As negotiations over next year’s city of Cincinnati budget nears an end, members of Cincinnati City Council are putting funding requests for arts, kids, advocacy groups and reparations on the table.
Some requests won support from several council members, who presented their wish lists at a June 8 budget committee meeting. One example: Five want money for a Madisonville performing arts center.
In other cases, council members are going it alone. Mark Jeffreys, for example, was the sole council member asking for more money to pave streets.
As for the Farmer Music Center, which earlier asked for $8 million to support construction of a new Riverbend facility: Three council members mentioned it in memos about their funding choices, but none made it a topic of conversation June 8.
Here are six projects or priorities that could see more dollars in the year ahead.
5 council members suggest funds for Artsville
Three council members – Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney, Jeff Cramerding and Scotty Johnson – called for the city to spend $250,000 on Madisonville’s Artsville. Council members Mark Jeffreys and Anna Albi suggested $200,000.
The 10-year-old nonprofit runs a performing arts center from a city-owned building on the neighborhood’s Whetsel Avenue.
Executive Director Kathy Garrison said she lobbied council members for funds to buy professional lighting, improve sound equipment and replace awnings.
“It has not been an easy task,” she said.
Upgrades to the building would help it attract more professional performances, she said. Without essential equipment, she said, “we’re losing them.”
Boots on the Ground also wins 5 endorsements
Five members of council suggested additional dollars for Boots on the Ground, ranging from $200,000 to $250,000. The proposed budget, as written, already specifies $242,350 for the group.
The city created Boots on the Ground in 2022, in partnership with the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, to make grants of up to $25,000 to groups working on homelessness, food access, youth violence, workforce development and other causes.
Among similar advocacy groups winning support from more than one council member:
Maybe summer camp, for free?
Council members want money for programs that help younger Cincinnatians find jobs and stay out of trouble.
Council member Ryan James suggested $350,000 for the Boys and Girls Club.
James, along with Meeka Owens and Seth Walsh, suggested dollars to send kids to Cincinnati Recreation Commission summer camps for free.
Jeffreys sole voice for street paving, lead paints, stormwater
Some council members offered lone endorsements for funding.
Jeffreys was the leader in that category, asking for $4.5 million for street paving, $1 million for lead paint removal and $750,000 to combat stormwater damage. He also suggested $50,000 to support expungement efforts to help people impacted by laws that earlier criminalized marijuana.
Cramerding suggested $500,000 for the Covedale Center for Performing Arts and $300,000 toward an all-weather city track-and-field facility.
Albi suggested unspecified help for Film Cincinnati and the Save-A-Lot grocery store in Roselawn.
Walsh wants $300,000 for an engineering study of the Purple People Bridge.
Owens wants dollars for a Gun Violence Victims Memorial.
Reparations program could start with $500K
Several council members suggested dollars for programs that help Cincinnatians repair homes, prevent eviction and cover utility bills.
Council members Kearney and Johnson specified $500,000 for the Cincinnati Real Property Reparations Program they proposed in February.
“Now is the time to repair the damage done by racial and income-based discriminatory policies,” they said then.
That “initial allocation” would go for emergency home repairs, Kearney indicated.
Their February measure said the program needs $5 million overall.
Farmer Music Center gets little attention
Jeffreys made clear he doesn’t support city dollars for Farmer, saying the $2 million that Mayor Aftab Pureval endorsed for the center should instead go to streets. “The Farmer project will be an incredible asset,” his funding memo said. But the center’s backers have “other assets to tap to make it happen,” he said.
Albi’s memo called for maintaining the mayor’s recommendation for Farmer.
Kearney mentioned the Farmer matter in passing, without listing it as one of her priorities.
What’s next on city budget?
The Budget, Finance & Governance Committee will consider all council member requests at its June 15 meeting. Full council will take up the budget June 17.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: From arts to reparations, City Council members ask for new budget items
Reporting by Patricia Gallagher Newberry, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Patricia Gallagher Newberry, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
