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This November, Columbus voters will have the opportunity to vote on two very important items – a $1.5 billion bond package and amendments to the city’s Charter, neither of which will raise your taxes.
What is a bond package?
Just like a typical resident who might borrow money to purchase a home, the City of Columbus borrows money to pay for its capital improvements program. Columbus borrows money from investors by selling bonds and uses the proceeds to purchase equipment and improve city infrastructure and facilities.
View the proposed allocation of the 2022 bond package here.
What is the Charter?
The Charter is the city’s constitution. It sets the framework for the laws that are enacted by Council into the City Code. The original Charter was enacted in 1914 and has since been amended many times. The Charter can only be amended by a vote of Columbus residents.
In 2014, voters approved a Charter amendment requiring a review of the Charter every 10 years, beginning in 2022. In January, the city appointed a Charter Review Commission which held 13 public meetings, including two hearings for public comment during which residents had the opportunity to present their own proposals. In July, the Commission submitted its recommendations to Columbus City Council. Council accepted the Commission’s recommendations in full and voted to place three issues on the November general election ballot.
What are the proposed Charter amendments?
- Issue 19: Improving the initiative process to place an issue on the ballot
- Issue 20: Hiring qualified, diverse employees - updating job titles, responsibilities
- Issue 21: Modernizing public meetings and offices
Learn more about each Charter amendment issue here.
I am so grateful to our wonderful CelebrateOne staff and community partners for putting together a successful birthday party for babies in Franklin County who’ve reached their first birthday. Though our work to reduce infant mortality is far from finished, I am proud of the collective progress we’ve made. We continue to work tirelessly to address the many hurdles facing moms-to-be – like racism, poverty, housing instability and food insecurity, to name a few – and we remain steadfast in our determination to build a future in which all babies thrive throughout their first year and beyond.
If you are pregnant and would like to speak with a CelebrateOne Community Connector, visit our website or call (614) 570-3592.
Last year we launched the Right Response Unit as part of the city’s comprehensive safety strategy. It works by imbedding social workers and clinicians in 9-1-1 Dispatch to de-escalate sensitive situations and connect callers suffering from addiction and mental health disorders with trained professionals and vital community resources. Take a look at these positive outcomes from the unit’s inaugural year:
- Over 25% of callers were connected to a local mental health provider.
- Only 12 calls (out of nearly 1,300 received by the unit) resulted in an arrest. Those arrests were unrelated to mental health crises.
- 9-1-1 dispatchers are now better equipped to de-escalate and communicate with residents in crisis, improving their ability to manage their own occupational stress.
What’s more, this program has the added benefit of freeing up more of our officers to focus on violent crime, instead. Plans are underway to hire additional Right Response Unit staff and expand its hours of operation. And we will continue to explore and activate innovative solutions that support our residents and keep our neighborhoods safe.
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