Co-presenting a workshop for Stark County youth on navigating relationships with biological parents

During her time in foster care, Cieria felt disconnected from her Hispanic heritage. As a young adult, Cieria is currently advocating for opportunities for Ohio foster care youth to reconnect with their culture during their time in foster care. Particularly, she would like to see the Columbus International Festival offer a youth track, at cost to the public but free of charge to foster youth.

Because of her passion to make a difference, Cieria recently helped facilitate the 2011 Hispanic Leadership Conference.

Cieria is an articulate advocate, skilled at diplomacy and very reliable. She exemplifies the type of vision  and determination that young people need to succeed. And... she is also a wonderful mother:

2011 FosterClub AllStar Dauntea Sledge

Dauntea Sledge is a former Franklin County foster youth who currently serves as President of the Franklin County Youth Advisory Board, and Media Spokesperson of the Ohio Youth Advisory Board. He is an active member of the Ohio chapter of Foster Care Alumni of America.

Dauntea's volunteer experience includes the following:

• Bridges Out of Poverty Steering Committee
• Youth Violence Prevention Board
• Franklin County Citizen Corps Counsel
• Salesian Boys and Girls Club
• Americorps VISTA 

After attending the Bridges Out of Poverty and Getting Ahead programs as a participant, Dauntea now assists facilitators in leading workshops that support the Bridges Out of Poverty Initiative.

During his time with the Salesians Boys and Girls Club, Dauntea was the runner-up for "Youth of the Year" and received the "Turned Around Teen of the Year" award.

Dauntea spent a year volunteering for Americorps Vista, working for Community Properties of Ohio, working with people in poverty and broken homes.

Recent activities that Dauntea has been involved in include:

• Participating in an FCAA/FosterClub Focus Group to investigate launching an Americorps pilot targeted specifically for foster care youth
• Presenting as part of a Youth Panel during the 2010 Ohio CASA Conference
• Co-presenting workshops for youth during the 2010 Northeast Ohio Independent Living Summit
• Sharing the importance of "Youth Voice In Court" during a 2010 Judicial Teleconference hosted by the Ohio Supreme Court

After presenting during the 2010 Judicial Teleconference on Youth Voice in Court, Dauntea was asked to write an article for Common Ground, a publication of the Ohio Supreme Court that goes out to each of Ohio's 88 judicial districts. The decision was made that, from now on, there will be a Youth Corner in the Common Ground Publication.

During his time in foster care, Dauntea was able to stay in touch with his younger brother Antonio, in order to support and encourage him, and make sure he is aware of resources to assist in navigating both foster care and young adulthood.

Dauntea and Antonio currently volunteer to co-facilitate monthly activities for Village Network Columbus in order to help to prepare foster youth for adulthood, and encourage them to support one another as peers.

Additional investments that Dauntea makes with his time include:

• Supporting the goals of National Center for Adoption Law and Policy to starting a free legal clinic for current and former foster youth
• Supporting ODJFS in improving the quality of caseworker visits
• Supporting Ohio CASA in their desire to include the voices of current and former foster youth on Citizen Review Panels.
• Being a wonderful father to his two children: 

Proposed Local Government Fund Reduced By Half

Ohio's pact to support local governments has a 76-year history

Marshall, Aaron. Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 27, 2011. 

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Gov. John Kasich's state budget proposal swings the wrecking ball at the state's Local Government Fund, blowing open an unprecedented hole in a funding stream handed down to locals for generations.

Some local officials say that by doing so, the Republican governor also demolishes a 76-year-old pact between the state and local governments forged when state lawmakers first passed a sales tax in 1934.

Blow the dust off Ohio history books and it becomes evident that the state sales tax, which took effect in 1935, was begun as a way to help counties provide services to the poor, help communities provide essential services to their residents and help pay for local schools.

"I shall now approve the sales tax with the knowledge that, by doing so, our schools and local governments will be saved from bankruptcy and chaos in the year 1935," said Democratic Gov. George White in a Plain Dealer article on Dec. 13, 1934, after lawmakers had agreed to the state's first sales tax of 3 percent following a raging two-year debate.

"I know now that the poor will be fed and clothed and our children given the opportunity of a free education which is the birthright of every American school child and that the safety and health of our people will be

Fast-forward 76 years and the Local Government Fund, first created by siphoning off 40 percent of the sales tax, is being decimated by Kasich's budget proposal, which chops 25 percent from the fund in 2012 followed by 50 percent in 2013 when compared to 2011 funding levels. The penny-pinching pushdown has local government officials wondering whether the 1935 promise has suddenly been stamped with a 2011 expiration date.

"This has been a program since the 1930s -- it's not like this is one-time money or even a two-time windfall program," said Ohio Municipal League executive director Susan Cave. "Clearly, local governments have become reliant on it over the years. I think everybody anticipated that there would be cuts, but the magnitude is what has been a surprise."

Setting the stage for the 1935 sales tax enactment was a successful 1933 amendment to the state constitution pushed by Ohio's real estate agents. The amendment sliced one-third of property tax revenues from the rolls for schools and local governments.

"Local governments were obviously struggling and the state was recognizing that local governments were struggling," said Brad Cole, director of research for the County Commissioners Association of Ohio. "It was obvious the one-third reduction in property taxes was going to be a huge problem, so they thought giving them a portion of this sales tax was the way to go."

Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols said the promises made long ago weren't necessarily relevant as the governor sized up how to fill an $8 billion shortfall.

"I don't think there is any way you can compare 2011 with 1935. I think many people have broken that promise over the last 70 or 80 years," Nichols said. "We recognize that we are working within an $8 billion budget hole, and there is less money to go around, making it increasingly important that local governments embrace the reforms and tools we give them to cut costs."

The Local Government Fund may have started as 40 percent of the state sales tax in 1935, but over the years the pots of money flowing into the current $640 million annual fund have been diversified. This year, the Local Government Fund amounted to a 3.68 percent share of all of Ohio's major tax revenues.

Cole said while the cuts to the Local Government Fund are deep, they are also coupled with the Kasich administration's moves to snatch reimbursements local governments had received from the state because of tax code changes made in previous years.

"On a number of fronts, you have revenue being redirected to the state from the local governments that is far more than we have ever seen before," Cole said.

