But the American Legion, AMVETS, Veterans of Foreign Wars and others say they could barely perform their most important function -- providing services to Ohio veterans -- before the cuts.

Some say they might give up that function altogether -- and put that burden on the state -- if things don't get better.

Veterans groups might be better known for bingo nights or their bars, but the largest of them operate elaborate programs to serve veterans. It's an especially important task, they said, in wartime, when more troops are called up and more return home in need of medical and other assistance.

The groups hire and train officers and clerical employees to help veterans with their claims to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. A veteran with a military-related illness or injury often is entitled to federal money, but the process to get that money is so complicated, most of them need expert help.

Many other states hire the service officers to help veterans with their claims. Ohio instead gives money to 13 independent veterans organizations to do that, along with county veterans service commissions.

However, that money dwindled this fiscal year, compared with 2008.

AMVETS Department of Ohio was scheduled to receive a combined $579,026 for fiscal years 2008 and 2009. The organization calculated that its service officers helped Ohio veterans get more than $68 million in federal aid through the VA those years.

"That's what those veterans live off of," George Ondick, Ohio AMVETS executive director, said of the federal benefits. "That money goes into the community right now."

AMVETS calculated that it brought in $117 in federal money to Ohio for every dollar the state gave it.

Some organizations said they spend far more on veteran services than what Ohio pays them. The VFW in Ohio received $243,533 for the fiscal years 2008 and 2009 but spent closer to $320,000. That group and others dip into their general funds to make up the difference.

The American Legion, the biggest of the Ohio veterans organizations, with 140,000 members, was supposed to get $332,561 this year from the state but received $311,642. Back in September, the Legion was saying it needed even more than what it had been promised.

"The American Legion has been forced to accept the greater burden of the cost and now implement reduced services to veterans in a time of war and their greatest need," Donald Lanthorn, the Legion's service director, wrote in a funding request for the current fiscal year to the state Office of Budget and Management.

Veterans organizations are having their own money problems in this economy. If they can no longer make up the difference between what the state gives them and what they spend, they might have to give up the service functions altogether, said Bob Funk, quartermaster of the Ohio VFW.

Then the state would have to provide the services.

"It will cost them a heck of a lot more than it does now," he said.

Bill Hartnett, director of the Ohio Department of Veterans Services, said it's difficult to disagree with the organizations.

"They've sucked it up and done a lot on their own," he said.

The organizations' funding amounts for 2010 and 2011 are supposed to be back at 2008 levels. That's about all Hartnett can do for now.

"We would love to get more money for them," he said.

jeb.phillips@dispatch.com