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Budget Forecasters Offer Differing Opinions on DeWine Spending Plan

a photo of budget presenters Kim Murnieks and Mark Flanders
KAREN KASLER
/
STATEHOUSE NEWS BUREAU
Kimberly Murnieks is the director of Gov. DeWine's Office of Budget and Management. Mark Flanders is with the LBO or Legislative Budget Office.

Lawmakers got two sets of numbers to think about as they started looking at Gov. Mike DeWine’s $69 billion operating budget for the first time. 

“Conservative” is the word heard over and over when it comes to this budget. Some Republican and Democratic lawmakers have questioned how DeWine can make big investments in children’s initiatives, the opioid crisis, at-risk students and Lake Erie protection just through economic growth.

DeWine’s Office of Budget and Management or OBM is headed by Kimberly Murnieks. She brought the budget to the House Finance Committee, where it begins its journey through the legislature.

“Each of the major taxes except the income tax are forecasted to be essentially flat or to experience more measured forecasted growth in fiscal year '20 compared to ’19. OBM’s track record for forecasting the GRF tax revenues is to be consistently conservative. Our forecast is not aggressive,” Murnieks said.

Right after her testimony, the office that does research for state lawmakers came forward. Mark Flanders is with the Legislative Budget Office, or LBO.

“Regarding the OBM and LBO revenue forecasts, we expect somewhat lower GRF revenue for the current fiscal year and the next biennium than does the executive budget.  The negative numbers in the table show that LBO’s forecast is lower for each year. The differences are small on a percentage basis, but noticeable in dollar terms,” Flanders said.

Both offices use the same economic organization’s information and predictions. The LBO is projecting half a billion dollars less in tax revenue over two years than what OBM is predicting. Flanders cites Medicaid enrollment estimates as one area where his office and OBM differ.

As Speaker Larry Householder(R-Glenford) considers which numbers to lean on for the House version of the budget, he said he thinks OBM’s figures are optimistic.

“I’m a conservative. I think when you look at the growth that Ohio has experienced historically, I think that the numbers that the administration’s offering are pretty high. We hope, we would like to see them be that high, but I think cautious is better,” Householder said.

Flanders said in seven of the last 13 budgets, the administration’s Office of Budget and Management has been closer to actual outcomes than legislative researchers were, but his office was on target in the last budget cycle. The budget has to be signed by the end of June.

Karen is a lifelong Ohioan who has served as news director at WCBE-FM, assignment editor/overnight anchor at WBNS-TV, and afternoon drive anchor/assignment editor in WTAM-AM in Cleveland. In addition to her daily reporting for Ohio’s public radio stations, she’s reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio News and other news outlets. She hosts and produces the Statehouse News Bureau’s weekly TV show “The State of Ohio”, which airs on PBS stations statewide. She’s also a frequent guest on WOSU TV’s “Columbus on the Record”, a regular panelist on “The Sound of Ideas” on ideastream in Cleveland, appeared on the inaugural edition of “Face the State” on WBNS-TV and occasionally reports for “PBS Newshour”. She’s often called to moderate debates, including the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s Issue 3/legal marijuana debate and its pre-primary mayoral debate, and the City Club of Cleveland’s US Senate debate in 2012.