Cincinnati City Council members shared their thoughts on the current state of the city’s priorities pertaining to the operations and capital budget at a meeting on April 13.
The motion, frequently referred to as an omnibus, was passed to City Manager Sheryl M. Long after a 6-3 vote at the Budget, Finance and Governance Committee hearing.
Council members Ryan James, Scotty Johnson and Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney voted against the motion, arguing that budget priorities should focus more on the community’s livelihoods than leisure. Johnson and the other council members who voted “no” raised concerns specifically about the Farmer Music Center and the budget’s lack of housing support.
“When we come to talk about housing, there’s a possibility that 300 possible apartments in Avondale may be delayed as a direct result of $8 million going for leisure — so living versus leisure,” Johnson said.
In late March, City Council approved $8 million to be invested in the Farmer Music Center, a venue the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra would use as its primary tenant. Councilwoman Anna Albi said the project could also attract larger acts to Cincinnati.
“We’re getting ready to give them $8 million, but housing is a priority for this council,” Johnson said.
Johnson added that the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has a $400 million endowment, its top executives make about $500,000 per year and the minimum salary for a new musician is more than $100,000.
Councilmember Jeff Cramerding reminded observers that final budget votes will be made on June 1 and that the contentious $8 million allocation isn’t fully set in stone.
Kearney agreed with concerns about the potential investment, including that there had not yet been a financial analysis or clarity on whether the funding would fill a gap.
She said the proposal would allocate $8 million to a music center without prior financial analysis or clarity on whether the money would cover a funding gap, adding that it would take resources from housing, homeownership, building renovations, repairs and property tax relief programs intended to help residents stay in their homes.
Kearney added that money for home repairs and to address code violations was also left out of the budget motion.
“That means putting more funding into the harbor fund, to put more money into the HomeSafe program. That helped a lot of residents with delinquent property taxes so they would not lose their home,” Kearney said.
Councilmember Seth Walsh said he supported the omnibus motion but stressed continued support for Cincinnati police and fire services amid discussions of budget cuts.
This is the first year without American Rescue Plan dollars, councilwoman Anna Albi said in an Instagram video about the captial and operations budgets.
“Unfortunately we have a little bit shy of a $30 million dollar deficit this year we have to meet this year. That means we have some really hard decisions that council, the mayor and the city mayor have to make to balance the budget responsibly.”
Owens said that despite the lack of federal stimulus money and the city’s budget also “being handicapped by the federal government and the statehouse through the underfunding of local government funds,” she said she thought the omnibus communication was a good start. She said it addressed five main priorities.
“I believe that our priorities come down to five areas: safer streets, more housing, stronger business, climate action and justice, and supporting families. I definitely support this omnibus.”