PX column: After sneak attack tax, local Ohio lawmakers agree quirky law needs fixing

House Majority Leader Bill Seitz, a Green Township Republican, said he first wants to hear from the Ohio Association of Probate Judges to gauge whether lawmakers should make changes.

“I’m not unwilling to revisit the issue, but I’d like to remind everybody that it is an 88-county deal,” Seitz said.

Any legislative action likely wouldn’t happen until at least next year.

Republican Probate Judge Ted Winkler and his Democratic opponent in the November election, Pavan Parikh, have each said the state law needs to change to balance the power.

No one is saying the Great Parks board is corrupt. Winkler and Seitz both believe parks leaders learned their lesson from the surprise vote in July to put a levy on the November ballot. They commended the parks board for reversing the decision this month and scrapping the levy for this year.

Ginger Warner is the only person on the five-member parks board who bears no responsibility. She was absent from both votes in July, but Warner was present at the Aug. 5 board meeting and supported reversing the levy decision. Chairman Marcus Thompson, Buck Niehoff, Joe Seta and Bill Burwinkel all voted in favor of putting the levy on the ballot and then also supported revoking it.

Curiously, there remains little explanation as to why Great Parks CEO Todd Palmeter increased a lobbyist’s contract by 70 percent some 3½ weeks before the board initially voted on July 6 to pursue a levy.

If the parks are in such a budget crunch, why did it increase Downtown-based Government Strategies Group’s contract from $5,000 to $8,500 a month?

The contract “was increased for the expansion of services related to comprehensive planning for Great Parks including increased communications with the Great Parks CEO and GSG staff related to comprehensive planning,” Palmeter said in an email.

Private companies would be so proud of the corporate-speak response. But this is the public’s business.

Great Parks officials have already said they’re going for a levy in 2021. It’s why accountability and reform are critical. These problems can’t happen again.