Budget & Finance Committee hears arts funding appeals, reviews grants and airport fee ordinance versions

The Cincinnati Budget & Finance Committee on an agenda convened at City Hall heard public pleas for arts funding, considered a city manager report on aggregated capital requests and remaining reserves, and handled procedural motions on several ordinances and grants.

Clifton Cultural Arts Center board chair Jens Rosenkrantz told the committee the center opened a new building in March 2024 after a $11,000,000 capital campaign but faces a shortfall after a $1,000,000 donor did not deliver. "We have a financial gap that is being financed by short term debt costing $10,000 per month," Rosenkrantz said, adding the center had welcomed more than 50,000 visitors since opening. Abby Moran, a longtime volunteer and project participant, described the new CCAC building as "a no frills organization" that provides low-cost and free programming and said retiring the building debt would free money for programming. Colleen Houston, CEO and artistic director of Artworks, asked the committee to consider carryover funds for three Walnut Hills community projects and said Artworks is nearing a nearly $12,000,000 capital campaign goal; she invited council members to a grand opening on April 26.

The committee heard a consolidated report from City Manager Dr. Andrew Dutis that combined several individual capital project funding requests into one snapshot. The report identified $1,294,008 remaining in the infrastructure and capital project reserve available for allocation. When council members asked why some requests lacked dollar amounts, Dutis said the administration used the original motions as submitted: requests that included dollar amounts were reflected in the report and those that did not were not included.

Council member Anna Albee and others questioned how fleet items were prioritized. Dutis said Fleet Services provided a list of the most pressing needs based on the current fiscal-year fleet capital allocation. He reported the priority order as: pumper fire apparatus first, single-axle dump trucks second, remount medic units third and tandem-axle dump trucks fourth.

On airport user-fee legislation, the committee indefinitely postponed the original ordinance (item 2) and its B version (item 3). The administration presented a C version (item 4) that explicitly requires any new Lincoln Airport fees to come before council for authorization before the city manager could implement them; the chair said that C version would be "put on for passage." The meeting record shows only the procedural step of putting the item on for passage; no final vote was recorded in the transcript.

The committee also took procedural steps on three grant-related items. A Cincinnati Health Department grant ordinance (item 5) for $298,869 from the Ohio Department of Health's Get Vaccinated Ohio public health initiative was placed on for passage; Council member Mark Jeffries urged vaccination, saying, "Please get vaccinated. It works. It saves lives," citing recent measles activity elsewhere. A Department of Transportation and Engineering ordinance (item 6) accepts a $250,000 Federal Transit Administration Areas of Persistent Poverty grant for streetcar technology upgrades and appropriates a required local match of $27,778; that item was put on for passage. Item 7, the annual public transportation agency safety plan update required by the Ohio Department of Transportation (deadline March 15), was also placed on for passage; the update includes revised safety targets, an updated table of contents and a note that customers can submit safety concerns through the Connector website.

Procedurally, the committee filed the city manager's consolidated capital requests report as item 1. The meeting ended with no recorded roll-call votes on the items discussed; several items were moved to be placed on for passage or indefinitely postponed as noted.

The committee chair said a motion on the consolidated capital requests report is expected before the finance committee at a meeting a week later and that members will be notified if and when items are placed on an agenda for final action.

Ending: The committee adjourned after about an hour and a half of business and public comment.