06/21/2005 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 6/21/2005 ~,, graduation ceremony for Assistant Chief Robertson from the Fire Executives Course held in Columbus, and he stopped by the DARE Golf Outing reception. 3) During the week of June 20, he continued the interview process for supervisors with the other COG mayors for the CDC. He visited Congressman Dennis Kucinich to discuss the NASA Glenn issue. The good. news from. the Congressman on this issue is that the House approved their budget which increased funding for NASA. Specifically, due in great measure to the efforts of Congressman Kucinich, it emphasized aeronautical research, which is the forte of NASA Glenn. Additionally, it stated that "voluntary incentive packages" or offers were an astable way to "right-size" the employment. numbers in NASA, but there should be no reduction in force. If that language is supported by the Senate, this is particularly welcx~me news far people who are now facing layoffs at NASA and at ether locations. He thanked Council far past support an this issue, and he invited them to join with him on a resolution, currently being drafted, to encourage Ohio's senators to support the House language regarding NASA in their version of the budget.. 4) Restoration of funding cuts to the Local Government Fund proposed by the Ohio General Assembly was one of the highlights of action taken by the Conference Committee on the state's biennial budget process. (Am. Sub. H.B. 66). The conferees sent the Conference Committee Report back to both houses for their concurrence. If approved, the budget bill will go to Governor Bob Taft for his consideration. Once a recommendation comes out of the Conference Committee, it can no longer be tinkered with by the House and Senate. The Governor must sign the measure by midnight, June 30, when the current state budget expires. Governor Taft does have line item veto power on an appropriations bill. Hopefully, he will not do that. "All of the line items of concern to the mayors and city managers appear to be in good shape," said Tim Cosgrove of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P. 5) The TEL (Tax Expenditure Limitation) or TABOR (Taxpayer's Bill of Rights) was presented as a proposed state constitutional amendment to limit state and local government spending through a formula involving population growth and. the rate of inflation. As an embedded amendment, it would be nearly impossible to change or remove once it's put in pl~e. Half of any revenue the state takes in beyond the spending limit would go into a "reserve" or "rainy day" fund, and the ether half supposedly would be rebated to taxpayers. TEL calls far "special elections" to approve any spending exceeding the formula's limits and to approve any increase in local taxes. This proposed amendment would restrict the rate of growth of state and local governments from one year to the next by limiting it to either the rate of inflation plus population change from the previous year, or 3.5 percent, whichever is greater. On the surface, this sounds wonderful, but in reality, it is disastrous. The State of Golamdo has TEL in place and they have nothing but difFiculties from it. It takes away the flexibility of government, and it takes away the flexibility to react to new developments or new emergencies. It is a major concern. for municipal and state governments. 6) Today he is introducing legislation to support the Defense Finance and Accounting System (DFAS), which has offices in Cleveland. Thank you to Council. for co- sponsoring. The City of North Olmsted. would feel a direct result of the planned transfer of these offices out-of-state, net just because of the lass of regional revenue, but also because so many of our residents work at DFAS. This is a real issue that affects real 2