City Reporter www.westerville.org

It has been more than three years since Westerville residents approved a tax restructuring initiative known as Issue 54. The issue addressed income tax levels, matching the rate in Westerville to other communities in central Ohio while also giving 100 percent credit to taxpayers who live here but work elsewhere. At its core, Issue 54 made way for Westerville to begin work addressing its aging infrastructure while maintaining established service levels.

From neighborhood roads to main thoroughfares, major construction and improvement projects have taken place or are underway in Westerville. One of the City’s commitments through the initiative was to eliminate the backlog of streets rated as failed and/or in poor condition*. To reach that goal, the City estimated an additional $3.2 million annual investment in infrastructure was needed for street repairs, with an additional $700,000 each year required to maintain major arterial streets in “good” or better condition.

With funds made available through the initiative, the City has tripled its investment to approximately $6 million annually in streets and infrastructure, including resurfacing of major streets and street reconstruction in neighborhoods throughout the community (See www.westerville. org >> City Departments >> Planning & Development >> Construction Updates >> Street Maintenance Program). The City has also worked to take advantage of partnerships with the City of Columbus, the Franklin County Engineer’s Office and ODOT to maximize the effectiveness of both time and cost on major improvement projects.

The 14-month project to reconstruct the West Main Street bridge was a Franklin County project, but it provided the opportunity for the City to work on the storm sewers, underground utility systems, parking lots and bike path extensions and improvements. When the bridge opened in August this year, work continued to improve the park en- trance at Alum Creek Park and the Westerville Senior Center parking lot.

Worthington Road is another example of project partnerships benefiting the bottom line. While the City of Columbus funded portions of the road expansion in its jurisdiction, Westerville completed needed improvements on its portion of the road south of County Line Road. A temporary road used for several weeks during the construction was repaved as an extension of the community bikeway path system. The cost of this project totaled $3.7 million, which was split with the City of Columbus. In addition, $2.79 million of that total was secured in a loan/ grant combination from the Ohio Public Works Commission.

“We had critical needs to meet here at home; some streets had not seen maintenance since the 1980s. Other areas of town also needed major infrastructure attention, like South State Street. We also recognized the need to address aging commercial areas as well as an obligation to revitalize a key entryway into the City at South State Street.”

David Collinsworth, City Manager

City Manager David Collinsworth characterizes the Issue 54 initiative as an ongoing reinvestment in our community. “This initiative keeps our dollars local, making our residents and community stakeholders the direct beneficiaries of improvements in our neighborhoods and to our roads,” he said. “We had critical needs to meet here at home; some streets had not seen maintenance since the 1980s. Other areas of town also needed major infrastructure attention, like South State Street. We also recognized the need to address aging commercial areas as well as an obligation to revitalize a key entryway into the City at South State Street.”

The largest street construction site in the area right now is indeed the

Before: S. State Street Feb. 2011

After: S. State Street Sept. 2011