May 6 will be Election Day in Ohio. While many cities will hold primary elections to choose candidates for local office in the November General Election, all Ohioans will be asked to cast a ballot regarding State Issue 2, which would authorize the issuance of State Capital Improvement bonds.
First established in 1987, the State Capital Improvement Program has been an invaluable resource to the state and its communities. At a time when it is hard to find anything that we can agree on, the State Capital Improvement Program has been an exception, demonstrated by the faith voters have placed in the program. When it was last up for reauthorization in 2014, 65% of those voting approved the reauthorization of bonds to support the program.
As an advocacy organization, Greater Ohio Policy Center (GOPC) works closely with counties, cities, towns, and villages across the state of Ohio. As champions of Ohio’s legacy cities, we know they face unique opportunities and challenges due to their loss of population and industry. We also know they are eager to build on their pasts to “reinvent” themselves and chart new futures.
The State Capital Improvement Program provides opportunities to these communities to aid the work they are engaged in every day revitalizing their downtowns, residential neighborhoods, waterfronts, and business parks. For example, State Capital Improvement Program funds have helped the city of Hamilton return a huge papermill to productive use as an indoor sports facility. Spooky Nook and the surrounding streets and new sanitation systems serving the 1.2 million square foot facility is generating millions of dollars in new economic activity in the city’s downtown.
Likewise, cities and towns are working to create local roadway and mobility infrastructure that boost safety and convenience, support healthy lifestyles, and create vibrant places where people want to live, shop, and work.
Cities like Mansfield in Richland County are utilizing funds from the Public Works Commission to return one-way streets to two-way traffic, reconfigure stormwater management systems to eliminate flooding, and develop and revitalize their downtown corridor in ways that will make the area a more welcoming and pedestrian-friendly epicenter of a vibrant, energized community.
What State Issue 2 will NOT support is proposed capital projects like the new football stadium in Cuyahoga County. Issue 2 bonds can be spent on roads and bridges, waste water treatment systems, water supply systems, solid waste disposal facilities, storm water and sanitary collection, storage and treatment facilities. The stadium proposal, which is being debated as part of the state budget and does involve bonds, is not on the ballot, and would not be on the ballot under the current budget proposal.
GOPC is proud to endorse the passage of State Issue 2, and we encourage all Ohioans to do the state. The State Capital Improvement Program has been among the best investments in state history and extension of the program will provide the resources all of Ohio’s communities need to create vibrant places throughout the state.