The plea from the Cole's group: Make sure our pain is proportional, perhaps in line with the 17 percent shrinkage in the state's budget that $8 billion in general revenue fund cuts would represent.

"There are certain priorities we had to protect, and those were programs that serve Ohio's neediest citizens," said Kasich spokesman Nichols. "For local governments, the budget document gives them the ability to rein in their costs and find ways they can cope with the holes in their budgets."

Nichols cited the controversial changes to the state's collective bargaining law included in Senate Bill 5 as well as the increased use of shared services and health insurance pooling for local communities included in Kasich's proposal.

While communities agree the changes will help cut costs, they are skeptical it will be enough to fill the gaping budget hole delivered by Team Kasich.

"If every one of those things were enacted it would help, but it wouldn't fill the gap," said the Municipal League's Cave. "And these things are all prospective...the relief that is being talked about is going to take a while to get here."

Rep. Ron Amstutz, a Wooster Republican who heads the House's Finance Committee where Kasich's budget proposal is undergoing hearings, said it's too soon to tell if local governments will take too big of a hit in the overall scheme of things.

"We have a lot scarcer set of resources than is typically the case, so there are going to be some real limitations on what we can do to be resolving the issues brought to us," Amstutz said. "But listening and understanding what kind of problems might be coming if we don't make adjustments, and deciding what we do while staying within the boundaries of our resources is the charge I know we have."

Many thanks to Capital Law School for reinstating AdoptUs Kids

Adoption Photos: Foster kids hope to click with families using website

Price, Rita. Columbus Dispatch, Feb. 28, 2011.

Hand on one hip and smiling big, the 12-year-old clearly gave the camera her best. An accompanying profile says she likes reading, country music and science, and she thinks that living on a horse farm would be a dream come true.

But like all the other children on this website, the bespectacled blonde also has a simpler wish - to belong to a loving family.

Her story and dozens more are again available to prospective parents online through the reconstituted Ohio Adoption Photolisting website.

The state dismantled the popular site more than a year ago because of budget cuts, but it's back, at least until the end of this year, through an agreement with the National Center for Adoption Law and Policy at Capital University.

The center had tried to secure private funding to revive the site, executive director Denise St. Clair said. When that failed, officials worked out a deal for the state to pay the center a little less than $2,000 a month in state and federal money to operate the listing.

Child-welfare advocates say it's great news.

"We're absolutely ecstatic," said Greg Kapcar of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio. "It provides important opportunities."

The site doesn't showcase private or international adoption; the children listed are in foster care and available for adoption through Ohio's county children services agencies. Last names and foster-home locations remain confidential.

Unlike the old site, which mandated county participation when it was managed by the state, listing is voluntary. St.Clair said advocates hope that will help make the information more fluid, creative and up-to-date. They want caseworkers and kids to be in charge of the content, tweaking as necessary and keeping it upbeat and free of anything that could cause embarrassment. "We encourage the counties to engage the kids in writing their own profiles," St. Clair said.

Advocates say Web presences are crucial in the world of adoption. People want pictures and information on their own time, not necessarily by agency appointment. Some states are making their listings of adoptable kids increasingly elaborate, with video, voices and even music.

St. Clair said she knows that some think of the approach as kid-shopping, but she takes a different view.

"I can understand that point to a certain extent," she said. "But I'm looking at it from the other side - these kids need and want families."

The profile for a smiling, gap-toothed boy says he needs a family willing to offer patience and love. He's only 7, but he has already had a lifetime of disappointment.

VISION in Dayton leads to campus housing

Kudos to the VISION Youth Advisory Board for their advocacy efforts to provide campus housing during breaks for former foster youth attending Wright State University!!

Quote from Adrian McLemore, posted on Wright State's website 

and featured in Sunday Dayton Daily News today:

"When I aged out of the foster system, I moved straight to Wright State. Being a former foster child, I had nowhere to go during breaks. See, we're not allowed to go back to where we were. Dan Bertsos and others at Wright State helped me to be sure I always had someplace to stay. They saw things in me that I couldn't see. I've learned a lot about myself and have become a leader, helping other foster kids find their way to college and to break the cycle of foster care."

—Adrian McLemore, Political Science major

Filling the $8 billion hole in Ohio's budget won't be easy

Tax or ax? To balance Ohio's budget, lawmakers basically have just two unpopular choices
Siegel, Jim and Darrel Rowland. Columbus Dispatch, Jan. 2, 2011.

- $8,000,000,000.

We're not used to seeing Ohio's probable state budget shortfall for the next two years written out that way, with all the zeros.

Perhaps it somehow better conveys the enormity of the task facing the administration of incoming Gov. John Kasich and the state legislature, which will be controlled by Kasich's fellow Republicans.

Maybe Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor could help solve the problem. He sold his 2008 Big Ten championship ring, 2009 Fiesta Bowl sportsmanship award and 2008 gold pants trinket for beating Michigan and now must repay $2,500.

'Course, he'd have to repeat his deeds 3.2 million times to come up with the necessary cash.

OK, let's think bigger: Put a super-surcharge on fans attending next season's revenge game against Wisconsin of, say, a mere $75,000 apiece.

Still wouldn't be enough.

All right, let's talk about more realistic options - although realistic may be in the eye of the beholder.

Firing every state employee would get you more than half of the way there, but not much more. About 85 percent of state general revenue funds (money from state taxes and some matching federal dollars) are passed through to local boards, agencies and governmental entities. That means major cuts to "state" government actually wind up reducing funding to schools, cities, universities, counties and townships, most of which have their own fiscal woes.

Raising the state sales tax from 5.5 cents on the dollar to 8 cents, a 45 percent jump, would bring in about $6.5 billion. Wiping out the 2005 income-tax cut (21 percent), could mean about $4.3 billion. Majority Republicans likely would argue that either option would devastate the state.

Ohio charges many dozens of fees for various licenses and services, and nearly all of them could be raised to some degree. Ohio also gives away more than $7 billion in tax exemptions, credits and deductions that could be eliminated or reduced.

But Kasich and a number of Republican lawmakers have signed a national no-tax pledge that covers not only taxes, but also fees. Under the pledge, some could be raised, but others must be lowered so there is no net increase. However, some veteran legislative Republicans are quietly questioning whether the budget can really balance without more revenue, and there seems to be a growing expectation that Kasich will violate the no-new-fees portion of the pledge.

