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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina s congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Myorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Expert: Partnership Between Ohio State and Local Government Diminishing

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Thursday, September 26, 2013   

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio state government has historically provided flexible aid to local governments, but that partnership between state and local communities is diminishing. According to numbers from the governor's office, state support for local governments, apart from school funding, dropped 10 percent between fiscal years 2010/2011 and the two years of the current budget.

Budget researcher Wendy Patton, senior project director for the State Fiscal Analysis Initiative, Policy Matters Ohio, said reductions in aid come without the state taking more responsibility for the vital services communities perform, such as police and fire response.

"Local governments lost a billion dollars in the last biennium, and there are further cuts in this current budget," Patton said. "So we're seeing sort of a disintegration of this long-term partnership between the state and local governments in service delivery."

Another element eliminated from the past budget is the estate tax, which Patton said provided $625 million for local services across the state in the last biennium. She said she is also concerned about talk of repealing Ohio's income tax. Patton said during this time of slow economic recovery, more investment is needed to keep communities strong.

Across the board, she warned, cities, townships, counties and municipalities are under severe fiscal pressure from the recession - and now, from a set of increasing state cuts.

"Communities that have not been as deeply harmed as others, they're worried about the town next door that's really struggling to make those emergency runs, to cover the emergency calls, to plow the roads and to keep garbage collected," Patton said.

The impact is real, she stressed, pointing to Bucyrus laying off first-responders, Mansfield closing pools and Cincinnati privatizing parking. Other cities are closing buildings and putting development plans on hold. To avoid further harm, she urged state leaders to restore investment so communities can get back on their feet and provide a good quality of life for all Ohioans.




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