COLUMBUS – Anticipating dwindling state tax revenues as businesses shut down and consumer spending slows to a crawl, Gov. Mike DeWine is instituting some cost-cutting measures in state government.
He announced Monday that he is instituting a hiring freeze for all state agencies not directly involved in the fight against the outbreak and says he is calling on his Cabinet members to cut the budgets of any agency not engaged in battling the virus by up to 20 percent.
“Some of the departments, because of the nature of the work will not be able to do that but many can,” he said
State officials reported Monday that Ohio has more than 440 cases of the virus, and six people have died, including 2 in Franklin County.
DeWine ordered an immediate freeze on hiring, pay raises and promotions for “all agencies, boards, and commissions under the control of the Governor” with the exception of those that provide a direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic, those engaged in safety and security or in direct care or institutional services.
He also ordered state agencies to try to cut unnecessary spending up to 20 percent for the remainder of this fiscal year and next fiscal year and pulled back spending requests for a variety of projects that needed legislative spending authority.
“The earlier we start slowing down the spending, the more impact, obviously, it’s going to have and so we a re doing that right now,” he said.
Meanwhile, state lawmakers are preparing for a mid-week session at the Statehouse to address issues related to the virus.
“They know there’s a sense of urgency so we’ll get some things done this week,” DeWine said.
Among the issues expected to be address when the Legislature begins meeting Tuesday are school testing and the postponed primary election.
Ohio’s elections chief has proposed sending absentee ballots to Ohioans who didn’t vote by March 17.