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State Employment Relations Board says flat staffing will meet current workload but federal changes may increase demand
Summary
CERB (State Employment Relations Board) told the Senate committee its requested increases are to maintain positions and cover wage and office-cost increases; the chair warned potential federal service cuts could shift mediations to CERB and may require additional funding later.
The State Employment Relations Board (CERB) appeared before the Senate Government Oversight and Reform Committee to present its budget for fiscal years 2026–27.
Craig Zimpfer, chairman of CERB, said the board's proposed increases—3.6% in FY26 and 2.7% in FY27—are intended to maintain existing services and to cover statewide wage increases and routine office-cost increases. "This will simply cover the general wage increase negotiated by the state of Ohio," Zimpfer said.
Zimpfer described CERB's core functions: adjudicating unfair-labor-practice charges and overseeing union representation elections. He said CERB adjudicated 181 unfair-labor-practice charges and conducted 225 union representation elections in the prior year, and that the agency's contract database is a widely used factual resource.
In questioning, Senator DeMora asked whether CERB might face a backlog because of federal reductions to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Zimpfer said federal services have been curtailed and that CERB currently has "one full time and one intermittent" mediator; he warned the committee that if federal mediators cease providing services, additional state resources or conversations with OBM may be necessary.
CERB asked the committee to consider its modest request to preserve staffing and said it is not seeking expanded programs in the proposed budget.
