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Columbus council approves sending $1.9 billion bond package to voters
Summary
The Columbus City Council adopted five resolutions to submit a $1.9 billion voted bond package to the electorate, covering health and safety, parks, public services, affordable housing and utilities; council framed the measures as a routine step to allow lower-cost borrowing and broader capital investment.
Columbus City Council adopted a set of resolutions declaring it necessary to submit a $1.9 billion bond package to city voters, splitting the total among five ballot questions for different city needs.
Councilmember Banks, chair of the Finance and Governance Committee, told colleagues the measures would be placed before voters after the Franklin County auditor produces levy estimates. “These resolutions collectively resolve that it is necessary to submit to the electors the ballot measure of issuance of $1,900,000,000 in voted bonds,” Banks said during committee remarks.
The package breaks down as follows: $250 million for health, safety and infrastructure; $250 million for recreation and parks; $400 million for public service; $500 million for neighborhood development and affordable housing; and $500 million for public utilities. Banks said the resolutions simply begin the legal and administrative steps needed to place the measures on the ballot and to have the county auditor calculate the expected property-tax levy.
Banks emphasized that, under the city’s long-standing capital program, voters have not had to increase their taxes to pay debt service because the city sets aside part of its income-tax revenues for debt. “We set 25 cents aside of every income tax dollar to pay our debt service so that we don't raise the taxes of our voters to be able to cover that debt service,” Banks said.
Council discussion was limited in the chamber. The resolutions passed on voice roll calls following committee presentation and public hearings the council held earlier in the bond process.
Next steps: the clerk will certify the adopted resolutions to the Franklin County auditor so the auditor may estimate the levy; the auditor’s calculations will return to council and, if council proceeds, the measures will appear on a future ballot for voter approval.
The resolutions were presented as part of the Finance and Governance Committee agenda and adopted by council during the meeting. The council did not adopt tax-rate estimates at this session; those will be set after the county auditor’s calculations and before any levy would take effect.