There are other ways to pick up more money. Selling state buildings could provide a quick cash infusion, but would cost Ohio more in the future for lease payments. Selling the Ohio Turnpike could also mean major up-front cash, but doing so could also have ramifications and would be difficult to pass over objections from a host of lawmakers from both parties across northern Ohio.

In mid-March, Kasich and his team may unveil some truly unique ways to balance the 2012-13 budget, including perhaps combining and privatizing state functions.

So what is the $8 billion shortfall anyway? Simply put, it is roughly the amount the state is lacking if it wants to continue to providing the same services it provides today for the next two years, starting July 1.

No one can pinpoint the exact budget shortfall because there are too many unknown factors, including the estimated tax-revenue growth, some future costs, whether Congress plans to help again, and just what state leaders want government to look like when they're done. But most experts agree $8 billion is a good place to start the conversation, and some say it's more like $10 billion when such factors as the state's debt on unemployment compensation is included.

The current two-year budget is balanced with about $8.7 billion in one-time money that is not expected to be available again. More than $5 billion is from the federal stimulus package that, depending on one's perspective, either saved Ohio and most other states from potentially devastating cuts, or simply put off tough decisions for two years.

Despite what you may have heard during the campaign this fall, there is no way state leaders can save billions simply by "trimming fat" or "enacting efficiencies" that won't be noticed. Experts will tell you that most of the low- and even medium-hanging fruit has already been harvested to balance the current budget, which suffered from an unprecedented drop in tax revenue.

Rather, state leaders will soon learn a political truism: Talking about cutting the budget is easier than actually cutting it. Perhaps that is why nearly every prior state budget crisis was at least partially fixed with tax increases, regardless of which party was in charge.

So you want to cut? Eliminating all tax funding for a dozen state agencies - including the departments of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, Development, Veterans Services and Youth Services (juvenile prisons) - saves about $3.4 billion, less than half the shortfall.

Republicans have talked about significantly reducing the number of state agencies, which might save money long term. But significant savings in the first two years are far less likely.

Cutting Medicaid, which makes up about 40 percent of the state general revenue fund, is ugly because it eliminates about $2 in federal money for every $1 in state cuts. In addition to hitting Ohio's poorest and most fragile citizens, cuts also can hurt hospitals, doctors, nursing homes and others in the health-care industry.

Deep cuts to grades K-12 education would force further reductions in teachers and programs and likely send property taxes upward, leaving Ohio's overall tax burden worse.

Major cuts to universities could trigger huge tuition increases, which could be considered tax increases on the middle class.

Ohio's prisons are already overcrowded, and while there have been recent proposals to move nonviolent prisoners to community programs, the short-term savings are about $50 million over two years. And some lawmakers are nervous about constituents' reactions to freeing criminals.

Ohio sends more than $1 billion a year directly to local governments and libraries, making it a tempting cut. But libraries have an amazing ability to organize their patrons to fight cuts. For cities and villages, most of that state money pays for police and fire protection.

While groups including Greater Ohio and the Ohio Chamber of Commerce have recently recommended major changes to the state's 19 {+t}{+h} century system of local governments, even if local officials pledge to consolidate and become more efficient, such moves take time to see big savings.

And finally, the state pays 12.5 percent of every local property tax levy approved by voters. This is a huge, growing expense for the state ($1.7 billion a year). But while most homeowners are likely unaware that the state is picking up one-eighth of their property tax bill, they are sure to notice if the state stops doing it.

Try it yourself
The Dispatch has created an interactive online exercise that lets readers attempt to balance Ohio's next budget. Users can make any or all of 34 policy choices, then see the results.

Try your hand at balancing the state budget

Interesting point-of-view about Ohio's budget challenges

Thomas Suddes commentary: Here's what's in store at the Statehouse for 2011
Suddes, Thomas. Columbus Dispatch, January 2, 2011.

Ohio's Republican-run General Assembly will aim in 2011 to:

• Write a state budget without raising taxes.

• Make Ohio congressional districts even more GOP-friendly.

• Tilt in management's favor Ohio's 1983 union-bargaining law for public employees.

Gov.-elect John Kasich and his fellow Republicans may be positioned to meet their policy goals - if the GOP doesn't splinter. In 2011, the GOP will run Ohio's House and Senate, will hold every statewide elected executive office and will have a 6-1 Ohio Supreme Court majority. And for the first time since Robert A. "Mr. Republican" Taft was briefly speaker in the 1920s, running Ohio's House will be an iconic GOP conservative: William G. Batchelder of Medina.

The state budget debate, which will get rolling in March, will be a huge GOP test. Democrats left Kasich with a hole $8 billion deep. To fill that pit without raising taxes or making Medicaid a take-two-aspirin, call-us-tomorrow program would be a bookkeeping miracle.

The Apportionment Board (Kasich; Republican Auditor-elect David Yost; Republican Secretary of State-elect Jon Husted) will redraw the legislature's districts. The legislature itself will redraw U.S. House districts; Ohio has 18 congressional districts now but will lose two because Sun Belt states are growing. Ohio isn't.

Because of Ohio Democrats' November losses, Ohio's U.S. House delegation has 13 Republicans, five Democrats. All five Democrats are from the Cleveland-Akron-Youngstown triangle or a Toledo-Vermilion corridor along Lake Erie. Anywhere south of that corridor or, further east, roughly south of U.S. 224, is a GOP preserve. So if you're Democratic U.S. Reps. Marcy Kaptur, Dennis Kucinich, Tim Ryan and Betty Sutton, GOP bull's-eyes are on your back. The fifth U.S. House Democrat is Rep. Marcia Fudge of Cleveland, who is African-American. The Voting Rights Act will likely shield her district from GOP stunts.

As to collective-bargaining, tauter management of public employees by Ohio Republicans isn't, or shouldn't be, the same as public-employee bashing. But it would be remarkable if Ohio Republicans make that distinction, given the national GOP's vicious propaganda war on public employees.

Before elections, Ohio Republicans compete for police-union and firefighter-union endorsements and woo "Reagan Democrats" in unionized building trades. But after the vote, some politicos harrumph that binding arbitration (for cops and firefighters) and paying prevailing wage (on public construction projects) might cost too much. Amazing, isn't it, how stepping off a soapbox and into the Statehouse can void someone's vows?

