Advocates Say Budget Will Have a Body Count

Columbus Dispatch

The budget storm has passed, but Ohioans who use libraries, home care for the elderly, mental-health treatment or services for abused children will be counting casualties for weeks and months to come. Those and dozens of other state-funded services will be hard hit by $2.5 billion in cuts built into a controversial $50.5 billion budget approved yesterday by state lawmakers. Legislators are taking a "huge gamble" with the lives of the state's neediest families, said Joel Potts, executive director of the Ohio Job and Family Services Directors' Association. "They're betting that we really don't need money for these people and they will get services somewhere else and children will not suffer," he said.