Be prepared: Columbus voters face long, complex questions on ballot
The Nov. 8 ballot for city of Columbus voters starts off easy enough: Mike DeWine or Nan Whaley for governor? But by the middle of Page 2 voters might want reading glasses and a comfy chair.
That’s because they will have more than two full pages of complicated requests from city leaders, including five major bond packages adding up to $1.5 billion in new city borrowing potentially − but not likely − backed by property taxes, and three detailed changes to the city’s charter, akin to Columbus’ constitution.
It's the most local initiatives Columbus has put on a single ballot since 2004, according to the Franklin County Board of Elections.
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Charter change aimed at stopping next Issue 7
Mixed in among cleaning up technical clutter are significant changes outlawing self-dealing voter initiatives and dropping a century-old requirement that competitive testing must be used to hire most city employees, including police officers and firefighters.
The self-dealing charter change is a direct response to Columbus Issue 7, the 2021 voter initiative that city leaders called a “scam” and would have funneled $87 million in city tax dollars to a secretive entity called ProEnergy Ohio. It would have used the tax dollars to run a hazily worded private green-energy program.
Issue 7's backers, including one who is now serving a four-month jail sentence for filing false campaign-finance records, could have awarded themselves an undefined amount in fees to manage the program.
Although Issue 7 was shot down by voters 87% to 13% in a historically lopsided defeat, officials want to make such nice sounding but potentially coffer-draining proposals more difficult to pass in the future.
A citizen-appointed charter review panel recommended that voters add charter language banning creation of any future initiative that would create a “monopoly, oligopoly, or cartel; or otherwise confer a special privilege − such as a specific tax rate, commercial right, interest, or license − that is not available to similarly situated persons or nonpublic entities.” It also prohibits the city from investing in any private companies.
If any petitions surface in the future to put such a measure on the ballot, voters would have to pass two ordinances for it to be approved: one asking if it should be allowed “in violation of the Charter,” and the second on the measure itself. In addition, the backers would be required to submit the names and addresses of anyone standing to financially benefit, and by how much over the first three years.
Civil Service test targeted in one charter amendment
Two additional charter ballot requests deal with numerous topics, some minor, some not.
One, almost 400 words long, lists among its list of technical updates the undoing of a charter requirement that the city hire most of its employees based on competitive test scores. Instead, it would be up to the mayor and his administration to decide who the best and most qualified candidates are for public jobs, if they can get any passing grade on the Civil Service tests for their occupations.
The competitive testing requirement was instituted in the early 1900s to combat widespread patronage and corruption, but the executive director of the city’s independent Civil Service Commission who proposed the change – without input from her commissioners – has offered a variety of reasons why the city should end competitive testing. Those include the current worker shortage, increasing diversity, and attracting candidates who score lower on tests but “have that spunk and attitude and hard work ethic.”
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The Dispatch reported that documents released under the Ohio Public Records Act show that the requested change actually came from Mayor Andrew J. Ginther’s chief of staff, whom DeLong appeared to be taking direction from. The city charter, however, suggests that she officially answers only to her commissioners, who are appointed by the City Council to serve six-year terms.
That same ballot question would, if approved, also vastly expand the pool of officials qualified to temporarily serve as acting mayor when the mayor is absent for any reason, another change sought by Ginther.
Currently only three officials can hold the job: City Council president and the directors of Public Safety and Public Service. The change would increase that to more than a dozen mayoral staffers, including the mayor’s chief of staff and deputy chiefs of staff, while removing council president from the list.
Return to remote meetings
A third charter question before voters would, among other things, continue to require that city officials abide by the state’s Open Meeting Act, which City Attorney Zach Klein’s office had recommended should be abandoned in favor of letting City Council craft its own rules. But the charter review panel balked at that suggestion, and instead recommended allowing only the use of video conferencing. During the COVID shutdowns the state allowed remote attendance at official meetings, but has since rescinded the option, and this would return it.
Affordable housing, other borrowing could total $1.5 billion
The five remaining questions before voters are to approve property taxes to potentially be raised to cover up to $1.5 billion in new city borrowing, including $200 million that could be put toward increasing affordable housing and could be spent on both “residential and commercial structures,” according to the ordinance approved by City Council in June.
While the ballot questions literally say that voters are raising their property taxes by a total of 5.7 mills, or $570 per $100,000 of assessed property value annually, beginning in 2023, city officials say that is only a “backstop” in the unlikely event that city income-tax revenue can’t cover the debt service. All but the Public Utilities borrowing will be repaid by the 25% of city income taxes that Columbus deposits in a special debt-service fund to finance bond issues.
In essence, voters are co-signing loans with their future property taxes as collateral. However, the city has used this system or one similar dating back to 1956, and hasn't had to raise its 3.14-mill property-tax rate in over six decades, according to its state financial audit. Having voters back the borrowing helps Columbus maintain its highest-possible AAA bond rating, lowering interest rates, officials said.
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Outside of the affordable housing component, the $1.5 billion in new borrowing will go toward: Health, Safety & Infrastructure ($300 million); Recreation & Parks ($200 million); Public Service, which includes things such as road resurfacings, bridge repairs and trash pickup ($250 million); and Public Utilities, which includes projects for water, power, sanitary and storm sewers ($550 million). The actual bonds would be issued over a number of years, as needed.
The city’s total debt currently stands at $4.25 billion, including about $912 million in potential interest if the bonds are held to maturity, according to the city Finance Department.
The Dispatch reached out to Ginther's office seeking to interview the mayor on why voters should support these measures, but he declined.
The city has so much complex copy on this November's ballot that officials worried earlier this year that voters might be overwhelmed and confused by the detailed requests, which Columbus city leaders need voters to sign off on if the proposed changes are to become official. This potentially could cause lines at polling stations while voters do required reading, or cause an "undervote," where they fail to complete the full ballot.
All Franklin County registered voters can pull an individualized sample ballot from the Elections Board website and review it before hand, said Aaron Sellers, a spokesman with the board.
@ReporterBush
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Important questions dot longest city ballot since 2004
