Council Supports the Essential Work by Community Special Improvement Districts
[COLUMBUS-OH] Neighborhood advocacy is always a powerful tool.
Our City’s special improvement districts (SIDs) are organized to improve and
enhance parts of town, funded by the property owners in their zones to address
neighborhood priorities.
Across Columbus, SIDs exist Downtown, in the Discovery District, along Morse
Road, surrounding Ohio State University, and along East Main Street. They each
work on different projects, from picking up trash to enhancing security and
lending a helping hand when needed.
On Monday, March 2, 2020, Council passed a series of ordinances to provide
funding for programming based on assessments by property owners in the special
improvement districts across Columbus. Together, the budgets are more than $5.5
million.
“Special improvement districts are a clear example of the power of our
neighborhoods working together,” said Council President Shannon G. Hardin.
“Because local advocates were willing to put more skin in the game, our
community has invested new dollars in neighborhood safety, transportation
choices, and litter-free streets.”
These SIDs create unique opportunities for their zones, such as Capital
Crossroads, which created the wildly successful C-pass program through a
relationship with COTA. By utilizing an innovative, first-of-its-kind policy
solution to provide free-transit services to downtown workers, Capital
Crossroads once again illustrated the impact of SIDs in our community.
“When neighborhoods work together, anything is possible,” said Councilmember
Rob Dorans. “We hear from people all the time that they appreciate the work
done by these SIDs, and we’re eager to support their continued neighborhood
improvement efforts.”
By passing ordinances 0462-2020, 0463-2020, 0464-2020, 0465-2020, 0460-2020 and
0461-2020, Council authorized the transfer of money generated by self-assessed
property taxes in the SID districts to the specific SIDs themselves for their
operating budgets.
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