© 2024 Ideastream Public Media

1375 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115
(216) 916-6100 | (877) 399-3307

WKSU is a public media service licensed to Kent State University and operated by Ideastream Public Media.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
WKSU, our public radio partners in Ohio and across the region and NPR are all continuing to work on stories on the latest developments with the coronavirus and COVID-19 so that we can keep you informed.

One Area Of State Budget Was Up, But There's No Celebration

OBM Director Kim Murnieks testified on the state budget before the House Finance Committee in March 2019.
Karen Kasler
OBM Director Kim Murnieks testified on the state budget before the House Finance Committee in March 2019.

The state budget is a sea of red, as income and sales tax collections are less than half of what was predicted for this month. There is one specific area of the budget that is showing big increases, but it’s not what state officials want to see.

Alcoholic beverage tax revenue is up by 24.4%, the tax take from liquor is 13.6% higher than projections, and cigarette tax collections are up 20.5% for April.

Office of Budget and Management Director Kim Murnieks said that’s just a small portion of the overall budget, but it’s not good news.

“Obviously that is not, from a health perspective, something that we ever want to see, and that could, of course, pose challenges going into the future," Murnieks said.

Murnieks said it can be hard for forecasters to predict what will come in from those smaller tax categories, which could explain why those areas are up so much from projections.

But she notes sales of alcohol and tobacco during this pandemic have been soaring nationwide.

Ohio has limited sales of cigarettes to people over 21, which was expected to decrease the amount of tax revenue from that souce.

Copyright 2020 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.

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.
Karen Kasler
Contact Karen at 614/578-6375 or at kkasler@statehousenews.org.