Powerful Advocate for Government Collaboration

Ohio House Speaker Armond Budish, D-Beachwood, is a powerful new force for greater regional collaboration among local governments.

As Plain Dealer reporter Aaron Marshall explained this week in this story Budish called for a compact between the state and major cities with special incentives in exchange for what would be an eventual move toward more regionalism.

"I don't anticipate forcing any cities to do anything, but with incentives and review, there may be a number of services that can be offered more efficiently by groups of cities or regions getting together," Budish told reporters after his speech, which officially kicked off the 128th General Assembly.

The 55-year-old Democrat also pledged to step up the use of successful tax credit programs such as those targeted at green businesses, new technologies and innovative businesses. He offered no details on how any of these plans would be paid for, saying all such conversations would take place when lawmakers discuss Ohio's next operating budget this spring.

New House Minority Leader Rep. Bill Batchelder, a Medina Republican and well-known fiscal conservative, sounded open to the idea of targeted tax incentives and special help for cities.

"I might or might not agree with the policy recommendations he is making, but we simply have to save the cities," he said. "What we have to do is run a far more constructive program for the cities, we have to get law and order back in the cities and have to do things in the schools that will get the middle class to come back to the cities."

Speaker Budish's push for greater regional collaboration builds on efforts already under way in Northeast Ohio, including an effort to implement greater regional planning and revenue sharing (known as the Regional Prosperity Initiative) being led by the Northeast Ohio Mayors and City Managers Association.

On Monday of this week a new state panel looking at local government reform met for the first time. The Akron Beacon Journal's editorial on that meeting points out: The crisis is long-term. The commission must foster an honest conversation about the costs and benefits of the state having almost 4,000 taxing authorities.

The partners of Advance Northeast Ohio (several of whom sponsored last year's Cost of Government Research that highlighted the cost of local government in the region) support efforts to create more efficient, effective local government and believe that will result in a stronger regional economy. Speaker Budish is a welcome new voice for the cause of regional collaboration.