05/24/2005 Senate Releases Substitute Budget Bill
The Ohio Senate version of the state budget was released on May 24. The substitute budget bill impacts Ohio's public libraries on several fronts, including:
- Public library funding will remain frozen at 2004 levels through December 2005, and then reduced by 5% beginning in January 2006 and continuing through June 2007 [as proposed by the Governor and agreed to by the House]
- Personal income tax (the source of the LLGSF) will be cut by 21% over the next five years (4.2% per year) – impacting libraries in July 2007 if the LLGSF returns to formula [as proposed by the Governor and agreed to by the House].
- The Senate removed the language inserted by the House of Representatives that would permit public libraries to charge fees for non-print materials.
- The Local Government and Library Revenue Distribution Task Force, comprised of ten legislators, is required to consult with certain local governmental entities, including the Ohio Library Council [not in the Governor's proposal; House proposed an eight-member committee with no input from local government representatives].
- A fund of $100,000 to reimburse libraries for expenses incurred as a result of providing filtered Internet access.
The Senate will introduce an omnibus amendment to the budget bill during the week of May 30. There is interest by some Senators to change the Local Government and Library Revenue Distribution Task Force language to actually include representatives from the organizations that represent local government entities (e.g., OLC, Ohio Municipal League, Ohio Township Association, County Commissioners' Association of Ohio, etc.). The OLC also is working on technical language for the $100,000 for filtering.
In the Senate version of the budget, it notes that an additional $5,000,000 in funding will be provided to libraries. However, the funds are not additional monies but are a correction to a calculation error in the LLGSF. This is the money necessary to keep the LLGSF at the freeze level through 2005.
The OLC also has concerns about the changes in the tangible personal property tax for libraries with levies. However, those issues don't impact public libraries until 2010, so there remains some time to work out a solution to the problem.
