Thursday, January 12, 2006

 

Two Programs Planned for Public Policy Watchers and Advocates

Public policy watchers and advocates will find of special interest two sessions at Community Solutions' 64th annual Human Services Institute on Friday, March 24 : “The Taft Record: What it Means for Ohio’s New Governor” (including the release of a new book by Richard G. Sheridan) and “The 2006 Elections: Implications for State Policy in 2007 and Beyond.” The Institute has something for everyone involved and/or interested in health and social issues facing Northeast Ohio. The program includes two keynote addresses, 14 sessions, informational exhibits by 100 nonprofit organizations, and community awards. Click here for program details and online registration.

Monday, January 02, 2006

 

Medicaid Spending "Out of Control"?

Since "out of control" Medicaid spending seems to get so much attention I thought it would be good to draw attention to the December issue of Budget Footnotes published by the Ohio Legislative Services Commission. They found that as Ohio completed month five of state fiscal year 2006, state Medicaid spending was 3 percent below estimates or $133.8 million less than budgeted. The biggest factor in the under spending is that caseload for the managed care covered families and children program are almost 80,000 below projections. Many advocates argued during the budget process that state caseload projections were too high and that it was unnecessary to remove over 25,000 working parents from the program. At least at for the time being, an barring any unforeseen downturn in the economy, it appears that the advocates were right. Of course that's a small comfort to those hard working parents who are losing their health care coverage.

 

Ohio Home Owners Will Face Large Property Tax Increases

A new paper by Community Solutions Senior Fellow Dr. David Ellis finds that Ohio's eventual elimination of the corporate tangible personal property tax will mean that Ohio's homeowners will pick up an ever increasing share of the bill for local services like education, human services and public safety. That's because real property tax increases (borne mostly by homeowners) will be required by tax year 2011 to make up for the loss revenue. The loss in 2011 is $202.3 million and increases to $1.1 billion by 2018. The alternative to property tax increases will be local cuts in education, health care and public safety services. No county is harder hit by this scheme than Cuyahog and Franklin counties. That's because 22.8 percent of the total tangible personal property is located in Cuyahoga and Franklin counties. You can learn more by reading this PDF report on our website.

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