ODNR outlines biennial budget requests, fee changes and orphan-well, H2Ohio priorities in House hearing

Mary Mertz, director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, testified to the House Natural Resources Committee on the agency’s operating budget request and a range of policy and fee changes during a first hearing on House Bill 96.

Director Mertz told the committee ODNR’s total biennial budget request includes large non‑GRF revenue streams and a smaller General Revenue Fund (GRF) ask: she said the agency’s GRF request is roughly $156 million for fiscal year 2026 and $175.9 million for fiscal year 2027 and characterized the overall biennial request as largely flat compared with the current biennium. She said most ODNR operations are supported by non‑GRF revenue.

Mertz outlined division-level requests and statutory or fee changes. For Parks and Watercraft she asked for authority to access one-time bonus payments from oil-and-gas leasing held in an account (about $40 million in the account, she said) and requested access to $20 million in each year of the biennium to cover capital work, law-enforcement equipment, payroll increases tied to bargaining agreements, fleet replacement and higher operating costs; she said using those bonus funds would not increase the GRF bottom line.

On watercraft registration Mertz proposed indexing fees to the Consumer Price Index starting in 2027, saying the current fee had not changed since 1994 and Ohio…