Dispatch: What, me worry?

The editors of the Columbus Dipatch write:

It's nice that state Budget Director J. Pari Sabety feels "pretty optimistic" that the budget will balance by the June 30 end of the current fiscal year, even though total tax revenues in April were $158.4 million less than had been estimated, leaving the state with a $217.7 million hole to fill in the next month and a half.

But, whether or not that gap is easily closed, positive thinking does absolutely nothing to reassure Ohioans that either Sabety or her boss, Gov. Ted Strickland, has the first notion of a plan for dealing with the gargantuan shortfall - $8 billion or so - the state will face in crafting the next biennial budget, a year from now.

...

[Ohio's July 13 budget] was a jury-rigged mess, shored up by billions in federal stimulus money and other one-time funding sources, along with some creative accounting.

That plan fell apart when a court ruled that an ill-advised plan to allow slot machines at racetracks, on which the governor was counting for $851 million in revenue, was subject to a referendum challenge.

(Source: Columbus Dispatch, 5/11/10)