OH Senate proposes giving Browns $600M from taxpayers' unclaimed funds
The Ohio Senate passed its version of the biennial state budget this week, which includes a new method for publicly subsidizing the proposed Browns stadium in Brook Park.
State of play: Under the proposal, the state would give the Haslam Sports Group $600 million in a cash grant siphoned from a pot of Ohioans' unclaimed funds.
Per the Ohio Department of Commerce, the state currently holds roughly $4.8 billion in these funds: things like uncashed last paychecks, dormant bank accounts and rental and utility deposits.
What they're saying: "It's dead on arrival," Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne said Wednesday in criticizing the proposal during a wide-ranging interview on ESPN 850.
"This is not just robbing Peter to pay Paul," he earlier said at a press conference Tuesday evening. "It's robbing Bob and Betty Buckeye to pay Jimmy and Dee Haslam."
Ronayne referred to the proposal variously as "a boondoggle," "piracy" and "the worst idea in the history of public policy."
Between the lines: The House budget version calls for paying the Browns $600 million in money financed with state bonds, which would be paid back over 25 years with tax revenue generated by the project.
DeWine prefers doubling an existing tax on sports betting companies to pay for the Browns stadium and other pro sports facilities. Ronayne likes that idea, too.
In the meantime, Ronayne's on a campaign to publicize the pot of unclaimed funds and is urging Ohioans to collect.
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