New Website Reveals Kasich’s Cuts Locally

A new website called Cuts Hurt Ohio shows the impact of the state government slashing budgets. It gives a glimpse into how each county has been affected by cuts in education and local government aid programs. For Hamilton County, the website shows cuts of $241 million in the 2012-2013 budget. Education funds in Hamilton County were cut by a total of $136 million, while other funds have been slashed by $105 million. The website also reports budget-related news headlines for Hamilton County: “Cincinnati superintendent salary to be cut in half,” “Townships may not have any police presence when they lose sheriff patrols” and “Report: Children services in Cincinnati stretched.” For all of Ohio, cuts total $2.88 billion. Education programs were cut by $1.8 billion statewide, and aid provided to local governments was reduced by $1.08 billion. Innovation Ohio and Policy Matters Ohio opened created the website to raise awareness and show the differences between former Gov. Ted Strickland’s 2010-2011 budget and Gov. John Kasich’s 2012-2013 budget. The numbers are based on data provided by the Ohio Department of Taxation and Ohio Department of Education. Since some cuts are due to the loss of federal stimulus funds, not all the cuts are directly linked to the state government slashing its budget. But the 2012-2013 budget will pull funding to the Ohio Department of Education down to $9.8 billion in the 2013 fiscal year, which is lower than the amount of funding education received before Ohio obtained federal stimulus dollars. To check out the website, go to www.cutshurtohio.com.