Columbus plans safety, housing improvements in city's largest budget ever

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Columbus City Council members discussed the city’s proposed capital budget on Monday, July 8.

A chunk of that budget will go toward safety and crime prevention efforts. The public safety category is potentially getting a big investment this year, covering things such as new police and fire facilities.

This year, that proposed amount is almost $121 million, up 45 percent from last year. It’s also almost four times the public safety investment from the 2022 capital budget.

"Of the six departments up here, we actually have the smallest piece of the pie in this case, I'm sure my colleagues are okay with that given that the operating budget for public safety is so large," Columbus Department of Public Safety Deputy Director Dan Giangardella said at Monday night's budget hearing.

The capital budget is for infrastructure improvements. For public safety, that includes money for neighborhood safety cameras, renovations at police and fire facilities, and new fire trucks.

"We can all relate to inflation and what COVID did to our supply chain, we’ve seen drastic increases in, for instance, a ladder truck,” Giangardella said. “Typically it would cost around $1 million, $1.2 million; now we’re pushing $2 million.”

Mayor Andrew Ginther is touting this as the largest budget in city history: almost $2 billion. Another category seeing investment is affordable housing; an issue driving rising rent and homelessness as more people move to Columbus.

"We need to build more housing at all price points, we need to invest in affordable housing for people who make less than $50,000 annually," Columbus Deputy Director of Development Bill Webster said.

The housing category, under development, is seeing a 38 percent increase in proposed funding. This includes housing preservation and affordable housing.

"We need to preserve our existing housing with grants to keep homes safe and lastly we need to include everyone who needs access to affordable housing," Webster said.

Housing is seeing this increase as council members and the mayor continue to prioritize affordable housing.

A city council spokesperson said a big part of the 45 percent increase in public safety money would be for the campus that will be on Caroyln/Piedmont Avenue along I-71. This will include a crime center, a 911 emergency communications center, an emergency operations center and a substation.

City council will hold another public hearing on the proposed budget Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Columbus Fire Academy, 3639 Parsons Ave.