Toledo City Council to vote on 2019 City Operating Budget

By: Tim Schneider, Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce

At its regular meeting at 4:00 p.m. today, Toledo City Council is expected to vote on Ordinance 524-18, Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz’s proposed $267,953,900 operating budget for 2019. The proposal includes a $7.8 million transfer from the Capital Improvement Program fund to pay for general operating expenses. Income taxes, which make up the majority of the city’s revenue, are estimated by the Administration to generate a record $185.1 million for 2019. Amendments to the ordinance are likely to be offered.​

Other ordinances expected to be voted on include the following:

• Ordinance 001-19 which would approve the appointment of Mayor Kapszukiewicz’s nominee Shawn Robaszkiewicz to the Utility Appeals Board for a five-year term.
• Ordinances 020-19 and 021-19 regarding the city’s water distribution system. The first would authorize $5 million for the 2019 Water Main Program to replace deteriorating and undersized main, and to loop dead end lines. The other would authorize $750,000 in bond proceeds to study hydraulic modeling, adequacy for meeting current and future demands, and needed improvements to location and size of elevated water storage. 
• Ordinance 022-19 which would authorize $750,000 for the local share of funding for the Jamieson Ditch Improvements Phase 2 Project, which will include a new storm pipe to alleviate upstream flooding and allow additional homes to be removed from a regulatory floodplain.
• Ordinance 025-19 which would approve a successor collective bargaining agreement with AFSCME Local 3411 representing deputy clerks in the Toledo Municipal Court. The agreement includes base pay increases of 1.5 percent for 2019, 2.5 percent in 2020, and 3 percent in 2021, in addition to other terms.

Council will likely hold action on Ordinance 002-19, which would approve a lease to Crestline Paving and Excavating Co., Inc. for 8.78 acres of the former Champion Spark Plug site at 750 Montrose Avenue, until its session on January 22. Under the agreement, the annual lease amount would be $1, and the initial term of the lease would be for five years with one five-year renewal option.

All Council meetings are held in Council Chambers on the first floor of One Government Center, located on Jackson Boulevard in downtown Toledo

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​​Tim Schneider
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​As Manager for Local Government Advocacy, Tim Schneider advocates for local policies and laws that safeguard and foster a pro-business environment in the Toledo Region. Tim has more than 10 years of legislative and public policy experience with the local, state and federal levels of government.