Ohio
Long wait times, no answers: Workers frustrated after Ohio withholds tax refunds over unemployment claims
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Sharon Ganoe said she is literally paying for someone else’s crime.
The Springfield Township resident said the Ohio Department of Taxation withheld her 2023 tax refund to offset a debt from a fraudulent unemployment claim filed in her name.
“I’m paying on a debt that somebody else accrued,” she said. “And they did it fraudulently.”
Despite spending hours on hold with three different state agencies, she said she has been unable to reach anyone who can help her.
“I just wonder if anybody is even really working there,” she said.
How it started
Ganoe said she and her husband, Barry, received an Offset Notice from the Ohio Department of Taxation in February. It said the agency was considering withholding their tax refund to offset their debt.
“We’re like, ‘What?!’ because we weren’t aware of any money that we owed,” she said.
After making several phone calls, Ganoe said she learned her identity was stolen. She said a crook filed an unemployment claim during the pandemic using her previous name and an old address.
Ganoe said she then filed a fraud claim with the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, reported it to OH|ID, and made more calls to state agencies in an attempt to receive her refund.
“This has become a project for me,” she said. “One that I don’t want.”
But it didn’t work. Ohio kept their refund.
“It infuriates me that they wouldn’t listen to me,” she said.
How it happened
“The agency is not doing a good enough job to identify where is fraud really taking place,” Zach Schiller said. Schiller is the research director for Policy Matters Ohio, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research institute.
He has researched and written about problems with Ohio’s outdated and underfunded unemployment system for two decades.
I first talked to Schiller in January after a Parma business owner was told to back his pandemic benefits.
Ohio says Parma business owner has to pay back $26,000 in pandemic benefits because of missed deadline
Ohio says Parma business owner has to pay back pandemic benefits
“The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services is not sufficiently funded to support the level of service that Ohioans deserve and need,” he said.
Schiller said efforts have been made to modernize the state’s system, but it still falls short of what is needed to provide adequate customer service.
“We are not in a pandemic, we’re not in a high unemployment situation,” he said. “So why can’t the agency answer phone calls in a timely manner?”
ODJFS Director of Communications Bill Teets said the state is working to improve customer service, including reducing wait times.
He sent us the following statement:
“In March, the contact center had 65 FTE (full time employees). Since then, 33 additional employees completed training and are now on the phones. We are in the process of hiring 30 more. Those will likely start training in June, so they’ll start “coming online” this fall. So, in short, over this year, we’ll have double our contact center staff to more than 120 full time employees. For comparison, we had approximately 40 in the pre-pandemic era.”
He said the state has created a callback feature so callers do not need to wait on hold. Currently, the average time for a callback is 4 hours, according to ODJFS.
He also encouraged workers to use the ODJFS Unemployment website to find answers to their questions.
How it’s going
So, how many Ohio taxpayers’ refunds are being withheld in connection with unemployment claims?
In an e-mail, an Ohio Department of Taxation spokesperson wrote that the agency withheld 248,262 tax refunds this year.
In another e-mail, an ODJFS spokesperson wrote that “as of May 9, 2024, ODJFS has 465,814 cases in active debt collections with the Ohio Attorney General since March 2020.”
But no one we talked to with the Ohio Department of Taxation, Ohio Attorney General’s Office, or Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services answered our questions about the number of tax refunds withheld in connection with unemployment claims this year.
However, ODJFS Public Information Program Administrator Tom Betti provided us with the following timeline on unemployment overpayment appeals and the collection process:
- ODJFS discovers a claimant may not be eligible for a previously paid week.
- ODJFS contacts the claimant and requests information specific to their eligibility and weeks. Claimants are notified that they have five days to respond to our requests.
- If there is no response, or the information provided establishes the claimant was not eligible for unemployment benefits, ODJFS issues a Determination of Unemployment Compensation Benefits (Determination), which spells out the ineligibility issue in question, the week(s) of ineligibility, any associated overpayments, and any penalties for fraud.
- The Determination also provides information for repayment, as well as outstanding debt referred to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office for collection, which may include state and federal income tax withholding.
- The Determination also provides information on appeal rights, how to appeal, and deadlines to appeal (21 calendar days after the date issued).
- ODJFS has 21 days to review an appeal and issue a Directors Redetermination (Redetermination). The Redetermination provides the appellant with the decision and reasoning, repayment information, and appeal rights, how to appeal, and deadlines to appeal (21 calendar days after the date issued).
