Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther introduced the city's next capital budget, which is worth nearly $2 billion.
The mayor said at a press conference Wednesday the budget will include a focus on affordable housing and public safety. The budget proposes to add more than $100 million to address those two issues.
Ginther said the budget, like a lot of what the city already does, is aiming to get ahead of the significant growth the region is expecting to experience in the next two decades. This includes addressing some of the growing pains that will come with a larger population.
On public safety, Ginther's budget includes $50 million that will be used on the North Linden Real Time Crime Center and public safety campus. Another $150 million is being used to help build the new Franklin County Municipal Courthouse.
Ginther also announced $3.3 million would be used to design a new police station in Easton.
The total budget is about $1.99 billion, of which more than $600 million is carrying over from last year's capital budget.
Ginther framed the need to improve public safety around the recent mass shooting in the Short North.
"We know what happened last week in the Short North was unacceptable and it must stop. We will not allow an extremely small number of violent criminals to disrupt our way of life, diminish our collective sense of safety and well-being," Ginther said.
The mayor was sharply questioned by reporters about the shooting again on Wednesday after the city held a press conference Monday to discuss the incident.
Ginther said one investment the budget will help with is the real time crime center and the city's current effort to make better use of city-owned cameras. There are also plans to partner with businesses and homes to use privately-owned cameras to provide information and intelligence to police.
"Our goal ultimately is to use the same sort of technology you see in other cities to really put our law enforcement on offense and hopefully even prevent crimes before they take place. But the investments we make through the capital budget help prepare for that," Ginther said.
The public safety part of the budget also includes $15 million for the construction of the city's new Fire Station 36 on the far northeast side to accommodate the rapid population growth in that area of Columbus. There is also $9 million that will go toward renovating the city's original firehouse adjacent to Fire Station 10 on West Broad Street.
Ginther said the $104 million included in the budget to build and preserve affordable housing shows the issue is the number one priority for Columbus.
Ginther was just elected the president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. He said housing is also a priority for cities nationally.
"My goal is to get the federal government to think about housing as infrastructure and funding it the same way they are transit roads, those types of things, because housing is one of the most important issues facing the nation," Ginther said.
Ginther said the money will be used to connect residents with the housing they need at price points they can afford.
Another goal with this money is to provide support for people experiencing homelessness.
"We're allocating $5 million toward permanent supportive housing projects for those experiencing homelessness. The projects we currently have in the pipeline are projected to create more than 700 of these new units," Ginther said.
Some other highlights in the proposed budget include:
- $54 million for street resurfacing
- $76 million for roadway and intersection improvements
- $31.4 million for pedestrian safety, sidewalks and bikeway projects
The full capital budget can be viewed on the city's website.
Ginther's budget will get several public hearings before it goes to Columbus City Council for a vote.
