COLUMBUS, Ohio - Studies inside and out of stategovernment are highlighting a plan to limit how much Ohio can spend, signalingthe coming debate over a system in place in dozens of other states.
At stake for Ohioans are restrictions on money spent oneverything from schools to parks to libraries.
Gov. Bob Taft and lawmakers are expected to propose somekind of spending limit during deliberations over the two-year budget beginningnext month.
Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, meanwhile, isgathering signatures to place a constitutional spending limit on the Novemberballot. The proposal would limit spending to the rate of inflation andpopulation growth.
An analysis by House Republicans found that the statewould have had nearly $3.5 billion less to spend on services if a spendinglimit was in place this year.
The analysis posed several scenarios for reducingspending, such as cutting education by $2.5 billion and eliminating half ofstate funding for local governments, saving $352 million.
The analysis also considered an 80 percent reduction offunding for local libraries, saving $380 million and closing state prisons orstate facilities for the mentally retarded.
"It was the best attempt we have to apply numbers toa policy proposal out there," Scott Borgemenke, House Republicans chief ofstaff, said Tuesday.
He said the figures would give lawmakers, especiallythose newly elected, some context for supporting or opposing a spending limit.
"These numbers could get as many people on board asoff board - it just depends from what philosophy you look at government,"Borgemenke said. "A lot of people out there will look at these and say,'Amen brother.' And there'll be a lot of people who say, 'This ishorrible.'"
A study by the nonprofit Center for Community Solutionsreleased last week says a spending limit "would make bad budget timespermanent."
Linking the limit to inflation is the wrong approachbecause that considers only the cost of housing, transportation and food,according to the report by John Corlett, director of public policy and advocacyfor the Cleveland-based center.
By contrast, the state spends almost 75 percent of itsmoney on health care and education, where expenses are rising faster thaninflation, Corlett's report said.
Twenty eight states have some form of spendinglimitations built into law or their constitutions, according to the NationalConference of State Legislatures.
Another report, by the Buckeye Institute for PublicPolicy Solutions, said the spending limits are a reasonable way to limitgrowth.
Ohio government spending increased three times theinflation rate between 1994 and 2002, according to the institute's reportreleased yesterday.
"At this clip, the state government budget woulddouble every 14 years," the report said. "More importantly, this rateof growth outstrips income growth and exceeds our ability to pay for it."
Blackwell's proposal would require a three-fifths vote ofthe Legislature to approve spending increases above the rate of inflation.Senate President Bill Harris says such a proposal takes too much power fromlawmakers.
"To tie the hands of legislators in a way they can'teffectively govern is contrary to our form of government," Harris, anAshland Republican
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