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Mayors, commissioners and auditors push for bigger local government fund and new public‑safety fund in state budget
Summary
Representatives from the Ohio Mayors Alliance, Ohio Municipal League, several city officials and county commissioners told the committee they support increasing the Local Government Fund and proposed a dedicated public safety fund to help cities pay police and fire payroll and equipment costs.
Carrie McCarthy, executive director of the Ohio Mayors Alliance, Don Mason of the Ohio Municipal League, and local officials from Grandview Heights, Bucyrus and other cities told the Senate committee that local governments are facing rising costs for public safety and infrastructure and urged restoring or increasing the Local Government Fund (LGF).
McCarthy, representing the mayors of Ohio’s 30 largest cities, proposed a new dedicated public safety fund that would allocate an additional 0.5 percentage point of the state General Revenue Fund to municipalities and townships with full‑time police and fire departments, distributed by formula based on police and fire payroll. "This new dedicated public safety fund would support these personnel costs and other non payroll public safety related expenses," she said.
Don Mason, mayor of Zanesville and president of the Ohio Municipal League, praised House provisions funding brownfields, cemetery grants and NextGen 911 line items but asked that local government shares return to historic levels, noting that public safety consumes the largest share of municipal budgets in many cities.
City officials including Emily Keeler, council president of Grandview Heights, and Kaylee (Callie) Lewis, Bucyrus city auditor, urged protection of local authority over trails and property and asked the Senate to preserve LGF increases. Keeler also opposed House language that would limit school districts’ cash reserves to 30% of their operating budget, calling the proposal disruptive to local fiscal planning.
Bucyrus Auditor Keeler urged raising the LGF from 1.7% to 2.5% of state GRF, saying the change would mean hundreds of millions of additional dollars for local services. County and municipal witnesses said local funds primarily cover police, fire, EMS, roads and other core services and cautioned against shifting or cutting predictable state support.
Ending: A broad coalition of municipal and county leaders urged the Senate to preserve or expand local funding lines and offered specific proposals (dedicated public safety fund, LGF increases and brownfield and cemetery funding) for the budget conference to consider.
