Governor signs $4.2 billion capital budget

COLUMBUS — Gov. Mike DeWine on Friday approved massive spending using cash and borrowed money for bricks, mortar, and technology improvements across the state — from local pickleball courts and libraries to a new Dayton area mental hospital.

The usual borrowing-fueled capital budget was supplemented this two-year cycle with $700 million in surplus dollars carried over from the last operating budget, bringing the total to $4.2 billion.

That allows for a one-time cash infusion to help playgrounds, senior centers, parks, museums, theaters, food banks, zoos, fairgrounds, and other projects at the local level.

House Bill 2 also holds funds to help counties with new and upgraded jails, construction and renovation of K-12 schools, local water and sewer projects, investments on college and university campuses, and building out the state's mental health and cyber-security infrastructure.

“Policy is made, and policy is carried out through our budgets ...,” Mr. DeWine said. “I’m very proud to say that of the three capital budgets and the three operating budgets that have passed since I have been governor of the state of Ohio, all six of them were passed overwhelmingly, and all six of them were passed in a bipartisan way."

Dubbed the “super-duper” fund by some, the One-Time Strategic Community Investments Fund holds a few mega-projects:

● $46 million for the Hamilton County Convention Center

● $27.5 million for the Cincinnati Open tennis tournament

● $24 million for Ohio’s Transportation Research Center Inc. Impact Lab near Marysville.

● $20 million each for a Cleveland lakefront land bridge connector.

● $20 million for Columbus State Community College’s Ohio Center for Advanced Technologies.

There are mid-range projects, including, in northwest Ohio:

● $10 million for the Lima Veterans Memorial Hall

● $3 million for improvements to the Toledo seawall and river's edge.

● $3 million for the Toledo Innovation Center on Jefferson Avenue that will serve as a technology business incubator.

● $3 million to transform the former Griffing Airport into a 27-acre Sandusky Bay waterfront park.

But many of the projects are much smaller in scale, in some cases seeing funding this cycle only because of the unusual amount of cash being invested. A local sampling from the one-time fund and other aspects of the capital budget includes:

● $650,000 for structural improvements at the Toledo SeaGate Food Bank

● $300,000 toward Toledo’s Whitney Manor housing project

● $300,000 for improvements to the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums.

● $175,000 for the Ottawa Hills walk path.

● $100,000 in upgrades for the Collingwood Arts Center in Toledo.

● $100,000 for emergency repairs to the North Baltimore Public Library.

● $45,000 for the Malinta Community Historical Society Site in Henry County.

“Everything from international impact to one of the smallest villages in the smallest communities in our state will be impacted with the one-time money and the capital budget ...,” House Speaker Jason Stephens (R., Kitts Hill) said. “It makes everyone a part of this historic budget.”