By Jennifer Edwards
The Cincinnati Enquirer

LEBANON - With state cuts looming, Warren County Commissioner Mike Kilburn summoned the heads of the county's social services programs Tuesday and asked them to immediately assess their services so essential programs won't be cut.

Then he lit into Gov. Bob Taft's approach to handling the state's financial woes, saying he is "selectively choosing services to attack."

It would make more sense to raise the state sales tax, Kilburn said, than to raise dozens of "sin taxes" and tax service providers such as funeral home operators, which Kilburn is.

"I think me, and Pat and Larry could go to Columbus and balance this state's budget," Kilburn said, referring to the other two commissioners, Pat South and Larry Crisenbery. "It's ridiculous the way the governor is handling this.

"Here we are broke, we're going out, we're raising taxes and then I read in the paper today where (Taft's) budget is going to increase spending by 10 percent. My goodness, it would be so simple. We've got sales tax. Increase the sales tax by 1 percent for everything that's taxable and tell every department head to cut their budget by 5 percent - bingo, you've got a state budget that makes sense and will work."

Kilburn says he plans to send his thoughts on the state cuts and tax increases to Taft in a letter soon.

This week, Taft unveiled a two-year budget proposal including new taxes to fill a $720 million budget deficit for this year.

The 2004-05 budget calls for $49.2 billion in new spending, a 10 percent increase from the 2002-03 level of $44.5 billion. New spending is needed to fund rising Medicaid costs and education and technology initiatives, the governor says.

Taft's revenue-raising proposals include increasing taxes on tobacco and alcohol and speeding up the collection of sales taxes, along with draining the state's rainy day fund. Other proposals include new taxes on items such as real estate services and cable television.

"We have certainly heard criticism from all sides on this budget proposal," Orest Holubec, Taft's spokesman, noted Tuesday. "It is a very tough budget and Gov. Taft and his team have been working on it for a long time. What was proposed is what Gov. Taft believes to be the most balanced, structurally sound and responsible budget he can come up with under the circumstances."

Butler County Commissioner Mike Fox said people are going to be upset no matter what Taft does in light of the state's financial plight. Kilburn, Fox and Taft are all Republicans.

"I know how difficult those budgets are," said Fox, a former state legislator. "I know there's no way they are going to dig out of this hole without making everybody angry. Something's got to give. There's a reason why I left the legislature. I've got enough to worry about in Butler County."

Kilburn has been chastised for criticizing Taft before.

In a July 2001 letter to Kilburn, Leslie Spaeth, then-chairman of the Warren County Republican Party, demanded Kilburn apologize to Taft for the following comments:

"We have let the liberal agenda come into a conservative state, starting with (former Gov. George) Voinovich and now being followed by Bob Taft, and it sickens me," Kilburn said then, and didn't apologize.

He reiterated that stance Tuesday, saying state money going to social programs like Help Me Grow, Fatherhood Appreciation and Kinship Navigator are a waste of money.

He said other services that serve more children and families and do more good, such as Head Start, are facing cuts.

"We're going to have to make some tough decisions as to what programs we want to have funded," Kilburn said. "My point has always been that the old Voinovich, Family First, Help Me Grow, Welcome Home, Fatherhood, Kinship Navigator programs don't put any meat and potatoes on the table of anyone, any kids or anyone else. They are referral services that cost the state of Ohio and local governments a whole lot of money.

"I do want to help people," Kilburn said. "But I don't want to waste resources and waste money and if we're going to have these budgets cut, I want the ones that will still stand that are going to be the most help to the most people."

Commissioners scheduled a work session for 2 p.m. Feb. 18 to go over in detail social service programs the county provides to better assess which ones are the most productive for the money.

Doris Bishop, director of Warren County Human Services, and Larry Sargent, executive director of Warren County Community Services Inc., told commissioners Tuesday they still aren't sure how the state cuts would affect Warren County's Head Start and other child care programs.

About 270 children are enrolled in Head Start, Sargent said; Bishop estimated about 400 children a month are served by a child care program from her department.

E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com.