- Appeals to Redeterminations are transferred to the Unemployment Compensation Review Commission (UCRC), and a hearing is scheduled. The UCRC has 21 days to review an appeal, conduct a hearing, and issue a decision. The Hearing decision includes the details of the ineligibility issue, the weeks, and repayment amounts and methods. It also includes information on appeal rights, how to appeal, and deadlines to appeal (21 calendar days after the date issued).
- Appeals to UCRC decisions, or Requests for Review, are reviewed by the full Unemployment Compensation Review Commission, and a decision is issued to the appellant, which includes appeal rights, methods, and deadlines (30 calendar days after the date issued).
- Appeals to Requests for Review should be filed with the county common pleas court where the claimant lives or was employed.
- Determinations and Decisions become final once applicable appeal deadlines have expired.
- Once a Determination or Decision becomes final, all associated debt becomes collectible. ODJFS takes collection action through the Determination repayment language and overpayment notices.
- All associated outstanding debt is certified to the Ohio Attorney General (OAG) for collection after 66 days. The OAG has various collection methods, including mail/phone outreach, third-party collectors, and special council, as well as offsets to state income tax refunds, Ohio lottery, and Ohio casino/racinos.
“There’s a lack of inter-agency communication,” Barry Ganoe, Sharon’s husband, said. “The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.”
Ganoe said the state should have figured out the fraudulent claim filed in his wife’s previous name was fraudulent.
After all, he noted, she changed her name to Ganoe when they got married in 2014.
Their refund was only $411. But Sharon won’t give up on getting her money back.
“I’m afraid somewhere in the future they’ll send us another letter saying we owe $20,000 dollars or something,” she said. “Plus, the fact it’s not right.”
News 5 Investigators have reported on problems with Ohio’s unemployment system since the pandemic started.
ODJFS said it identified approximately $6.9 billion in fraud and non-fraudulent overpayments during the pandemic.
This is not the first time efforts to reclaim those funds and reduce fraud have led to problems for Ohio workers. Last summer, I revealed some Ohio workers were temporarily locked out of their accounts in an effort to prevent fraud.
Unemployed Ohio workers temporarily locked out of accounts
Unemployed Ohio workers locked out of accounts
I requested an interview with ODJFS Director Matt Damschroder for this report but was told he was unavailable.
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TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – The FBI was part of a search of multiple properties related to Stansley Mining on Friday, a spokesperson for the agency confirmed.
A Public Affairs Officer for the FBI Cleveland Division confirmed to the 13 Action News I-TEAM that authorities searched a business in the area of Siliva Road in Sylvania, as well as property in Ottawa County by State Route 590 in Benton Township.
Officials with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation told the 13 Action News I-TEAM that they executed a search warrant at the property in Benton Township. Ohio BCI’s environmental division and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency were involved in the search.
It’s unclear exactly what officials were looking for. The FBI spokesperson said there wasn’t additional information to share at this point, but added there is no threat to the public.
Stansley Mining is the entity that owns Rocky Ridge Development, a company at the center of extensive 13 Action News coverage after its South Toledo mining operation was improperly working in a residentially-zoned area.
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CLEVELAND, Ohio — A critically acclaimed name in Cleveland’s food scene is making a comeback of sorts and entering a new era in the food and restaurant business.
After the official closure of Melt Bar and Grilled locations across the area in late 2024, founder Matt Fish is stepping back into the restaurant business with a brand-new concept in Ohio City.
More Melts close
Fish is preparing to open “Proof Public House” inside the former Proof BBQ space along Lorain Avenue.
The new restaurant and bar is expected to officially open in mid-June after recently obtaining its food service license.
The announcement was just made on the restaurant’s official Instagram page this week.
But Fish says this project is very different from Melt’s previous projects, with more than a dozen locations across Ohio.
“I’m starting from scratch. Brand new concept. Brand new feeling, brand new attitude,” Fish said. “I wanna get back to basics.”
Fish describes Proof Public House as a punk rock-inspired neighborhood bar and restaurant with elevated comfort food, craft drinks, and an evolving seasonal menu.
“I’ve always wanted to get back to my roots,” Fish said. “I’ve always wanted to get back to a small place and recapture that magic of what Melt Bar and Grilled was when it first opened up.”
The longtime chef and restaurateur says music and creativity will help define the atmosphere and capture the essence.
Fish grew up on punk rock music and is also a drummer.
He says Cleveland’s history and punk rock roots make this latest project feel even more special.
The menu, he says, will feature chef-driven comfort food with rotating seasonal dishes and a specialized beverage program.
