State Rep. Karen Brownlee urges local advocacy as House budget shifts funding and cannabis revenue rules

Karen Brownlee, state representative for District 28, told the Springdale City Council on April 16 that recent moves in the Ohio House budget and proposals for marijuana excise revenue could reduce funding for local governments, schools and libraries.

Brownlee, a Democrat, said she is working across the aisle in a House controlled by a two-thirds Republican supermajority but warned that changes in the operating budget could shift money from localities to the state. “The change from evidence-based funding formulas to unvetted line-item funding for schools and public libraries in the current House budget does not create simplicity for local government,” Brownlee said.

The representative said the marijuana excise revenue the state promised communities that approved dispensaries is now being delivered in a reduced form. “The promise was you guys would get the excise tax. Now you get, what, 20% of it for five years,” Brownlee said, adding that the time-limited nature of that share makes local long-term budgeting difficult.

Brownlee urged residents and council members to contact state senators and representatives to press for local funding to remain intact. She also recommended people call her office with specific concerns so she and her staff can investigate and advocate on their behalf.

Council members pressed Brownlee on options for restoring local funds, the state rainy-day fund and the impact on a local school levy set for early May. Mayor Lawrence C. Hawkins III and others described the levy as critical to Princeton school operations and said the municipality needs reliable state-level funding to plan.

Brownlee said her caucus examined the budget “every page, every line” and asked residents to make their views known. She noted some members of the House did not support the operating budget but said the majority tends to vote in a block, limiting what can be changed by individual outreach.

Brownlee also discussed home-rule protections and said she opposes efforts to remove local control except for narrow circumstances. “We are home rule for a reason. Get out of our life and leave us alone,” Mayor Hawkins said in remarks that the representative said she supports at the statehouse.

Why it matters: Council members and residents told Brownlee that school funding, library funding and promised excise tax revenues are high priorities in Springdale and asked for help preserving those resources in the state budget. Brownlee offered to follow up with council and invited constituents to call her office.

Ending: Brownlee’s visit closed with council members asking how they could help; she urged specific constituent contacts and said her office would respond to calls and emails and follow up on points raised at the meeting.