Sparing Cuts in Mental Health, Ohio Governor Asks to Divert Tobacco Settlement Funds to Budget-Balancing Plan

Ohio Gov. Bob Taft (R) has rescinded a proposed 3% budget cut to the state's mental health agencies, but one state mental hospital may still be forced to close in the next fiscal year, the Columbus Dispatch reports (Leonard/Johnson, Columbus Dispatch, 10/21). To reduce the state's 1.5 billion projected budget deficit, Taft ordered state agencies earlier this month to cut their budgets by 6%; however, the state's mental health agencies, including the departments of mental retardation and developmental disabilities and youth services, were asked to cut their budgets by 3%. To meet the governor's budgetary demands, state mental health officials had considered laying off more than 200 employees, which would have saved $5.6 million. Officials from the state mental health agency also feared the budget cuts could have forced the closing of four of the state's nine mental hospitals (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 10/15). Meanwhile, Thomas Johnson, the director of the state Office of Budget and Management said that lawmakers are considering "divert[ing]" $100 million in tobacco settlement money from the Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation Trust Fund to combat the budget deficit (Columbus Dispatch, 10/21). According to the AP/Boston Globe, Taft's proposal to "borrow" the tobacco money has "disappointed" anti-smoking advocates, who saw the governor as a "strong voice" for using settlement money on health-related programs. However, state lawmakers, who are "cool" to Taft's other deficit-reduction proposals, have said they "don't mind soaking up tobacco dollars" (Welsh-Huggins, AP/Boston Globe, 10/22). For further information on state health policy in Ohio, visit State Health Facts Online.