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Franklin County Commissioner Kevin Boyce gave the first indication and, now, City Council President Shannon Hardin has predictably followed suit. Columbus City Council claims it has its lowest budget in years. Shannon Hardin, Andy Ginther, and our County Commissioners apparently don’t intend to adequately increase funding for homeless programs. NBC4 reported yesterday that City leaders are using depleted American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds as their excuse for not being able to provide sufficient funding to deal with homelessness in Columbus.
Yes, City and County ARP funds have been depleted. Both the City and County were using some of these funds for the Shelter Board to help with homeless programs. Rather than budgeting enough money from their respective budgets, they are using the excuse that since ARP funds have been depleted, they can't provide the Shelter Board increased funding. The Board paid a consultant firm to put together a comprehensive assessment study with results showing their funding should be tripled to address the growing homeless issue. The Board wants to begin implementing the study’s recommendations, but the City and County won't prioritize spending for it.
Clearly, addressing our homeless crisis continues to be a low priority for City and County officials. Instead, Hardin and Ginther’s priorities are to bail out cherished developers and major campaign contributors like Kaufman Development, by buying up their properties in Franklinton to the tune of $7.5 million and rescuing longtime favorite corporate sweethearts like Huntington Bank by leasing one of their empty downtown buildings.
Maybe County officials shouldn’t have neglectfully used $34 million ARP dollars to subsidize well-heeled developers of the North Market project and $3 million for the owners of the Clippers. The City and County are providing $94 million in subsidies for the North Market project. Along with a $34 million state tax credit, this translates into a $128 million subsidy or 30 percent of its construction costs. The City and County also provided $189 million or 50.7 percent towards the Crew Stadium.
Recently, County officials squandered $320,000 on unnecessary DEI trips and Mayor Ginther $200,000 to go to Denmark along with a $195,000 taxpayer settlement to a Ginther Executive Assistant who was, “constructively terminated for calling into question the mayors’ work practices and intertwining City and campaign workload and staff.”
All the while, the City continues to waste hundreds of thousands of dollars on paying contractors to engage in the counterproductive measure of sweeping homeless camps. Maybe if our homeless residents could afford to hire Michael Coleman as their lobbyist and write big fat campaign checks to Hardin, Ginther, and County Commissioners they would receive proper funding.
(see attached news stories)
https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/columbus/columbus-funding-for-homeless-programs-in-jeopardy/
