11-04-2025
Community leaders envision central Ohio's future amid federal spending cuts
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Columbus and Franklin County leaders on Thursday discussed the future of the capital city, but the work they're doing goes beyond central Ohio as what is happening at the federal level will have a significant impact on what's being done locally.
The Funding Review Advisory Committee began in 2011, a few years after the 2008 recession. Since then, we've faced a global pandemic and even more recently, new federal cuts that impact local organizations.
'We are a very different community today than we were just 15 years ago,' Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said. 'Our growth is creating new needs, new challenges.'
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This committee is tasked with making sure tax dollars are used to make the city thrive. As Ginther said during the meeting, Columbus is facing new challenges; for example, the fact the city had to let go of 11 Columbus Public Health employees due to a federal funding pause, just as the state is seeing a growing measles outbreak.
'Half of Columbus Public Health's funding comes from federal grant,' Ginther said. 'That could be in jeopardy. I'm also concerned that our $7.5 million in federal community development block grants may be on the chopping block as well. $22 million comes into our Department of Development every year from the federal government.'
The mayor also pointed out the U.S. House passed a Blueprint Resolution on Thursday, backed by President Donald Trump, that would lead to reduced spending over the next 10 years. After its passage, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said, 'Our first big, beautiful reconciliation package here involves a number of commitments and one of those is that we are committed to finding at least $1.5 trillion in savings for the American people while also preserving our essential programs.'
The local committee co-chair, Sandy Doyle-Ahern, said that while this committee didn't form because of the new administration, new federal policies may impact its work.
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'Obviously that there's a lot of concern about money that is no longer available or may not be available in the future, so we've got to take that into consideration and not work in a vacuum,' Doyle-Ahern said.
The committee is made up of people who are involved in the cultural arts, travel and tourism sectors. Over the next nine months, the group will hear from different community leaders across the region. Some of those leaders said nothing is off the table for the fast-growing community.
'When we think about these big issues, we're thinking about homelessness, we're thinking about our social service agencies, so how do we keep food on the table, how do we keep roofs overhead? How do we make sure that we have a thriving arts community? How do we have a thriving tourism community that funds a lot of this work? How do we make sure that our young people, our babies are educated,' Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin said.
In about nine months, the committee will produce a report that provides an analysis of things like public funding trends and revenue utilization.
Members said committee meetings are open to the public and they really want to hear community input.
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'It's going to be critical so we absolutely will be hearing from a number of different community leaders and sectors across the region,' Doyle-Ahern said. 'We're going to do a little bit of learning about the finance side first and then get into that. So we need a little patience to get there, but we will absolutely be getting it. It's critical to the end game.'
'They're tough conversations but we believe that the group that is assembled today has what it takes to help guide and instruct and provide a road map for Columbus and Franklin County for the next decade to come,' Hardin said.
To learn more about the Funding Review Advisory Committee, click here.
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