Earlier this spring, Governor Mike DeWine announced that the state faces a roughly $775 million shortfall in its budget for fiscal year 2020 – which ends on June 30, 2020. The governor requested each agency look for cuts of up to 20 percent for fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2021.[1]
Federal funding associated with COVID-19 is flowing into Ohio and it’s being distributed through state agencies and to local entities. In some places, federal funds may offset or partially offset these cuts, at least temporarily. We’re learning new information about how this will all play out, almost daily. The Ohio Office of Budget and Management (OBM) released where the cuts will come from for fiscal year 2020, by each agency. The table below includes where the cuts for health and human services agencies will come from and how much money each agency will lose. Information on cuts across state government is available on the OBM website, including details on cuts to programming within agencies. Community Solutions continues to seek information on the impact of these cuts.
The governor requested each agency look for cuts of up to 20 percent
Source: OBM
In total, general revenue funding for state agencies will be reduced by $776,264,200. This is a topic that Community Solutions will continue to closely track and we will share information about as it develops. We plan to look closely at the cuts within health and human services agencies, as we did with the Department of Medicaid. The public health emergency and its resulting economic challenges will add even more complexity to state budgeting as we look to fiscal year 2021 and towards developing an operating budget for fiscal years 2022 and 2023.
[1] https://governor.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/governor/media/news-and-media/dewine-order-hiring-freeze-for-state-agencies-boards-commissions
