Balderson Comments on Budget

Ohio’s budget deadline has been extended after state law makers agreed to pass an interim budget that buys them another week.

The move allows Governor Ted Strickland to use the rainy day fund to balance the budget that ends tomorrow.

Representative Troy Balderson says he’s displeased with the Governor’s proposed cuts, especially surrounding public libraries and mental health.

“I received over seven thousand emails for the library. So, as I told Blair on Sunday, I said Blair, you ought to be real proud because your constituents of the library, they fully support them. It was nice to see that in the emails, ” says Balderson.

Balderson says the Governor and state lawmakers need to understand the magnitude of their decisions, surrounding this budget. He says they need to focus because the outcome will affect the lives of all Ohioans. He says the Governor has had six months to work on the budget.

“Now, we’re trying to rush everything through, and I just feel that that’s the wrong way to do it. When you get to that point in business, you can’t decide what you need to cut in one week. Then you go in, you get hasty, and you slash, slash, slash, ” says Balderson.

The Governor also is changing his stance on gambling in Ohio, prompting him to place a racetrack proposal before the State Senate.

The Democratic Governor is getting heat from Republican Senators for this action though.

“The constituents of the State of Ohio have turned down gambling four times. He obviously knows where that is. Gambling-to put slot machines in-is not going to fix an economic situation, ” says Balderson.

When entering office, Strickland’s three main governing principles included not raising taxes, fixing the school funding system, and not expanding gambling.