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Ohio, COVID-19, and the Koch Family
Several groups backed by the powerful Koch family are working to block efforts to shore up Ohio cities that have been severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ohio, COVID-19, and the Koch Family
Several groups backed by the powerful Koch family are working to block efforts to shore up Ohio cities that have been severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Even after cutting expenses and furloughing employees, several Ohio cities face budget and revenue shortfalls, according to a report by the Center for Media and Democracy. For example, Columbus has fallen $41.5 million short of budget, despite cutting $26 million of expenses. Cincinnati is experiencing a $15 million shortfall in 2020 and a $91 million deficit in 2021. Toledo and Cuyahoga County, which encompasses Cleveland, also face shortages, estimated at $50 million and $76 million respectively.
Yet Koch-funded groups like Americans for Prosperity Ohio and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) are lobbying to block federal relief, the report said. Americans for Prosperity is pressing for state and local governments to resolve budget deficits on their own, citing "chronic structural fiscal problems" and claiming that officials have "spent lavishly, borrowed excessively, and ignored looming pension debt."
“The Koch-backed groups appear to be taking advantage of the crisis to advance their ideological goals and further undermine public education and public employee unions,” the report said. Remarkably, these groups have been silent about large-scale bailouts of private-sector industries such as airlines, automobiles and financial services.
U.S. state budgets are facing budget shortfalls totaling $615 billion over the 2020-22 fiscal years, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
They are campaigning against legislation approved by the House of Representatives that would provide nearly $1 trillion in targeted aid to state and local governments. The bill is stalled in the Senate.
A spokeswoman for the city of Lancaster, Ohio, told The Monitor that the city has been considering laying off 18 firefighters and 15 police officers because of a budget crunch. While that step has been avoided so far, “it will likely happen” if the mayor is unable to obtain passage of a tax levy to close the funding gap during budget meetings in November.
A letter written by Americans for Prosperity has accused state governors and local communities of “exploiting” firefighters, teachers and other state workers to justify support for additional funding, the Center for Media and Democracy said.
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