Ohio firefighters and police officers say the state needs to do more to make sure communities have enough money to operate. Jay McDonald with the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police says police and fire organizations have faced cuts in recent years when the budget was tight but now that the state has a surplus, state leaders need to help local safety services.
McDonald says many local communities are less safe now because they had to make cuts in safety services while other communities had to raise taxes to keep safety forces on the job. But Republican Senate President Keith Faber says it's up to communities to be more efficient.
The Senate plan does not restore local government funding that was lost in the past few years. And there's no talk, at this point, of doing that.