Politics aside, the Statehouse also will offer some pageantry in 2011, the 150th anniversary of the capitol's completion. The Capitol Square board, which oversees the Statehouse, plans commemorative events throughout 2011.

Thanks to a needed restoration in the 1990s, the Statehouse appears much as it did in 1861. That's when future President James A. Garfield was a Republican state senator from greater Cleveland and future U.S. Supreme Court Justice William B. Woods was an Ohio House Democrat from Licking County.

Among this year's 132 Ohio legislators, there may or may not be men and women with prospects as good as Garfield's and Woods' proved to be. But Garfield, "elected on a pledge to pare expenses," according to his biographer, Cleveland State historian Allan Peskin, thought "his colleagues ... obsessed with 'a crazy crusade in favor of retrenchment.' " Woods, a veteran Democrat who only later became a Republican, nudged Ohio into financially helping Abraham Lincoln's GOP administration fight the Civil War, according to the late Louis Filler, an Antioch scholar.

That is, as General Assembly members, future President Garfield and future Justice Woods let themselves have second thoughts - something Ohio's lock-step partisans need to try.

Ohio's least productive two-year session in decades?

Ohio lawmakers set record for legislative inaction

Cincinnati.com, Dec. 26, 2010. 

 The just concluded two-year session of the Ohio Legislature has set a modern record for legislative inaction.

One explanation may be the state's first experience with politically divided chambers since enacting term limits 10 years ago and reducing lawmakers' political experience.

The Columbus Dispatch reported Sunday that only 58 bills became law during the 128th General Assembly, compared to an average of 247 bills during the previous 20 years.

House lawmakers met only 52 times and Senate lawmakers only 58 times, compared to an average of about 83 times every session in previous years.

Sen. Bill Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican, said it was the least productive two-year session he's seen in his decade in Columbus.

What's the future for Medicaid in Ohio?

According to a 2010 report from the Buckeye Institute, Crushing Weight: National Health Care Law Threatens to Make Medicaid an Unsustainable Burden for Ohioans:

• National spending on Medicaid, America's largest health insurance program, has grown nearly 500 percent over the past two decades.

• Medicaid now represents one-quarter of Ohio state spending -- $14 billion annually -- which more than doubles its share over the past two decades.

•  A typical household of four in Ohio pays approximately $2,000 annually to finance the state Medicaid program. 

•  In many states, including Ohio, Medicaid pays providers a much lower amount compared to Medicare and commercial insurance rates. This causes many providers to refuse Medicaid patients, and leads to an unacceptably low quality of care for many beneficiaries and an overuse of emergency rooms.

• Medicaid is one of the last places states look to cut during economic recessions because each dollar a state cuts results in a loss of federal funds.

• The Heritage Foundation estimated that nearly 565,000 additional Ohioans will be enrolled in Medicaid at a seven-year (2014–2020) additional cost to the state of nearly $1 billion because of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ObamaCare”).

• The expansion to everyone below 138 percent of the federal poverty level will add about 20 million Americans and over half a million Ohioans into Medicaid.

• States will pick up a small portion of the cost of the expansion population, but they will have to pickup their usual portion of the cost for individuals who are eligible under the previous state eligibility guidelines.

• States are required to raise primary rate physician reimbursement rates in 2013 and 2014 with federal funding, but states will no longer receive these federal funds beginning in 2015.

570,000 Ohio children live in poverty - and the TANF Budget is insufficient to meet their needs

According to the State Budget Matters edition on The TANF Budget by the Center for Community Solutions:

• The federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program is the largest source of funding for states for programs that help low-income families.  Ohio uses TANF funds primarily for cash assistance, county allocations, and early child care and education.

• For many years, Ohio did not spend all of its federal TANF block grant. This created a surplus balance, but those funds were spent down in the last biennium. The federal TANF grant has been flat-funded for over a decade.

• The TANF program was created during an economic boom and did not anticipate the challenges caused by a long and deep recession. The number of families receiving cash assistance has increased sharply since the start of the recession, and TANF funding is stretched too thin to meet all of their basic needs.

• Due to the use of one-time funds in the current biennium, expected FY 2012-2013 funding is insufficient to support current spending. State policymakers not only face the challenge of closing a structural deficit of $8 billion in Ohio’s General Revenue Fund, but they must close a shortfall in Ohio’s largest discretionary social service program as well. 

• Their decisions will impact Ohio's children. The TANF program provides critical support for low-income families – and especially for children. 

• The 2009 American Community Survey shows that 21 percent of Ohio’s children live in poverty, compared with 18 percent in 2007. There are about 570,000 children in Ohio living below the federal poverty line, an increase of almost 75,000 children compared with just two years before.

Loss of Dayton Urban League, a critical part of Dayton's safety net for minorities

Saving Dayton non-profits on city leaders' minds
By Amelia Robinson, Staff Writer Updated 10:23 PM Sunday, December 5, 2010.

Leaders will meet this month to discuss ways to save area nonprofits from the fate suffered by the Dayton Urban League and other recently folded nonprofits.

“We really need to take a real look at the ways we provide service and make sure we aren’t duplicating any service to maximize our dollars,” said state Rep. Clayton Luckie, D-Dayton, noting that certain tasks could be consolidated. The daylong summit will include local business leaders, politicians and representatives from key nonprofits.

The closure of the Dayton Urban League is disastrous, Luckie said. The league’s board announced Friday that economic pressures meant it would temporarily cease operation after 63 years.

Dayton City Commissioner Dean Lovelace said it was time to get key community leaders, clergy and politicians together to brainstorm ways to save the Urban League.

“It’s going to be devastating given their mission was employment and training,” Lovelace said. “This is a serious blow to the minority community.”

Dayton Chamber of Commerce President Phil Parker hopes it is not too late to save the organization he called a critical part of Dayton’s nonprofit safety net.

Serving 5,000 people annually, the league’s long list of programs included education and job training for teens and adults as well as a homeless prevention program.

“I don’t believe it will an easy task for other organizations to quickly pick up the slack,” Parker said. “It might not happen and that scares me.”

Kasich's opinions about what could be cut in 2011

Kasich eyes cost cutting
Governor-elect aims to take on public employee unions, nonviolent criminals in state prisons
Smyth, Julie Carr. Ohio.com, Dec. 10, 2010.

