Mayor Kapszukiewicz Submits 2023 Budget to City Council

Honorable Council President Matt Cherry and Members of Toledo City Council,

I am pleased to present for your review and consideration the proposed 2023 operating and capital budgets. These budgets make crucial investments in our city, grow the size of our safety forces, and build on the momentum Toledo has enjoyed over the last several years.

Together we accomplished a lot in 2022. We began implementing the Toledo Recovery Plan, which City Council passed the last meeting of 2021. While many projects got underway this year, 2023 could be a year long remembered for the unprecedented investments that set our city up for the future.

According to Site Selection magazine, Toledo was ranked in the top 10 for the 6th consecutive year among midsize metro cities in the US for new business development. The $90 million redevelopment of the former Northtowne Square Mall created the new Toledo Trade Center industrial park.

We continued to honor the promise made to Toledoans by breaking the record for road repair again this year. We repaired over 150 roads and more than 60 lane miles, which was more than we anticipated, and once again we finished on time and under budget.

The newly created Parks and Youth Services department was hard at work utilizing capital improvement, American Rescue Plan and grant dollars to replace 6 playgrounds, 3 basketball courts, 2 open shelters, and a parking lot. An additional 6 playgrounds have been designed and will be installed in the Spring. The second year of the Summer Recreation program supported nearly 150 programs and engaged over 45,000 youth in every zip code in the city. The department was recognized with 3 awards from the Ohio Parks and Recreation Association for the high quality of its programming and park development projects.

The construction phase of the Toledo Waterways Initiative was approved this year after 20 years and $529 million, and in so doing, we became the first large city in the US to be compliant in its agreement with the US EPA. We also continued to address blight, make investments in our neighborhoods and residents, and grow our safety forces.

Importantly, we will once again end this year without the need to transfer any capital improvement dollars to the General Fund. With the exception of the COVID year of 2020, we have never needed to transfer CIP funds to the general fund in my 5 years as Mayor. This leaves additional funds to support capital projects next year.

The 2023 proposed budget revenues and expenditures total approximately $996 million with a general fund budget of approximately $324 million. We have proposed a capital improvement to general fund transfer of $18 million and an $8 million reduction in general fund balance. Remember, however, that we conservatively budgeted an $18 million transfer this year, too, but ended up not having to transfer any money at all. I am confident that by working together we can reduce the CIP transfer once again next year.

With strong income tax collections, additional dollars available for projects in the Capital Improvement fund, and continued ARPA investments, next year we will be able to make more investments in our city than ever. Among many other things, this budget accomplishes the following:

Continues our commitment to grow the size of our safety forces by allocating dollars for 50 member police and fire classes.
Allows us to implement the city’s first ever disparity study to ensure our contracting is as fair and equitable as it can be.
Makes historic investments in community centers including breaking ground on the new Wayman Palmer YMCA.
Repairs 120 roads and over 51 lane miles.
Takes a fresh approach to fixing sidewalks, which will result in more sidewalks repaired than ever before.
Continues to make investments in parks and youth, including improvements to give Toledoans access to Penn 7, an urban wetland.
Invests in our workforce with the technology and equipment needed to raise the bar on how we deliver essential city services.

We should all be proud of what we were able to accomplish together in 2022. I believe the 2023 budget, along with the Toledo Recovery Plan, sets us up for the most impactful year in Toledo’s history. Let’s work together to set our city up for future generations!

Sincerely,

Wade Kapszukiewicz, Mayor