Fiscal uncertainty intensifies as state budget shortfall deepens

As Statehouse Republicans struggle to cut $800 million to balance Ohio’s next two-year budget, preliminary revenue estimates for this May show the state faces greater fiscal uncertainty than initially anticipated. Lawmakers will now have to contend with an additional $67 million less in spending for the current fiscal year. House Democratic Leader Fred Strahorn (D-Dayton) and the lead Democrat on the House’s state budget panel, Rep. Jack Cera (D-Bellaire), issued the following joint statement in response:

“The TV weatherman is right more than Ohio Republicans have been about Ohio’s financial future. Meanwhile, with every month that passes, taxpayers have a front row seat to see how years of deep cuts to schools and communities, tax shifting and tax giveaways for millionaires and billionaires are pushing our economy further out of balance and charting a collision course of uncertainty and failure.”