The Fireball in Columbus

There was a change in the weather at Cuyahoga County headquarters last week.

The financial forecast from just a few months ago has changed from sunny and mild to cloudy, with a storm front on the way. The County now projects a budget deficit of almost $40 million over the next two years.

For the past six months, I have been reviewing the budgets and operations of county departments and agencies. I have learned from 40 years of successful turnarounds in business that you have to get the facts, get a firm grip on how things work, what’s right and what’s wrong before you can craft a plan to make it better. That’s what I’ve been doing, and with what I have learned already, I am confident that I can implement new plans and procedures that will reduce costs far more than $40 million in the first two years of the new county government. I know where to find those dollars.

That’s the good news.

But I have to warn you about some bad news that’s coming our way soon. The current County administration hasn’t told you about it. None of my opponents for county executive have mentioned it. None of the politicians want to talk about it because this is election season and it’s not a pleasant subject.

But I’m not a politician, and I will talk about it because I think you should know.

The $40 million budget shortfall is something we can handle. But there is a fireball coming at us from Columbus next year that could make that look like small change. The State of Ohio is facing a two-year budget deficit of approximately $8 BILLION starting in 2011. That’s billion with a B.  About seven months from now, the governor of Ohio must submit a balanced budget. It’s the law.  That means there will have to be massive cuts in spending. There is no way around it. Cuts across the board, including the billions in state funds provided to the counties. And the largest reduction will be right here in Cuyahoga, the largest county in Ohio.

It won’t do us any good to ignore that harsh reality. We can’t stick our heads in the sand and hope it never comes to pass. It will happen and it will happen soon. We have to start preparing now. We have to sharpen our pencils and find the ways to make the necessary adjustments in our own county budget. And we have to get our county team ready for battle; our best budget and government relations people have to be in Columbus in January, fighting for our fair share of every state dollar.

I’m on it. I’ve been on it for months. We’re going to have a good game plan ready Day 1 so that we can ride out the storm of the state budget crisis. That will be a hallmark of the Lanci administration. We will be prepared. We will deal with it. And we will turn it around.

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