A national report shows that Ohio mayors are not alone in prioritizing local business growth.
The National League of Cities (NLC) surveyed city leaders and analyzed mayoral addresses across the country for their annual State of the Cities report. It found that 62% of mayors named economic development as a top priority, nearly doubling the results of last year.
Athens mayor Steve Patterson, who serves as the president of the NLC, said the report’s findings perfectly parallel the local experience of Ohio mayors.
“We've got to be able to bolster our infrastructure and we have to be able to potentially incentivize businesses that come into our communities,” Patterson said.
Top mayoral priorities
Housing, public safety and infrastructure were also outlined as top priorities for U.S. mayors. Patterson said housing, in particular, resonates strongly in Ohio, as a lack of affordable housing can stifle Ohio cities’ hopes for growth.
“We've got to have the housing stock to be able to support that and to maintain our attractiveness because a business will go, ‘This is great. We could land here. Where's the housing that my employees that I'm going to bring with me or recruit to come here? Where are they going to live?’”
With large industries like Intel eyeing the state, Patterson said Ohio mayors are getting creative to meet rising demand. His southeastern Ohio city, for instance, is leveraging Tax Increment Financing (TIF), a mechanism that uses future property taxes to fund development.
“We're using [TIF] in the city of Athens to build the infrastructure on green space which offsets a developer's cost – building homes on otherwise undeveloped areas in the city,” he explained.
Federal funding diminishing
Mayors across the country are preparing for an additional challenge: the unwinding of American Rescue Plan Act dollars.
ARPA injected billions of dollars directly into Ohio municipalities to aid in water and sewer infrastructure projects, community health and revitalization. The deadline to spend those funds is up at the end of next year.
At the same time, mayors are anticipating a reduction in federal funding sources, as the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency axes programs and agencies.
“It is incumbent upon us as civic leaders to be there on the Hill, to engage with our congressional members, with our senators and make sure that we're telling our successes, and also sharing the true need as we're looking forward in time. Because those needs don't go away and that partnership is critical at the federal level.”
Patterson said Athens is still in a good place financially. The real challenge, right now, is finding contractors to complete federally funded projects in a saturated market.
“It's unfortunate that we don't have more developers in southeast Ohio that are available and have the time and the labor force to be able to get some of the things done,” he said. “That's a southeast Ohio and probably elsewhere in the state of Ohio problem.”
