CINCINNATI (WKRC) — Cincinnati’s roughly $1-billion budget is one step closer to approval after city council advanced a spending plan that keeps $2 million in funding for the new Farmer Music Center being built next to Riverbend, despite repeated efforts to remove or redirect the money.
Earlier this spring, city council narrowly approved a motion asking the city manager to include $8 million for the venue in the next budget, even as the city initially faced a $30-million deficit. The city manager and Mayor Aftab Pureval later reduced the amount, settling on $2 million in the current balanced budget.
Opponents argued the project does not need city money. The initial city manager budget included $4.5 million for the project, with the caveat that analysis showed the venue would be built without any city funding. Pureval later lowered the amount to $2 million, saying it would come with a promise of future tax revenues from the venue, as well as possibly taking over property across the street for redevelopment.
During Monday’s budget debate, Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney and Council Member Mark Jeffreys led two separate efforts to hold up the funding. Kearney sought to hold all spending from that fund, while Jeffreys proposed redirecting the money toward street paving.
Jeffreys said the issue was about trade-offs in city spending.
“This is an opportunity cost. If we invest $2 million in this music venue, we don’t have $2 million to invest elsewhere. We have a lot of needs, roads being one of them. We have a lot of other needs that are not met, and I thought it was important to make sure that we have our priorities straight.”
Council Member Anna Albi, who originally proposed the funding earlier this spring, argued in favor of keeping the money in the budget.
“The Farmer Music Center is an exciting project. Cincinnati is an art city. In fact, when we had Visit Cincy here not that long ago in committee, they sat right there and said, ‘Our competitive edge as a city is our arts and culture.’”
Cincinnati’s roughly $1-billion budget is one step closer to approval after city council advanced a spending plan that keeps $2 million in funding for the new Farmer Music Center being built next to Riverbend, despite repeated efforts to remove or redirect the money. (WKRC)
In the end, both Kearney and Jeffreys’ motions failed by 3-6 and 2-7 margins, respectively.
Albi also pointed to the project’s momentum and potential tax benefits.
“How I saw it was we know this is going to be built regardless of this investment. In fact, it was a groundbreaking after the reduction in the budget. We also know we’re going to get the income tax.”
Council also debated whether the city should contribute $14.5 million toward the construction of a new regional safety training complex and help pay to move a gun range and training facility from Evendale to Colerain Township. That allocation was held up for more study and coordination with Hamilton County.
The committee also voted to approve spending $300,000 to keep a grocery store in Roselawn.
The overall budget now heads to a final vote by the full city council, scheduled for Wednesday.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source local12.com ’
