New Ohio budget includes land bridge funding, education funding, sports gambling changes

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - The Ohio House has passed House Bill 33, which will be the operating budget for 2024 - 2025 once passed by the Senate and signed by the Governor.

The bi-partisan approved budget includes tax changes for millions. According to State Rep. Tom Patton (R-Strongsville), this will “provide tax relief for everyday Ohioans by flattening and reducing the state income tax from the bottom up to 2.75% for those making up to $92,000 a year”.

In addition to the tax changes, the new $88 billion budget includes:

$62M for Cleveland Municipal Land Bridge.
$10M for Cleveland Food Bank.
$16.2B for Fair School Funding.
Tax credits for affordable workforce housing.
Funding to support increased wages for many critical workers in the Medicaid-funded healthcare space.

 The budget would additionally allow for Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton Counties to increase their in-person sports gambling facilities to seven from five. Rep. Patton believes that this would only bolster the state funding coming in from sports gambling, to allow for more money to be spent on education.

The state budget now heads to the State Senate floor for revisions. From there, a signature is needed by the Governor by June 30th.