Republican Governor-elect John Kasich said Thursday he's pursuing obvious but politically dicey ways to save Ohio money, including taking on public employee unions and diverting nonviolent criminals from state prisons.

Kasich made wide-ranging remarks on how he'll tackle a looming $8 billion budget gap at an event to announce his nominee for tax commissioner: former Franklin County Auditor Joe Testa.

Kasich said ''low-hanging fruit'' like union protections and prison reforms should have been plucked long ago to curb Ohio's tax burden.

He said he opposes paying union-scale prevailing wages on public job sites, doesn't think public employees should have the right to strike, and opposes using binding arbitration to resolve contract disputes involving police officers and firefighters.

''We'll come up with a series of changes, but binding arbitration is not acceptable,'' Kasich said. ''You are forcing increased taxes on taxpayers with them having no say by people who come from a faraway place and have no accountability to the taxpayers.''

Jay McDonald, president of the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio, said Ohio's binding arbitration law took effect in 1984 as an alternative to settling police, fire and prison guard labor disputes through strikes. He said arbitrators side with employers ''on a very regular basis.''

''Certainly, arbitrators are very well aware of what today's economy is and they're not awarding benefits that are out of reach of employers,'' he said.

He acknowledged that public safety forces can be costly for taxpayers.

''It costs money to find somebody to face the threat of gunfire; it costs money to find somebody to run into a building that's on fire,'' he said. ''I don't think we want to contract out the rape investigation of our neighbor to the lowest bidder.''

Stephen Loomis, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association that represents 1,500 police officers, detectives and dispatchers, said binding arbitration allows police to air their grievances and still keep the public safe.

''We work now and grieve later. That's the motto. That's what I tell my guys,'' Loomis said.

Kasich said public employees should not be allowed to strike anyway — though he doesn't know how practical it would be to do away with the practice.

''My personal philosophy is I don't like public employees striking. OK?'' he said. ''They've got good jobs, they've got high pay, they've got good benefits, great retirement. What are they striking for?''

Kasich said he will also fight to chip away at Ohio's prevailing wage law, which he said adds to construction costs at universities and drives up their tuition costs. Although he said he would prefer to repeal it, ''if we can make progress in some areas, we can allow people to provide more services at a lower price.''

Kasich is a former congressman, Fox News commentator, and Lehman Brothers managing director who defeated Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland in last month's election. He takes office Jan. 10 and by mid-March must have a blueprint for balancing Ohio's $50 billion-plus budget for the upcoming two-year period.

He said prison costs could be drastically reduced by rethinking whether nonviolent offenders, including those who commit drug-related offenses, should be sent for short stays in state prison. Kasich said people who commit such crimes are not a public threat and shouldn't be imprisoned at high cost to taxpayers alongside murderers.

He also said state prison seems like the wrong place for child-support delinquents.

''Why do I want to put somebody that doesn't pay child support in a state prison . . . instead of putting them somewhere and forcing them on a work detail or home confinement or county jail, in a place where the public is safe and yet we can get our costs?'' he said. ''To me, that's low-hanging fruit.''

Just last week, state Sen. Bill Seitz failed to get the necessary support to bring an overhaul of Ohio's criminal sentencing laws up for a vote on the floor of the Republican-controlled Senate.

The measure proposed cost-reducing measures such as imposing the same sentences for crack and powder cocaine offenses, expanding inmates' ability to reduce their sentences through good behavior, and increasing use of halfway houses and GPS devices, as well as numerous other changes.

The State of the States isn't looking so good...

Agencies' budget outlook: Painful
Prisons would close, services would dry up under some scenarios
Niquette, Mark. Columbus Dispatch, Dec. 2, 2010.

Some state prisons would close and the rest would be dangerously overcrowded, college tuition could increase significantly and fewer Ohioans would get long-term health care from the state.

The dire warnings were among the initial budget estimates that state agencies were required to submit by yesterday to state legislative leaders and Republican Gov.-elect John Kasich.

Those requests, plus a national report issued yesterday outlining the difficult budget situation that all states face, underscore the challenge for Kasich and the legislature as they prepare a two-year spending plan with an expected $8billion shortfall that is due by June 30.

Earlier this year, Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland's administration instructed each state agency to prepare budget estimates using two scenarios: one based on receiving 100 percent of this year's funding, the other based on getting 90 percent.

The state budget office said it didn't have a summary of the agencies' proposals, and that the submissions could be obtained only from each individual agency. But an initial review of some of the larger agency proposals showed:

• The Board of Regents suggested a sharp reduction in financial aid would be required under the 90 percent funding scenario and warned that if state support were to decline, "Ohio's public campuses would need to significantly increase tuition to sustain balanced budgets" and meet enrollment goals.

• Budget cuts in the Department of Job and Family Services are likely to impact the state's neediest residents because 87 percent of the agency's budget goes to services. A 90 percent budget would result in fewer families receiving subsidized child care, reduced payments to child-care providers and higher co-pays for low-income families to access such services.

• Optional Medicaid services could be eliminated, including dental coverage, prescription drugs and hospice services. The agency also said the timeliness of child-protection investigations will be affected, "placing children at greater risk for maltreatment."

• The Department of Aging said more than 25,000 people would not receive long-term care services during the next two years with 100 percent funding, and that nearly 33,800 people would go without under the 90 percent scenario.

• The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction raised the possibility of inmates being released. Even at 100 percent of current funding, the agency said it would have to cut 339 corrections positions and close prisons because of the expected increase in payroll costs during the next two years.

That would increase prison overcrowding to 151.4 percent of capacity by 2013, the largest percentage in state history and "higher than at the time of the Lucasville riot" in 1993, Director Ernie L. Moore wrote in his summary.

At 90 percent of current funding, the department would lose 1,571 prison jobs through closing prisons and would take drastic steps such as "hot bunking," or having inmates sharing a bed based on shifts, Moore wrote. Overall department layoffs could reach 2,454, he said.

The cumulative effect of agency cuts would risk "threatening the safety of the public, staff and inmates," and the state would be "substantially more prone to litigation in multiple facets of operations," Moore wrote.

Prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said there are no estimates on how many prisons would close under either scenario because those decisions would be made when final budget numbers are available.

