Council OKS $914M budget for year
Columbus plans to spend $914.2 million in 2019, with the majority of funds in the largest budget in city history going toward public safety.
The Columbus City Council approved the 2019 operating budget at its Monday meeting.
Mayor Andrew J. Ginther proposed a $912 million
spending plan in November, but the city finished 2018 with about $2.2 million in carryover funding that the council can use for programs it wants to support.
More than two-thirds of the city’s budget pays for public safety. In 2019, it expects to spend $622.5 million on police, fire and other smaller divisions within the Department of Public Safety.
The safety budget includes $1.4 million for a new, paid cadet program designed to lure young people into jobs with the police and fire divisions. A class of 20 civilian cadets is planned for each division.
The city also would hire 80 police recruits in 2019, down from 100 in 2018. It would add 75 firefighter recruits. Those hires would largely keep up with attrition from 80 expected retirements in the Division of Police in 2019 and 70 retirements in the fire division.
Columbus also will spend $41.3 million on operations for its Department of Recreation and Parks and $34 million on its Department of Public Service, which oversees major road projects, snow removal and trash collection.
The council made several amendments to Ginther’s proposed budget, including cutting about $367,000 from other departments to pay for a new council employee who will manage citywide campaign-finance regulations.
It also increased funding for a violence intervention program by $151,000 and for a program that sends caseworkers into neighborhoods affected by violent crime by $69,000. The city will spend $100,000 on an “eviction prevention fund” as well, Councilwoman Elizabeth Brown said.
“Stable housing is one of the foundations of economic security,” she said.
A total of $2.2 million will be deposited into three funds that council can use to fund programs throughout the year. Those funds are for economic development, public safety and other neighborhood initiatives.
The council also voted 6-1 to settle a federal lawsuit with a former Franklin County Municipal Court employee who accused Judge James P. O’grady of retaliating against her when she spoke out about sexually explicit comments he made in her presence.
Teresa Barry, O’grady’s former secretary, was seeking $2 million when she filed her lawsuit in 2014. The settlement is for $140,000. The suit also named a court administrator, Emily Shaw; Michael Roth, chief probation officer; and Pamela Gordon, chief of the city attorney’s labor and employment section.
“The reality is at this particular point we are heading into the fifth year of litigation,” said Lara Baker-morrish, the city’s solicitor general. “At a trial it’s always unpredictable. We’d be looking at attorneys’ fees.”
Councilman Michael Stinziano cast the lone vote against the settlement. “While I appreciate that the settlement of the lawsuit ultimately saves the city money, I do not believe in utilizing taxpayer dollars to settle a suit against an elected official alleged to have engaged in unlawful behavior,” he said after the meeting.
Columbus also will spend more per day to house prisoners at the Franklin County jail in 2019. The council signed off on a new contract with the county on Monday to pay $85 per prisoner per day, up $3 from $82 last year. It expects to spend $4.6 million on that contract in 2019, nearly the exact amount the city spent to house prisoners in 2018.