Support for House Bill 146 - Jeff Benton and Ryan Rivers, Delaware County (June 23, 2021)

Summary

A June 23, 2021 memo to the Ohio House Commerce and Labor Committee from Delaware County Commissioner Jeff Benton and Orange Township Trustee Ryan Rivers, re: Support for House Bill 146 on permissive prevailing wage. Jeff Benton states that he speaks on behalf of all 3 Delaware County Commissioners. The testimony says a $3 million project rose to $3.5 million when prevailing wage was expanded to Transportation Improvement Districts. It states that road projects planned over the next 10 years are valued at over $400 million and that complying with prevailing wage would increase those costs approximately $70 million.

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“Support for House Bill 146 - Jeff Benton and Ryan Rivers, Delaware County (June 23, 2021).” Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2021-06-23-commerce-labor-testimony-hb146probentonandrivers-d5c3a65b50/, SHA-256 639401fd6404a70d4d652932a1a9ad48e90a3808f6590680753ad2cabde5e7b2.

Full text

June 23, 2021

To: Ohio House Commerce and Labor Committee

From: Delaware County Commissioner Jeff Benton and Orange Township Trustee Ryan Rivers

Re: Support for House Bill 146 – permissive prevailing wage

Chair Stein, Vice Chair Johnson, Ranking Member Lepore-Hagan, and members of the
committee,

Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to testify today in support of House Bill 146. I am Jeff
Benton, a Delaware County Commissioner, and I speak on behalf of all 3 Delaware County
Commissioners. Numerous other County Commissioners with whom I’ve spoken also support
making prevailing wage optional.

And I am Ryan Rivers, Trustee for Orange Township in Delaware County and President of the
Delaware County Township Association. I join the Commissioners in support of this bill that will
enhance our local control.

Delaware County is one of the fastest growing counties in the nation. State-mandated
regulations like prevailing wage stymie our ability to get needed improvements and additions to
critical infrastructure in a timely and cost effective manner. Government struggles to respond
quickly to issues already, but the increased and excessive paperwork as well as the cost, audits
and potential fines associated with prevailing wage make it even more difficult to provide
necessary improvements for our citizens like road and bridge expansion, fiber, water and
sewer, and police, fire and EMT buildings.

While our citizens wait, traffic accidents increase, housing and job-creating business
developments slow down and we lose precious emergency response time.

One recent example of how prevailing wage hurt our residents is the expansion of prevailing
wage to Transportation Improvement Districts (TIDs) from last year. Delaware County had been
using the exemption to speed up road improvements for the public and private sectors, who
have been working together in our county to build needed infrastructure. A $3 million project
already in the pipeline quickly shot up to $3.5 million when that change was implemented. That
slowed our project and hurt our taxpayers. We have over $400 million of road projects planned
over the next 10 years. Complying with prevailing wage will increase those costs approximately
$70 million.

We believe public/private partnerships are the way of the future. We’re asking you to make it
easier for us to work together. Our private-sector partners and our taxpayers should not be
crippled by this unnecessary and overly burdensome state regulation. And passing this bill
won’t eliminate prevailing wage – it simply gives us the option of choosing whether or not to
use it.

House Bill 146 would increase local control, which is the cornerstone of Ohio’s governance
philosophy. The bill would improve our ability to respond more quickly to the infrastructure
problems in our county. It will protect future funding for our safety services and economic
expansion. Passing House Bill 146 will allow us to create a safer and more prosperous
environment for Delaware County residents and all Ohioans.

We respectfully request your support for House Bill 146.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

File and source

File: 2021-06-23_commerce-labor_testimony_hb146probentonandrivers.pdf
Size: 230,924 bytes
SHA-256: 639401fd6404a70d4d652932a1a9ad48e90a3808f6590680753ad2cabde5e7b2
Our copy: 2021-06-23_commerce-labor_testimony_hb146probentonandrivers.pdf
Original: No public link identified.