Ohio Senate passes budget, includes $600 million for new Browns stadium

The Ohio Senate signed off on its version of the state’s two-year spending plan, a budget that continues to increase Buckeye State spending.

The amended version of House Bill 96 budget called for roughly $89.8 billion in General Revenue Fund appropriations and about $201.3 billion in total spending. The Senate voted 23-10 in favor of the budget; Ohio Sen. Bill Blessing, R-Colerain Township, joined Democrats in opposing the spending plan.

One proposal in the Senate budget that has generated significant discussion is the decision to adopt a flat 2.75% income tax.

Under the plan, the Buckeye State’s top bracket will drop to 3.125% from 3.5% in tax year 2025. A 2.75% flat tax will take effect for the 2026 tax year.

“Opponents argue this policy benefits only the wealthy,” Donovan O’Neil, state director for Americans for Prosperity–Ohio, said in prepared testimony to the Senate Finance Committee earlier this month. “That tired talking point simply doesn’t hold up. In reality, it’s Ohio’s working class—teachers, truck drivers, nurses, mechanics, and retail managers—who stand to benefit most from a flatter, simpler tax code.

“Across Ohio, middle-class families earning $100,000+ per year are currently taxed at the top marginal rate,” O’Neil added. “These folks aren’t rich—they’re working hard to build a future and are being penalized by a tax structure that assumes they can give more. Flattening the code delivers simplicity, transparency, and fairness. It helps families keep more of what they earn—and when they do, they spend it locally, supporting small businesses and strengthening local revenues.”

Another provision in the Senate’s proposed budget that has garnered slightly less enthusiasm is a $600 million handout for a new $3.4 billion Cleveland Browns stadium in Brook Park. Although the Senate’s approach differs from the version the House advanced, allocating money for the stadium has been controversial.

Instead of using state-backed bonds for funding, as the House proposed, the Senate calls for allocating $1.7 billion from $3.7 billion in unclaimed funds to establish a new “Sports and Culture Facilities Fund.” The Cleveland Browns would receive a $600 million loan as a “performance grant,” which would be “paid back” via tax revenues collected over 16 years.

“If they could find that money for the Browns in their stadium move to Brook Park, why didn’t they decide to use those funds for the schools, to fully fund the schools,” Spectrum News 1 quoted Senate Democratic Leader Nickie J. Antonio, D-Lakewood, as saying before the vote. “Or for all of the myriad of programs that they’ve said, we don’t have enough money to fund right now.”

However, Senate Finance Committee Chair Jerry Cirino, R-Kirtland, said this approach safeguards taxpayer money.

“We are also making sure the team honors its commitment to play in the new stadium at Brook Park over the 16-year term of the grant,” Cirino said in a release.

The budget expands the state’s Homestead Exemption and bars new emergency and replacement levies.

“There is no excuse for people to worry about potentially losing a home paid off years ago from the threat of jumps in their property taxes,” Cirino said. “The Senate’s plan will put the transparency and accountability back into the system.”

It also eliminates a proposal to kill elections for county coroners. Instead, county commissioners would appoint coroners for their jurisdictions, which they do in some instances.

“The status quo seems to be OK,” the Cleveland Plain Dealer quoted Cirino as saying.

Both the House and Senate budget plans reduce education spending, specifically the “Fair School Funding Plan.” Lawmakers devised the bipartisan plan as a formula for funding school districts across the Buckeye State, but critics note it has not been fully implemented.

Unsurprisingly, the response to the Senate’s budget has fallen mainly along party lines.

With the budget now passed, the State and the House must come together to hash out the differences between the two spending plans. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine must sign the budget by June 30.