Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther has unveiled his proposed $2.9 billion capital budget for 2025, including about $1 billion for the city’s fourth water plant, the need for which has accelerated in recent years due to development like Intel and a surging population.
The new Home Road water plant will be built along the Scioto River, north of Columbus in Delaware County, to serve the growing population that gets Columbus water. Columbus supplies water for most suburbs and some unincorporated areas in Franklin County. The largest exception is Westerville.
Columbus bought land to build a fourth plant in 2015, but sped up its plans to build it after Intel announced the construction of two Intel plants in New Albany.
Ginther’s capital proposal also includes $14 million to begin constructing a police substation near Easton Town Center next year and $10 million for the Capital Line, a $100-million urban pathway planned Downtown.
Ginther announced his budget proposal, which must be approved by the City Council, on June 24 while speaking to a roomful of summer campers at the Rickenbacker Woods Foundation & Learning Center on the East Side.
The budget proposal includes $5 million for lighting, cameras and other improvements on streets selected for the inaugural Clean and Safe Corridor initiative in 2025. The first areas getting extra TLC from the city are Parsons Avenue on the South Side, Sullivant Avenue in the Hilltop, part of North High Street in the Short North, and East Livingston Avenue in Driving Park (where the Rickenbacker Center is located).
“This budget focuses on my most fundamental priority – keeping every Columbus resident healthy, safe and stably housed,” Ginther said.
Here are some other highlights of Ginther’s capital budget proposal:
With the new water plant taking up a third of the mayor’s 2025 proposed capital budget, some of those above categories are getting less than in recent years. For example, Ginther’s 2024 capital budget proposal included $54 million for street resurfacing, $76 million for intersection safety improvements, and $31.4 million for sidewalks and bikeways.
“Whether these dollars are repairing a roof at a senior’s home so they may remain stably housed, providing our community with fresh water, upgrading our emergency response vehicles to support swift response times, growing Columbus police’s geographic footprint to meet the needs of our growing city, or ensuring that our children have safer routes to school, this budget proposal invests first and foremost in our collective safety and well-being,” Ginther said.
The budget also includes $15 million more for the construction of a new Franklin County Municipal Courthouse, which has been delayed for years since Columbus voters approved a $130-million bond issue for the project in 2019. The city’s 2024 capital budget included $150 million for construction. City Finance Director Chris Long said the design of the courthouse is underway, and groundbreaking should happen next spring.
Government and politics reporter Jordan Laird can be reached at jlaird@dispatch.com. Follow her on X, Instagram and Bluesky at @LairdWrites.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Mayor Ginther pitches $1 billion for fourth water plant as part of city capital budget
Reporting by Jordan Laird, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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