Columbus, Franklin County officials warn funding cliff as federal COVID relief winds down; income tax remains central

Columbus and Franklin County finance officials told a joint committee at Columbus City Council chambers that the region faces rising budgetary pressure as pandemic-era federal relief is drawn down and that the city’s general fund remains heavily dependent on income tax collections.

The briefing, given by Zach Talerik, director of the Franklin County Office of Management and Budget, and the city’s finance and audit leadership, laid out revenue mixes, recent federal COVID-era infusions and how those one-time dollars have been used to support human services, cultural arts and travel-and-tourism programs. They urged the committee to plan for fewer federal dollars and requested follow-up data to parse program-level funding.

The overview matters because many nonprofit partners and county service agencies expanded during the pandemic using one-time federal and state aid; those funds are now largely obligated or being spent down. Without replacement revenue streams or voter-approved levies, officials said, services to vulnerable residents and some agency staffing are at risk.

Zach Talerik, the county budget director, told the committee the county’s all-funds budget is “just around $2,200,000,000,” and that roughly 40% of that is allocated to social and human services, with four agencies—the Board of Developmental Disabilities, Franklin County Children’s Services, the Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health (ADAMH) Board and the Franklin County Office on Aging—comprising nearly one-third of county spending. Talerik said those agencies receive substantial support from property-tax levies, noting the county collects about $535,000,000 in voter-approved human services levies that are part of the county’s revenue mix.

City auditors and finance staff explained how Columbus’s general fund is concentrated on income tax revenue. “Income tax represents about 81% of our total piece of the general fund pie,” Auditor Kilgore said, adding that a long-standing practice sets aside 25 cents of every income-tax dollar for non-utility capital projects. Kilgore and staff emphasized the city’s revenue analytics and said income-tax receipts closely track employment and wage trends but can mask uneven job quality across the population.

Officials reiterated that much pandemic support has been obligated. The county reported about $430,000,000 in federal support during the pandemic (including CARES, FEMA and American Rescue Plan allocations) and said nearly all of that funding has been committed to rental, food, employment and other emergency assistance; county staff said roughly $35 million to $40 million remained obligated entering 2025 and is expected to be fully expended by the end of 2025. The city said all of its COVID-relief funds are obligated and expected to be spent by statutory deadlines.

Speakers flagged dependence on several revenue types: county sales tax and a real-estate conveyance fee are material revenue sources, and the city’s cultural-arts and travel-and-tourism spending is heavily funded by designated hotel-motel and admissions taxes. The city presentation said designated revenues and other streams together funded roughly $76 million in key-area investments in 2023 and more than $92 million in 2024 across cultural arts, human services and travel-and-tourism programs.

Committee members asked technical questions about revenue capacity. County staff said state law permits counties to levy up to 1.5% for the piggyback sales tax; Franklin County was at 1.25%, leaving a quarter-percent capacity. On conveyance fees, officials said state law mandates a $1 fee and allows counties to add up to an additional $3 per $1,000 of value; Franklin County currently charges $2 of the permissive portion, with the first $1 split between the community shelter board and the affordable housing trust.

City and county leaders repeatedly urged the committee to consider both new revenue options and better use of existing revenues. Auditor Kilgore and other presenters highlighted modernization and analytics work—saying the city now has near real-time revenue analytics—to help the committee evaluate proposals and to project long-term returns on targeted investments, such as supports to keep students enrolled in Columbus State that were cited as producing quick payback to local incomes.

No formal votes or policy decisions were taken at the session; presenters agreed to supply the committee with additional, itemized breakdowns of funding by agency and program. The committee chair said the group’s next meeting is scheduled for May 19 and that it will move from fact-finding toward focused policy discussion in future sessions.

Ending

Officials left the committee with a timetable: one-time pandemic support has largely been obligated and will be spent by statutory deadlines, income tax remains the dominant source for the city’s general fund, and the committee will receive follow-up detail requested at the meeting before policy decisions. The next committee meeting is set for May 19, when members plan to discuss mission, scope and next steps.