Ginther touts neighborhood focus

CITY FINANCES /

For every capitalimprovement dollar that Columbus allocates in 2017, Mayor Andrew J. Ginther said, 88 cents will benefit neighborhoods.

But much of that benefit will be difficult for residents to notice if the projects work as intended.

The city’s $861.4 million capital-improvement budget for 2017 includes money for the things that neighborhood residents want to see, and even more for flushing away the things they don’t.

It has millions for transportation projects, new

police and fire stations, and recreation centers. But the $276 million line item to build and repair sanitary sewers dwarfs them all.

“Our investment in neighborhood improvements is an investment in quality of life for every resident,” Ginther said at a news conference to announce the capital budget at Indian Mound Recreation Center on Parsons Avenue. “This is a solid and aggressive, fiscally responsible budget that benefits all the residents of our city.”

About $323 million of the proposed capital budget is new spending, and $538.5 million is carried over from projects in previous years. The City Council is set to vote on the budget on May 15.

Nearly a third of the capital budget is to go to projects on the city’s South Side; that’s the most of any section of the city. The North Side will get 24.5 percent of the capital budget, with the East and West sides receiving about 16 percent each. About 12 percent is for Downtown projects.

About $212 million is earmarked for new sidewalks, bike improvements, new traffic signals and other transportation projects. That includes about $33.5 million for street resurfacing.

The city will spend about $11.9 million to relocate Cannon Drive running alongside Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center campus, and $13.1 million for a streetscape plan along High Street in the Short North.

“This construction is about more than smooth streets and sidewalks. It’s about closing the economic gap,” said Councilman Shannon G. Hardin, who oversees the Police server storage $1,449,000 Police Far North Substation new construction $6,000,000 Fire apparatus — medics, platform ladders, engines $6,000,000 Fire station 35 new construction $4,730,000 City Hall renovations $6,082,978 Municipal Court renovations $9,243,483 Downtown streetscapes: Short North and High Street $13,120,000 Livingston Avenue roadway improvements $11,900,000 Cannon Drive relocation $11,848,597 Scioto Peninsula roadway improvements $6,893,927 Resurfacing $33,500,000 Wastewater treatment plant improvement $108,169,125 Sanitary sewer new construction $62,033,798 Storm sewer and stormwater system improvements $32,728,376 Water-distribution improvements $30,730,043 Water-main rehabilitation $30,607,577 council’s public service and transportation committee.

The budget includes about $6 million for new medics, trucks and equipment for the Columbus Division of Fire; $4.7 million to build a new fire station on the southeast corner of Waggoner Road and East Broad Street on the Far East Side; $6 million for a new police substation neighboring the Lazelle Woods Community Center at 8140 Sancus Blvd. on the Far North Side; and $1.5 million for police server storage.

Firefighters also will begin using new vending machines to check out drugs that are needed to restock the city’s medic units this year. The capital budget includes about $220,000 to buy units for 18 firehouses. That will make it easier for the department to track which firefighters are accessing the substances, said Cathy Collins, assistant director in the Department of Public Safety.

City Budget Director Joe Lombardi said last year’s $1 billion capital budget was larger than usual because the city sold bonds for large sanitary-sewer projects. This year, departments were asked to concentrate on using existing cash to complete projects in the next 18 months.

The city pays for capital projects by issuing voterapproved bond packages that are repaid using a portion of its income-tax collections and utilities ratepayer fees. Loans from the Ohio Water Development Authority also are used to finance projects because the city can get better terms through the authority, city Auditor Hugh Dorrian said.

The city sets aside about a quarter of income-tax receipts to repay debt, and the rest of that revenue funds the biggest portion of the city’s operating budget.

The city had about $4.3 billion in debt at the end of 2016. Seventy-three percent of that is to be paid back within 10 years; the rest is to be repaid in 12 to 15 years, Dorrian said.