Mayor: Columbus making changes ahead of budget impact

Columbus officials don’t know yet the exact impact the COVID-19 pandemic is going to have on city finances. But they are making plans to weather the upcoming changes.

Mayor Jim Lienhoop said that state revenue will likely be hit hard, because most of that money comes from income and sales taxes. With high unemployment and reduced spending, both of those areas will take a significant hit.

However city budgets will be somewhat more stable as they get their revenue from a different pool of taxes.

Lienhoop said that the city does get about a third of its revenue from income taxes, so there will be a hit. But the funding formula takes into effect a rolling average of income tax receipts over several years, which means the city won’t feel the pinch until probably 2022 from that revenue shrinking.

In the meantime, city officials are taking actions to reduce spending including deferring some capital projects and choosing not to rehire employees to fill some vacant positions.

The mayor spoke recently with John Foster on AM Columbus on News Talk 1010 WCSI. You can hear more of John’s interview with Mayor Jim Lienhoop on our website.