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Job-creating program to head back to ballot

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February 7, 2010

by Julie Carr Smyth

Associated Press

Columbus -- Ohio lawmakers decided Feb. 2 to ask voters for $700 million over four years to renew the Third Frontier, one of the state's most reliable job creation programs.

Legislators had worried that if their request was too small, the high-tech grant program may fall short in its effort to reverse soaring unemployment in a state where the jobless rate stands at 10.9 percent. But if they asked for too much, cash-strapped Ohioans might reject the request.

A committee of the Ohio House and Senate scheduled the vote Feb. 2 to meet a Feb. 3 deadline to get the proposal on the May 4 ballot.

"I am very pleased that the Ohio House and Senate have come together in a bipartisan manner to support renewing and expanding the successful, job-creating Ohio Third Frontier program," said House Speaker Armond Budish, D-Beachwood.

The committee needed to strike a compromise between three numbers: the $1 billion Gov. Ted Strickland proposed, the $950 million approved by the Democratic-led House, and the $500 million approved by the Republican-led Senate.

The $700 million decision reached by the committee fell almost evenly between the amounts approved in the House and Senate. The total will be collected over four years.

The $1.6 billion program provides startup money for companies in targeted industries such as advanced energy and materials, biomedics, and power and propulsion.

Begun in 2002 under Republican Gov. Bob Taft, it is estimated to have created 41,000 jobs so far. Voters last approved issuing bonds to fund the program in 2005.




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