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Joe
Uecker
State
Representative
03/17/07
State of the State Address: Hold on to your Wallets
Last November, voters of Clermont County went to the polls
and the majority (55%) voted for Republican Ken Blackwell
to be our next Governor. Mr. Blackwell had come to
Clermont on a number of occasions during the campaign and
detailed his plans for Ohio. What little we heard from
his opponent, Ted Strickland, gave no details of his plan
to “Turn around Ohio”. Clermont County voters responded by
agreeing with Blackwell’s revealed plans. Apparently, few
Ohio counties got it right. Unfortunately, most of
Ohioans were still upset with Washington Republicans and
as I heard from many not from our county, they wanted to
send state Republicans “a message” and voted for a
democratic Governor (among several other office holders).
What a surprise the message we have just received is.
Ted Strickland promised he had a plan to solve the school
funding dispute but gave no details of that plan. This
past Wednesday in Columbus, before a joint session with
both Houses of Ohio government, Governor Strickland
finally revealed his plan. Yes, for the first time since
he began running for Governor three years ago and two and
a half months after taking office, he has just revealed
his plan that caused most of Ohio to vote for him. His
plan for school funding reform is to take state money from
the wealthy school districts (in the 66th House
District schools this is Milford and Loveland) and give it
to the poorer districts (West Clermont, Goshen, Clermont
Northeastern and Batavia). His answer to the
“unconstitutional funding system” (over reliance on use of
property taxes) is for the State’s AVERAGE of state
contribution per pupil dollars to local tax contribution
per pupil dollars to go from a current average of 49% to
54%. Translation: The Governor’s radical and innovative
answer to the school funding crisis is to pour more money
into the system. This is exactly what the Republican
controlled legislature has been doing for the last 10
years – with constant criticism from the schools and
democrats. The Governor’s announcements were greeted with
cheers and ovations.
The Governor also announced that parents with children in
school districts, whose schools were in academic emergency
and failing to effectively teach children, would no longer
receive vouchers so they could send their children to
effective schools.
I was also taken aback by the Governor’s plans to remove a
tax credit petroleum dealers have historically received to
account for the lost of gas as it sits in underground
tanks. Since they pay taxes on fuel they have in stock
(underground tanks) and a certain percentage evaporates
and shrinks (temperature) before it can be sold, dealers
are given a tax credit for this evaporation. The
Governor’s plan is to end this practice which raises new
taxes to the tune of about $200 million. What do YOU
think this will do to the price of gas at the pumps?
Common sense tells me that any local distributors will
have a hard time competing with Kentucky and Indiana
businesses and will simply pull stakes and move –
resulting in loss of jobs and revenues to Ohio. We know
this will happen, Ohio’s old tax policies have been
running businesses out of Ohio for years.
My last comment for this article (more to come later) was
the Governor’s promise to provide health care to Ohio’s
156,000 children who are not currently covered by health
insurance. I would like to know more about who these
children are and why they are not covered but in any event
the Governor proposes that the state pay for health
insurance for those families whose income is up to 400% of
the federal poverty level. This means that a family of
four (Mom, Dad and two kids) whose income is up to $62,000
is eligible for the state to pick up their health
insurance tab. I find this appalling. For many, many
years I had an income of less that 400% of the poverty
level with a family of 6 yet always made sure we had
health insurance. This meant my family didn’t go on
vacations and I always drove used cars, and we didn’t have
a very large wardrobe. I don’t want to sound insensitive
because I know families who really do need this form of
welfare, but I also actually know families who say they
cannot afford health insurance yet do all the above. Now
the Governor wants you and me to pay their health
insurance bill. Please keep in mind that if a child needs
emergency health care, there are already programs in place
to help the child receive health care.
The real costs of the Governor’s propose budget plan has
yet to be unraveled. The Governor announced his budget was
the lowest growth in 42 years but an article in the Akron
Beacon Journal finds that this done by using a “broader
accounting method”.
The State’s budget of $52 billion is to be analyzed and
reworked by both Houses and is to be back to be signed by
the Governor by June 30th. There is a whole
lot of work ahead to be done – a whole lot.
Joe
Uecker
State
Representative
Ohio’s
66 District
Representing
Batavia, Goshen, Miami and Union Townships as well as the
Cities of Loveland and Milford and the Villages of Batavia
and Amelia.
Columbus Phone:
614-466-8134
Email:
Joe@JoeUecker.com
Website:
http://JoeUecker.com |
