Ohio lawmakers pass $4.2 B capital budget, providing millions for community projects

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Ohio lawmakers have passed a $4.2 billion capital budget, with millions going to community projects like the Cleveland Land Bridge, Cincinnati Open Tennis Tournament and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Wednesday was the last session before summer recess, which means the lawmakers tried to pass as much as they could. Nearly unanimously, in both chambers, they passed the multi-billion dollar capital budget.

People come to Ohio to see Lake Erie, our sports teams and facilities and entertainment centers, according to Matt MacLaren, the director of travel and tourism policy at the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.

“Last year, we were a $56 billion industry, a record-setting number of visitor spending,” MacLaren said. “We had over 48 million overnight visitors in Ohio.”

Ohio’s new capital budget could help bring even more people to the state, MacLaren added.

“Everything from the Bedford Riverfront project to the Cincinnati Open Tennis Tournament stadium improvements to the Hall of Fame modernization and many more,” he said.

Major projects getting funded include:

Northeast Ohio

• $20 million for the Cleveland land bridge
• $8 million for the Bedrock Riverfront Development
• $7 million for the Rock Hall
• $7 million for the Pro Football Hall of Fame
• $5 million for Cascade Plaza
• $3.5 million for the Flats River Development
• $3.2 million for the Akron-Canton Airport
• $1 million for the Cleveland Women’s Pro Soccer Stadium

Southwest Ohio

• $46 million for the Hamilton County Convention Center Development District
• $27.5 million for the Cincinnati Open Tennis Tournament improvements
• $16.75 million for the University of Cincinnati Health
• $9.75 million for Xavier University College of Osteopathic Medicine
• $8.5 million for Millikin Interchange improvements
• $8 million – Riverbend 2.0 Cincinnati
• $2.5 million for the Goshen Fire Department Station 18 Rebuild

But Greg Lawson, with the conservative think-tank the Buckeye Institute, doesn’t think the state should be spending its money on arts and sports.

“These are limited resources, they are taxpayer dollars,” Lawson said. “They need to go to things that government needs to do and needs to do well.”

He is more supportive of the non-community projects, including:

• $600 million for school renovations
• $500 million for correctional facilities
• $475 million for college improvements
• $290 million for parks and recreation

“It’s all about prioritization, return on investment, making sure that we’re doing what government should be doing and letting the private sector do what the private sector should do,” Lawson said.

MacLaren argues that tourism-based projects help Ohio significantly.

“Some studies show that without visitors our residents would have to pay another $2,000 in taxes — that’s the amount of tax money that the visitors are bringing to our state,” he said. “We need to have these projects.”

Because of the emergency clause, shovels can start going into the ground as soon as the governor signs the bill.

Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook .

This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.

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