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Committee places three budget adjustments on Council agenda, hears Art Academy plea for safety funding
Summary
The Budget & Finance Committee moved three council budget adjustment ordinances — including a $265,000 transfer to the Art Museum and $50,000 for the African American Chamber of Commerce — to the full Council agenda and heard public comment from the Art Academy asking for timely support for safety and design work in Over-The-Rhine.
The Cincinnati Budget & Finance Committee voted to place three budget adjustment ordinances on the full City Council agenda: a $265,000 transfer from the riverfront transit center to the Art Museum, a $50,000 one-time leverage support allocation for the African American Chamber of Commerce, and a larger omnibus adjustment that includes TIF allocations for the Clifton Cultural Arts Center and ROMAC.
The committee also heard public comment from Joe Gerondola of the Art Academy, who asked Council to support the academy’s safety and campus design work in Over-The-Rhine and to reconsider funding during the budget carryover process.
Gerondola introduced himself as representing the Cincinnati Art Academy and said the organization had submitted a $75,000 request as part of a leverage funding application to support a feasibility study and engineering drawings for a Jackson Street pedestrian-zone project. He said an additional $250,000 recommendation arose during general fund budget negotiations and that the academy had received partnering funds from the Ohio Department of Higher Education. “The Art Academy does have a clear, detailed, actionable plan,” Gerondola said. “We've also received recently partnering funds from the Ohio Department of Higher Education awarded precisely because our need was clear and our plan was compelling.”
Committee members took the budget ordinances as procedural items. Committee staff summarized item number 2 as authorizing the reduction of funding for the riverfront transit center to provide $265,000 to the Art Museum and said capital sources would be aligned with uses. Item number 3 was described as allocating $50,000 of one-time leverage support funding for the African American Chamber of Commerce. Item number 4 was described as an omnibus budget adjustment covering operating and capital changes and allocating TIF funds for cultural projects.
During public comment, a second speaker, Sam Bee, criticized prior park and capital spending decisions and referenced media reporting about plastics and water quality; those remarks were part of the public comment record but not tied to committee action.
The committee’s placement of the three ordinances on the Council agenda is procedural; final approval and disbursement of funds will depend on full Council action and any implementation steps specified in the ordinances.
The committee expected to reconvene with full Council later the same day to consider these ordinances and other agenda items.
