DeWine Says Ohio Must Prepare for Economic Growth

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine presents his budget at the State of the State event at the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023. (Barbara J. Perenic/The Columbus Dispatch via AP) Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine presents his budget at the State of the State event at the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023. (Barbara J. Perenic/The Columbus Dispatch via AP) Gov. Mike DeWine said Ohio is poised to see tremendous economic growth and must be prepared to seize the moment. “This is a time of opportunity and, candidly, we don’t know how long that time will last,” DeWine said during an hour-plus interview with Ogden Newspapers’ editors and reporters. DeWine wants the General Assembly to pass his proposed $203 billion budget, which includes a one-time allocation of $2.5 billion for his “All Ohio Future Fund.” The fund would prepare the infrastructure of large economic development sites in all parts of the state. “It’s unprecedented,” he said. “It’s never been done before.” Every Ohioan would be within commuting distance of at least one of the sites, he said. “This is a time, in where there is opportunity — great, great opportunity,” DeWine said. “We’re seeing many companies calling us every single week and wanting to find sites.” The issue is the companies want those sites to have the needed infrastructure in place for construction to start now and there aren’t enough of those locations in Ohio, DeWine said. “My commitment to the people who don’t live in Cleveland, Columbus or Cincinnati, my commitment is, I made it very clear to JobsOhio, I made it very clear to our economic development people that these need to be spread out throughout the state.” The All Ohio Future Fund will provide the money to do that, he said. “Part of this is driven by the aftermath of the (COVID-19) pandemic where companies are deciding their supply chain needs to be closer to them,” DeWine said. “We’re seeing reshoring from foreign countries of companies back here and, candidly, seeing foreign businesses coming out of other countries looking to the United States as a great place and looking to the Midwest as a great place.” He added: “So being able to secure the companies now during this period of opportunity is something we think is very important. We have to strike now and thatás the main reason for this proposal to get the money aside and get these companies in. We can get not just our fair share of these companies. My goal is to get more than our fair share and we can do that, but we need the sites.” DeWine said this part of his plan will only work if Ohio has its people prepared for the jobs. That includes $300 million for capital improvements and equipment for career technical education and $150 million for innovation hubs throughout the state to partner businesses with colleges and universities to develop STEM education as well as research and technology. “Every person graduating high school should be on a pathway,” said DeWine, adding that could be job training or college. He also wants to offer $5,000 annual scholarships for four years to high school students who graduate in the top 5 percent of their class to attend a college or university in the state. “We need to keep more of our young people here,” DeWine said. “We need to attract young people and older people to Ohio from other states, we need to get people who lived in Ohio, who grew up here and get them back. The jobs are a huge magnet.” Some of the funding for the budget comes from the American Rescue Plan, which Republicans — including DeWine — opposed. Other funding comes from state tax revenue that exceeded projections and DeWine said a lot of federal COVID-19 relief funds, including ARP, “went out to a lot of people and they, in turn, spent the money. Ohio is very sales tax driven in income” so “as people got money from the federal government, they went out and spent it and it generated a significant amount of revenue.” The state must focus on how to take advantage of that situation to grow the economy now because, DeWine said, “We don’t expect that to occur in the future.” Top Headlines Evacuated East Palestine Resident: ‘It’s Been Like Hell’ Arkansas Gov. Sanders Delivers GOP Rebuttal to State of the Union, Slams Biden for ‘Woke Fantasies’ DeWine Says Ohio Must Prepare for Economic […]

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