Funding cuts concern Eades

BREANNE PARCELS
Press Staff Writer
Published July 16, 2004 12:11 PM CDT

Local governmental entities could be feeling a bigger pinch from the state legislature next year.

London Mayor David Eades said freezes and cuts in local government assistance funds the past four years have meant less money for cities, counties, townships and libraries across the state, to the tune of some $673 million, according to information from the Ohio Municipal League.

Now there is talk that the funds may be cut again or even eliminated from the state budget, Eades said.

"The Local Government Fund was established in the 1930s during the Depression," Eades said. "For 70 years, the state and local governments have been sharing revenue but every so often, when the state's looking for more money for something else, (the fund) takes a hit."

Eades said in addition to the Local Government Fund, local communities get help from the Library and Local Government Support Fund, created in 1985, and the Local Government Revenue Assistance Fund, which was established in 1989.

Eades said due to the threat from the state legislature, a letter was recently sent to candidates for the Ohio General Assembly from the County Commissioners Association of Ohio, the Ohio Library Council, the Ohio Parks and Recreation Association, the Ohio Township Association, and the Ohio Municipal League, of which Eades is a board member.

"In the next biennium budget, the Local Government Fund really gets attacked," Eades said. "This affects a large part of the state of Ohio, not just cities, but townships, counties and libraries too."

Eades said London receives about $350,000 annually from the local government funds and the money goes directly to the city's general fund.

"If we lost that, it would take a healthy cut into our budget," Eades said.

"We're talking 25 percent cuts, off the top of my head, and with the safety forces making up about 80 percent of our budget, it would definitely affect our safety."

The proposed cuts to the local government funds could also have a negative impact on other projects.

During Thursday's city council meeting, Eades passed out copies of an e-mail from Wayne Roberts, President of the Friends of Madison County Parks and Trails.

In the e-mail, Roberts outlined a request for the city and county to contribute funds to complete the Ohio-to-Erie Trail from Maple Street to Wilson Road.

He noted the estimated cost of construction is $625,000.

About $300,000 is available from grant money. Roberts asked the city to contribute $50,000 and the county to contribute $80,000, or about 20 percent of the construction costs, respectively.

"Wilson Road is where (Franklin County) Metro Parks has said they will pick up construction," Roberts said this morning. "The reason we're not able to (continue construction) is because of the additional construction requirements in South Charleston, where we couldn't stay on the railroad right-of-way and had to purchase more land and had additional expenses related to that."

Roberts said he hopes Madison County residents and businesses will also contribute to complete the project.

"Our plea is to the community, not only the government agencies," he said.

Breanne Parcels can be contacted at (740) 852-1616, 1-800-282-3838 or by e-mail at news6@madison-press.com