July 1 marked the beginning of the State of Ohio's new fiscal year, with the enactment of the new biennial budget. A state budget always reflects what the priorities of the state are, and the most recent budget includes a number of issues Greater Ohio had been tracking throughout the legislative process.

The top legislative priority for Greater Ohio has been securing funding for brownfield revitalization. This budget, we are happy to be able to announce, includes $350 million in one-time spending for the clean-up, remediation, and revitalization of brownfields, as well as $150 million for the demolition of vacant and abandoned commercial and residential sites around the state by county landbanks.

Under the newly enacted budget, each of Ohio's 88 counties will receive $1 million which can be spent in the next year on the remediation of brownfields, and a further $500,000 for the demolition of commercial and residential buildings and the revitalization of surrounding properties on sites that are not brownfields. The remaining funds for both programs ($262M for brownfields, $106M for demolition) will be awarded to projects on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Both programs will be administered by the Ohio Department of Development, which will need to write rules governing the program and must ensure the program is running by the end of September, 2021.

GOPC looks forward to working with the Department of Development and committed stakeholders, like the Ohio Land Bank Association, to ensure the Brownfield Remediation Program and Building Demolition and Site Revitalization Programs are designed in a way to have the most impact on communities throughout Ohio. Be sure to check back for updates throughout the summer as details of the new programs becomes available.

Broadband was another issue Greater Ohio had been following very closely. While legislation was enacted earlier this year to create a state program to facilitate the creation of broadband programs in areas where service is currently lacking (HB2), the budget authorizes $250 million in one-time funds to help to pay for the creation of this service.

We were also pleased that a possible provision to tax affordable housing developments at market rate did not make it into the final budget draft. Instead the issue has been moved to a study committee for further discussion.

The Main Street Job Recovery Program is another new program established in the budget. The program will create employment opportunities, support small businesses and startups, and increase self-sufficiency among Ohioans—particularly those with low to moderate-incomes (LMI) – while working to strengthen and restore the community. The Main Street Job Recovery Program will provide state funds for nonprofit organizations who are addressing the economic needs of low-income individuals and families through the creation of permanent business development and employment opportunities. The Main Street Job Recovery Program is modeled after the current CED program, which has a significant impact on Ohio having allocated over $8.4 million in grants to Ohio since 2014.

The Main Street Job Recovery Program will supplement the federal program by providing a needed grant resource for community developers to make investments that create good, permanent jobs for Ohioans while addressing pressing community economic development needs such as blight remediation, vacant properties, stable housing, and restoring Main Street.

Finally, a major issue Greater Ohio has been following throughout the budget process has been what, if anything, the state might do in the budget related to the Ohio Commuter Tax. As we have written about in the past, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the state had suspended a state law which says that any employee who works remotely should have their municipal income taxes sources to the place where they live, instead of the place where their office is located, if the two are different. Greater Ohio supported this suspension as necessary due to the uncertainty as to the long-term duration of work-from-home situations due to the pandemic. While separate legislation was pending in both the Ohio House and Ohio Senate which would have ended the rule suspension immediately (and in one case permitted refunds going as far back as March of 2020), the final version of the budget permits the commuter tax suspension to stay in place through  December 31, 2021, and allows those who are working remotely to seek refunds for any taxes paid to a city they do not live in for all of the year 2021. This is important as many cities rely on municipal income taxes to pay for services year to year, and do not have long-term reserves to afford to make refund payments for past revenues.

While not perfect, Greater Ohio supports this final change in the budget as it allows cities to begin planning for what the impact will be for municipal expenses going forward, rather than needing to look backwards to what has already happened and been paid for.

We thank the members of the Ohio General Assembly, Speaker Bob Cupp, President Matt Huffman, Governor Mike DeWine and Lt. Governor Jon Husted for their leadership and commitment to invest in brownfield sites across the state, and for all the work that has been put into the enactment of the state’s $75 billion state budget.

While we remain committed to enactment of a long-term, sustainably-funded program which will ensure brownfields never again become a hinderance to economic growth or community development throughout the state, we welcome this substantial one-time investment to eliminate these scourges of economic progress in Ohio.

With this funding, along with the investment in broadband infrastructure, we can now continue to Build a Greater Ohio.