Kasich hasn't provided details about how he plans to deal with prisons or other agencies in the executive budget he must introduce by March 15, other than promising not to raise taxes and saying "everything is on the table."

Spokesman Ron Nichols said Kasich's budget team started reviewing the budget documents yesterday.

Kasich, one of 29 new governors taking office next year, isn't alone in facing a budget crisis, according to a report issued yesterday by the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers.

"We just hope they don't quit when they see how bad the budget is," NGA Executive Director Raymond C. Scheppach quipped during a conference call.

The report said Ohio and most states are expecting a slight increase in revenue and spending during the current fiscal year that ends June 30. But after two of the worst budget years since the Great Depression, spending and revenue nationwide are not likely to return to pre-recession levels until 2013 or 2014.

Making matters worse, states already have made significant cuts and face what the report calls the "cliff" in the 2012 fiscal year when federal stimulus money that helped balance current budgets ends.

"The low-hanging fruit has been picked; a lot of very difficult actions have been taken by states already," said Scott D. Pattison, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers.

Kasich says: If you're not on the bus, he will run over you with the bus

Budget tactic: Offer savings
Groups expecting state cuts are warned: Give ideas to work with less
Candisky, Catherine. Columbus Dispatch, Dec. 5, 2010

Many advocates and special-interest groups seeking pieces of Ohio’s dwindling budget pie say that with sweeping cuts unavoidable, they need to adjust their strategy for the coming budget debate.

Instead of lobbying Gov.-elect John Kasich and Republican legislative leaders for money, they hope to preserve the services they hold dear by pitching ideas for saving scarce tax dollars.

“You can’t sit around singing Kumbaya anymore. There’s an $8 billion deficit, so we need to see what we can do to help this governor,” said Terry Russell, interim director of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.

“I want to be his poster child for ‘You can do things better with less money.’  ”

Kasich set the tone for his administration two days after the Nov. 2 election when he told Statehouse lobbyists, “If you’re not on the bus, we will run over you with the bus. And I’m not kidding.”

He and GOP legislative leaders have been insistent: no new taxes.

More recently, the governor-elect said: “In this state, we are all one Ohio. If the coal miners down there in Chile were trying to grab the last breath of air, they’d all (have) died. If in our state, all these individual interest groups are going to whine, complain … it’s OK to say, ‘Here’s a problem; here’s a danger area.’ I want to hear that, OK? But don’t become hysterical, and don’t just look out for yourself, or we’re going to lose. This state will lose, and I’m not going to put up with it, and neither is the legislature.”

The rhetoric and realities of the next budget are forcing groups to do things differently, and key lawmakers say it’s a refreshing change.

“This is not the standard procedure I’ve seen over the years,” said Rep. Ron Amstutz, R-Wooster, a 30-year veteran and incoming House Finance Committee chairman. “The standard procedure is more of a frontal attack — we’re doing this critical stuff, and this is how much more we need.

“I think they’re recognizing special carve-outs aren’t going to be happening because of a lack of funds. They are trying to be more creative.”

Senate President-elect Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, agreed. Two years ago, when the budget problem was less severe but still significant, he said, groups would say: “I know the budget is going to be difficult, but this is only $50 million.”

“I’m not hearing that now,” he said. “I’m hearing: ‘We know how tough it’s going to be ... so we want to be proactive and share some ideas on how we can continue to deliver services in this new environment.’ I think that’s very encouraging.”

Gayle Channing Tenenbaum, co-chairman of Advocates for Ohio’s Future, a coalition of health and human-services organizations, said she was told in a meeting with House leaders last week: “Don’t come in here and ask for anything; come in with ideas.”

She plans to oblige them.

“I would much rather that we come up with ideas and come to the table than sit around and whine that we don’t want to do anything different,” she said.

Kasich must submit his two-year budget proposal to the General Assembly by March 15. In the lull before public hearings and debate, advocates and interest groups are meeting with lawmakers, educating their constituents about what’s at stake, prioritizing goals and developing plans to stretch state funds.

School districts have been told by GOP leaders to brace for a possible 20 percent cut in state aid. In response, educators say they will ask for more flexibility with the dollars they will get.

“One of our strategies is to reduce unfunded mandates, so we have asked our members to help put together a list,” said Damon Asbury of the Ohio School Boards Association. “We also want to talk about collective bargaining. That’s another area that we’d like to see some changes so we can better control costs.”

Kasich’s staff is encouraging advocates to submit ideas in writing.

“We are meeting with just about everyone who asks. Some are coming in with ideas for potential efficiencies. A lot are just trying to get a sense of where John is,” said Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols. “He has not made any promises. Everything is on the table.”

Advocates for mental-health and addiction services, which took one of the largest hits in the current budget, have been working on a plan for preserving community-based services.

Cheri L. Walter, CEO of the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities, has begun talking to legislators about restructuring how services are financed to ensure they are available to those in need.

“We think there are savings to be had,” Walter said.

For instance, thousands of mentally ill Ohioans wind up in prison. For the cost of one prison bed, three people with mental illness and 15 in need of addiction treatment could be treated in the community.

The group also suggests that the state stop using general-revenue funds to pay for alcohol- and drug-addiction treatment and instead use profits from state liquor sales.

Ohio’s strong nursing-home lobby also plans to be a player.

“We are very worried. It seems there is pain to go around,” said Pete Van Runkle, executive director of the Ohio Health Care Association. “We intend to bring ideas to the table that would hopefully address the direction the administration wants to go. We just don’t know which way that is yet.”

Van Runkle said the administration might try to save dollars in the current long-term care system, or move to managed care.

Some say that savings are difficult to come by, such as state aid to local governments. That pays primarily for police, fire and other protective services.

“Our fight is a tactical one,” said John K. Mahoney, deputy director of the Ohio Municipal League. “I can’t come up with a way to cut the local-government fund and save the state money. Other kinds of budget items can do that, but we can’t.”

Grants have expired for an Ohio drop-in center that served 20 to 30 homeless youth each day.

Sisters of charity: Siblings give help to homeless youths

Price, Rita. Columbus Dispatch, Dec. 19, 2010.

