COLUMBUS, Ohio — Larry Householder went through the toughest test of his 17 months as speaker to achieve a compromise with House conservatives to fill a $1.7 billion hole in the state budget.

        Householder, chosen by his Republican caucus as speaker before the current session opened in January 2000, has cajoled three budget bills out of legislators who felt they were elected to make government smaller.

        The first was the record $45 billion budget proposed by fellow Republican Gov. Bob Taft last year. The second was a $1.5 billion fix approved in December. The third was the $1.7 billion correction approved by the House Finance Committee early Saturday morning, which raises the current 24-cents-a-pack cigarette tax to 55 cents.

        Saturday's vote followed a week of all-day and late-night meetings, which House members said reached raucous levels sometimes, where Householder searched for the compromise.

        “It's been a difficult week for everyone,” the speaker said.

        While House Republicans wanted any increase in taxes to be temporary, Gov. Bob Taft demanded a new stream of incoming money that would be in place in case things get worse.

        “We need ongoing revenue, whether it's the cigarette tax or some other tax,” Taft said on Friday.

        In the end, though, Householder and Taft settled on a compromise: the 31-cent cigarette tax increase would remain, generating an estimated $273 million a year, while a tax increase on trusts, valued at $119 million a year, would end on Dec. 31, 2004.

        That's the package that Householder sold to conservatives. He counted 52 votes for it out of his 59-member caucus. The full House will vote later this week.

        Brian Hicks, Taft's chief of staff, spent the week shuttling among House members and senators, who approved a steeper cigarette tax increase earlier. Hicks said he understood Householder's problem with the anti-tax wing of the party, most elected after term limits kicked in.

        “This is a tough situation, these are tough, tough votes. Members are thinking philosophically about these things, they are thinking practical politics about these things,” Hicks said. “It's not surprising to me we're having as much difficulty as we are. These are very hard votes.”

        Rep. Ed Jerse, a Euclid Democrat and ranking minority member on the Finance Committee, said the conservatives were put off after voting in December to raise taxes on stocks that some companies sell.

        “They're true believers. They're strong caucus members. But they also feel bad about their vote on (House Bill) 405 to raise taxes. A lot of them have regrets about that,” Jerse said.

        Householder said Friday that he heard the conservatives' objections, but that it's the party in power's obligation to govern.

        “I want to make a better future for Ohio and do what we have to do is take care of this right now and look at next year and try to make systematic changes,” he said.

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