Ohio Harness Horsemen's Association

Gambling May Have Its Place

January 13, 2009

As the beleaguered state looks for money, new House Speaker Armond Budish is willing to consider casino gambling but not the idea of helping schools by allowing property taxes to increase without a vote.

Officially a week into the job, the Beachwood Democrat is taking stock of his options as he prepares to stare down an unprecedented $7 billion shortfall in the coming two-year budget and shepherd through the House a promised school-funding solution from Gov. Ted Strickland.
"We are going to be making decisions that are terribly difficult," Budish said yesterday in the speaker's office on the 14th floor of the Riffe Center. "We're going to be looking at ways to minimize the harm to the people of Ohio. Gambling is one option out there so that the cuts may be less harmful."

Ohio voters in November did what they had done three times before, rejecting a plan to bring casino gambling to the state. But before the results could be certified, gaming interests were already regrouping for another run. Budish said he has met with representatives of Penn National Gaming Inc. -- at the company's request -- to discuss its latest idea. A draft of the plan obtained by The Dispatch includes putting casino gambling at Ohio's seven racetracks and allowing four other stand-alone casinos.

"I thought the proposal could be better," Budish said, declining to talk specifics. He said he opposed the plan on the ballot last year because it called for a single casino in southwestern Ohio "without adequate benefit to the people of Ohio."

Whatever happens, Budish said the legislature, not the casino operators, should craft the plan. Attempts over the past decade to push gambling measures through the GOP-controlled legislature have fallen short of the three-fifths vote needed to get them on the ballot.

"We are not going to be imposing gambling, period," he said, noting that any plan would need voter approval.

"But if the public wants to support a gambling proposal, it should be the best proposal possible for the people of Ohio."

Any new money could be helpful as Strickland prepares to deliver his long-promised plan to fix the state's school-funding system. Budish is ready to scratch one idea off the list: loosening restrictions that keep property taxes from increasing as property values rise.

The idea was proposed by Gov. Bob Taft's school-funding task force in 2005, and some see it as a way to generate more money for schools without raising state taxes and to keep districts from having to go to the ballot so often.

"I don't believe the public is interested in seeing that happen," Budish said. "Politically, I don't see it happening."

Budish said he doesn't know if the current school-funding system is constitutional.

"We still have a significant reliance on property tax, which still has the inequities built in."

While he thinks there are ways for schools to do more with little additional money, such as using technology to teach foreign language and advanced-placement courses in several schools at once, he does not have a specific solution to the property-tax dilemma.

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Gambling May Have Its Place