No matter how early Jeana Patterson arrived at work last week, her footprints weren't the first on the snowy porch. Cold and hungry and lonely young people were waiting to go inside. "They can eat, get warm, take a shower," Patterson said. And, this being the season, the homeless young people also like to look at the Christmas tree, which they somehow manage to appreciate without bitterness. "They're happy to be part of a tradition," Patterson said. "They want to belong."

But Patterson and her sister, Angela Lariviere, aren't sure how even the most resilient of Franklin County's homeless teens and young adults will fare if they lose - because of withering budgets - both the respite house and the advocacy organization that fights for them every day.

Patterson, 36, is the program coordinator at the Human Ecology House on N. 4th Street, the city's only drop-in center for homeless young people.

Lariviere, 38, runs the Youth Empowerment Program at the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, the only statewide council of homeless young people.

Separate but united in their missions, the sister-led programs are devoted to a vulnerable and underserved population that - here and nationwide - rarely benefits from shelter systems designed for adults and families with young children.

"We're exactly the same, except we have totally different personalities," Lariviere said with a laugh about herself and her sister.

The two grew up poor, in and out of homelessness, just like the desperate kids they mentor and love.

"They come from a position of knowing," said Mary Jane Quick of Project Connect, the Columbus school district's program that focuses on homeless children.

"Quite frankly, Jeana knows how to get the youth to represent themselves in a way that the rest of us are just learning. She's gifted."

Patterson's job might end in June, however, when funding for the drop-in center runs out.

Natasha Slesnick, an associate professor at Ohio State University's Department of Human Development and Family Science, said the research grants that she used to start the drop-in center in 2006 have expired.

She has been unable to find enough money to cover the roughly $150,000 in annual operating costs for the center, known to young people as the Star House.

"We have people who are really, really caring and passionate," Slesnick said of Patterson and her staff, which includes OSU students. "I'm just sick about this. We don't want it to end."

Most large cities have drop-in centers, Slesnick said, because experts know they are an effective way to engage street youths.

An average of 20 to 30 go to the house each day to cook, rest and get help with clothing and resources.

Many of them also belong to Lariviere's group, which helps with basic needs but also encourages the youths to work together, participate in community service and advocate for policy change.

In the past two years, Lariviere's $200,000 budget has dropped by more than half. "I've cut everything," she said.

Danielle Jinks, an 18-year-old who counts on both the drop-in center and the Youth Empowerment Program, said they mean the world to struggling youths.

"Angela is their family; Jeana is their family," Jinks said. "If they were to disappear, then I think a lot of the youths would just give up. They might think there's nobody who cares."

Megan Thompson, youth and young-adult minister at St. Matthew the Apostle Church, said many young parishioners at her church and other Catholic churches are vowing not to let that happen.

The volunteers are trying to raise $20,000 to save the Youth Empowerment Program. They have interviewed homeless youths and posted a video on YouTube; one Bishop Hartley High School student says she won't accept Christmas gifts for herself this year - only donations.

"They're in such crisis," Thompson said. "But I really believe that our community could do something powerful."

D'Andre Sample, 19, often is one of the young people waiting for the drop-in center to open, and he might not leave until it closes around 5 or 6p.m.

He had been sleeping in an abandoned house but now has a bed at Faith Mission, he said. The men's shelter is a tough place for a kid. He feels safer at the drop-in center, where he can talk to other teens, play video games and get help with apartment searches.

"I'm trying to get off the streets," said Sample, who now has an overnight job at a warehouse. "I want off at all costs."

As he bundled up to leave the center, an employee stopped and looked at his hands. "I'm OK," Sample insisted.

She quietly handed him a new, thick pair of gloves.

A couple of years ago, Patterson said, someone gave her the talk about being too busy, about how you can't take care of others unless you first take care of yourself.

Nice idea, maybe, for another line of work. Lariviere spent an entire night last week on the street and in her car, trying to find shelter for frightened, freezing 18-year-olds.

"These kids don't get to turn off their lives," Patterson said, so the sisters won't, either.

For information about the drop-in center or to donate, go to the website or call 614-432-5406.

For Youth Empowerment Program information, please call 614-280-1984, Ext. 17.

With an $8 Billion Deficit, there will only be MORE CUTS in 2011

High jobless rate has led more Ohioans to request cash aid, putting state in bind
Candisky, Catherine. Columbus Dispatch, Dec. 19, 2010.

Ohio’s welfare rolls have climbed more than 30 percent in the past three years, reversing a decade-long trend as unemployment persists and incomes fall, forcing more families to turn to government assistance.

Ohio’s welfare rolls are the third-largest in the nation; its average monthly caseload in the past fiscal year was 102,446 families, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

As of October, 104,542 families were relying on monthly checks averaging $160 a person. Three years ago, 80,269 families were on welfare.

Before the recession hit, cases involving a child with no parent present — often youngsters living with a grandparent — made up more than half the caseload. Now, single-parent households make up the largest proportion.

“We are attributing that to the economy and double-digit unemployment,” said Michael McCreight, deputy chief of staff for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

The expansion of welfare rolls in hard times shows that the system is working, he said.


“We are at a time of recession, and the program is intended to be a safety net,” McCreight said. “We are meeting that need for people who are in temporary setbacks. It makes sense that people are coming onto the program.”

California led the nation with 572,521 families receiving assistance, followed by New York, which had a caseload of 121,289.

Ohio’s rolls hit a high of 163,079 families in 1992. They hit a record low of 77,061 in early 2007, as sweeping reforms limited assistance to three years and imposed strict work guidelines.

The caseload is expected to keep climbing through 2013 as Ohio recovers from the recession, according to a recent budget analysis prepared by the Department of Job and Family Services. On average, an individual receives $165 a month in cash assistance.

To meet welfare reform’s goal of ending dependency, recipients are required to work, train for a job or be in school to collect benefits. But that is a federal mandate that Ohio failed to meet in 2007 and 2008, and stiff penalties come as Ohio faces a projected $8 billion shortfall in the next two-year budget.

McCreight said the state has asked federal regulators to waive a $77.8 million fine for 2007 and 2008 because the lack of jobs has made it difficult for recipients to find work. The agency expects additional fines to be levied against the state after receiving official notice that Ohio also fell short in 2009 and 2010.

“We never recovered from the last recession, so we have been at a disadvantage,” McCreight said.

Joel Potts, director of the Ohio Job and Family Services Directors Association, said it’s hard to meet work requirements when there are not enough jobs.