“Just have fun with the menu,” Fish said. “The beverage program will be very seasonal. It’s gonna be very evolving.”
Although many fans still associate Fish with the iconic grilled cheese sandwiches that helped make Melt Bar and Grilled a Northeast Ohio staple after opening in 2006, he says this new chapter is about moving forward.
“That part of my life is over and gone, but it was something special to so many of us,” Fish said.
Still, longtime Melt fans may notice subtle nods to the past.
Fish hinted there would be occasional “odes to Melt” appearing on the menu in the future, in some capacity.
He also credits former Proof BBQ and current Visible Voice Books owner Dave Ferrante for encouraging him to jump back into the hospitality business.
Fish quietly consulted on projects behind the scenes after Melt’s closure, including work connected to Visible Voice.
“I want to do something for myself, do something for the City of Cleveland, do something for my family and friends,” Fish said.
Proof Public House is expected to announce an official opening date soon.
News 5 promises to Follow-Through.
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Ohio, one of the nation’s data center destination hot spots, is suspending a tax break that has been critical to its competition with other states to attract the massive new facilities that power and train artificial intelligence chatbots.
The move Wednesday by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine comes as tax breaks for energy-hungry AI data centers are increasingly playing a role in state budgets and the industry is under pressure to pay the full costs of the vast network of its computing warehouses needed to power AI.
The size of Ohio’s tax break skyrocketed, dwarfing previous projections, as opposition to data centers is sweeping through cities, suburbs and towns there and prompting lawmakers to form a committee to study the impact.
In the meantime, residents are trying to bypass the GOP-controlled Legislature and get a referendum on November’s midterm election ballot that’s designed to permanently ban hyperscale data centers, likely the strictest such statewide ban under consideration in the U.S.
DeWine’s office cited the rising utilization of the tax break and the state Legislature’s new research undertaking to declare a “pause” in granting it to new applicants.
“The governor felt it was the right time to let the citizens know, let businesses know that we’re going to pause on new offers of this tax incentive while that process plays out,” DeWine’s spokesperson, Dan Tierney, said Thursday.
DeWine has stressed that he supports data centers — calling them a critical component in today’s economy — and that the roughly $37 billion in data center-related investments in 2024 and 2025 in the state has been worthwhile.
The state, in 2024, had used previous history in projecting that the exemption would total $136 million in fiscal 2025 and $142 million in fiscal 2026. It was $554 million in 2024 and nearly $1.6 billion in 2025, the state reported.
The resumption of Ohio’s tax break — should it resume — could happen under a new governor: DeWine is term-limited and the race is on to replace him. The Republican nominee, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy — an Ivy League-educated biotech billionaire — likes to talk about turning the Ohio River Valley into the next Silicon Valley.
However, Ramaswamy and Democratic nominee Amy Acton could share the midterm ballot in November with the citizen-led drive to ban the construction of data centers across Ohio. It faces a July 1 deadline to gather more than 400,000 voter signatures.
State tax breaks for the massive data center industry are facing growing criticism by governors and lawmakers.
The cost is likely rising as data center and AI-related investments drive higher consumer spending in the U.S. and tech giants keep boosting their spending commitment to hyperscale data centers.
In Virginia, negotiations between the state House and Senate have been hung up for months on a bid by Senate Democrats to eliminate the roughly $1.6 billion annual tax break.
Thirty-eight states have some form of a sales tax break for data centers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Many were approved more than five years ago, when data centers were a small, but growing part of the economy, and well before the late 2022 debut of OpenAI’s ChatGPT launched an intensifying buildout of increasingly large data centers.
Ohio’s exemption is fairly broad, applying not only to construction materials, but to the expensive equipment — such as server racks and cooling systems — used in data centers. Operators might buy new server racks every couple of years as the technology improves.
DeWine’s order was a surprise.
Dorsey Hager, executive secretary-treasurer of the Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, where union members spend much of their time on data center projects, said he was upset with DeWine and trying to understand the governor’s reasons.
He worried, he said, that developers that were in the midst of trying to finalize plans or permits for a project might have second thoughts.
Lawmakers acknowledged the opposition in announcing their joint data center committee on May 13.
“We’re well aware of initiatives to limit Ohio data center development during this critical point in America’s history,” state Rep. Adam Holmes told a news conference. “This public concern has become a priority issue for us and could have dramatic impact on Ohio and American’s future.”
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Follow Marc Levy at http://twitter.com/timelywriter
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