Many cash-assistance recipients “are either underemployed or have lost their jobs,” he said. “Even those jobs that don’t require skills and are low-paying, people with college degrees are battling for them now.”

Ohio’s rising caseload means that more of the state’s $1.1 billion two-year welfare budget pays for cash assistance, making less available for other services such as subsidized child care and training programs.

Job and Family Services spokesman Benjamin Johnson said federal regulations require the state to pay cash assistance first.

The agency’s budget analysis, prepared at the request of outgoing Gov. Ted Strickland, recommended cutting $100 million a year from child care for low-income families by changing earnings requirements so that fewer qualify. The department also recommended slashing aid to county agencies; they use that money to administer programs and provide support services to recipients such as job training and emergency auto repairs.

Potts noted that counties’ funding already has been cut by $120 million a year, forcing thousands of layoffs and the elimination of programs such as one in Hamilton County that provided education, job training and family counseling. It had a 90 percent job-placement rate for welfare recipients.

“It’s a vicious Catch-22,” Potts said. “The higher our caseloads, the less money to support programs to get people off cash assistance.”

Montgomery County JFS facing budget cuts

Job and Family Services facing huge budget cuts

Reduced property values will likely force agency to dip into cash reserve.

Huist Smith, Joanne. Dayton Daily News, Dec. 9, 2010.

DAYTON — The Montgomery County Department of Job and Family Services will dip into a limited cash reserve to prevent a budget shortfall in 2011 for public assistance and children services programs.

Reductions in social service contracts, foster care, and staffing are also coming.

“The Job and Family Services budget is under tremendous pressure, because of its reliance on state funding,” Montgomery County Administrator Deborah Feldman said Thursday. “The agency is anticipating reductions in both Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Income Maintenance funding.”

The job and family services budget for 2011 is set at $145 million.

Reductions in TANF allocations to the county have been in steady decline dropping from $18.1 million in 2008 to a projected $8.2 million in 2012.

Bringing more uncertainty to the department, Ohio’s two-year budget cycle begins July 1 and Gov.-elect John Kasich says he will balance the budget, despite a looming multimillion deficit.

Gayle Bullard, director of Montgomery County Job and Family Services, said 14 social service providers have been told their contracts will end or be cut.

“We’ll continue funding some until June 2011 so they can make other plans,” Bullard said.
The department will spend $4.3 million on social services contracts in 2011, a decrease of $39.9 million or 90.2 percent from 2010.

“By the time we complete this process, we will only have a handful of contracts,” Feldman said.

Social services were prioritized by community need, before budget reductions were proposed. Examples of cuts include elimination of a tutoring program run by Miamisburg City Schools and loss of $200,000 for a prevention/intervention program through the Montgomery County Juvenile Court, Bullard said.

Making budget reductions in the county’s foster care program will be more challenging, because the service is mandated and Children Services has seen a rise in referrals from the courts.

Children in the most severe cases, who may be a danger to themselves or others, are placed in residential treatment facilities at a monthly cost of $8,545 per child.

Every month, Montgomery County has between 60 and 70 kids in group homes at a cost of $3,382 per child.
As its pool of available foster parents shrinks, the county has contracted with nonprofits to provide placement for about 300 children at a monthly cost of $2,855 per child. Traditional foster care is the least expensive with a monthly cost of $693 per child.

The department currently has a staff of 938, a number that will not grow due to budget constraints.

Feldman said staff reductions will hopefully be managed through attrition.

“If everything would be static, I think we would break even at the end of 2011, said Commissioner John “Bud” O’Brien. “If the state cuts the local government funding, we would probably have to make more cuts.”
The commissioners plan to vote on the 2011 budget Dec. 21.

After two rounds of cuts totaling 16 percent in 2010, budgets for Miami County departments will start 2011 at the final 2010 appropriation.

State Sen. Shannon Jones, R-Clearcreek Twp., who is co-chair of the special budget commission convened to address the budget deficit, said it is too soon to tell how local governments will be effected by the state’s budget deficit.

A Study of the Impact of the Ohio Benefit Bank

Ohio Benefit Bank programs include:

• Food and Nutrition Programs
• Healthcare Assistance
• Taxes and Student Aid Programs (including the FAFSA)
• Child Care Assistance
• Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP)
• Ohio Works First Cash Assistance (OWF)

A Study of the Impact of the Ohio Benefit Bank was recently released by the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs at Ohio University.

Funded by the Columbus Foundation, the survey looked at hardships experienced, whether OBB clients completed their applications at JFSs, and the short term impact for those individuals and families.

Ohio's 129th General Assembly

House Republicans

Speaker: Representative Bill Batchelder (Medina)
Speaker Pro Tempore: Representative Lou Blessing (Cincinnati)
Majority Floor Leader: Representative Matt Huffman (Lima)
Assistant Majority Floor Leader: Representative Barbara Sears (Western portion of Lucas County)
Majority Whip: Representative John Adams (Sidney)
Assistant Majority Whip: Representative Cheryl Grossman (Grove City)

House Democrats

Minority Leader: Representative Armond Budish (Cleveland)
Assistant Minority Leader: Representative Matt Szollosi (Toledo)
Minority Whip: Representative Tracy Heard (Columbus)
Assistant Minority Whip: Representative Debbie Phillips (Athens)

Senate Republicans

President: Senator Tom Niehaus (New Richmond)****
President Pro Tempore: Senator Keith Faber (Celina)
Majority Floor Leader: Senator Jimmy Stewart (Athens)
Majority Whip: Senator Shannon Jones (Springboro)

Senate Democrats

Minority Leader: Senator Capri Cafaro (Hubbard)*
Assistant Minority Leader: Sen. Shirley Smith (Cleveland)**
Minority Whip: Senator-elect Edna Brown (Toledo)***
Assistant Minority Whip: Senator Jason Wilson (Columbiana)

*Senator Capri Cafaro met with youth in 2009 as part of the Youth in Transition: Ready to Launch initiative.

**Senator Shirley Smith attended the 2010 FCAA Ohio NE Thanksgiving dinner.

***Senator Edna Brown responded favorably to Adrian McLemore's testimony regarding the previous biennual budget.
****Senator Tom Niehaus has been the primary sponsor of priority bills designed to reform the state’s foster care system.