Columbus Council Approves $377.25 Million in New Bonds and $718.23 Million in Refundings

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Franklin County

Columbus City Council approved a package of bond ordinances on Monday, October 19, 2026, authorizing $377,250,000 in new bonds for capital projects across the city and another $718,230,000 to refund outstanding general obligation bonds.

Each ordinance in the package passed 9 to 0, according to the council’s final minutes. The new borrowing is split across nine ordinances by purpose:

• Ordinance 2870-2026: up to $89,890,000 for public utility projects.
• Ordinance 2866-2026: up to $88,890,000 for health, safety and infrastructure projects, plus $4,000,000 from the Debt Retirement Fund for costs of issuance.
• Ordinance 2868-2026: up to $60,040,000 for public service projects.
• Ordinance 2869-2026: up to $53,245,000 for neighborhood development projects.
• Ordinance 2867-2026: up to $43,710,000 for recreation and parks projects.
• Ordinance 2873-2026: up to $22,205,000 for economic and community development projects.
• Ordinance 2871-2026: up to $7,970,000 for construction management projects.
• Ordinance 2872-2026: up to $5,800,000 for fleet management projects.
• Ordinance 2874-2026: up to $5,500,000 for information services projects.

Two refunding ordinances, 2875-2026 for up to $682,395,000 in unlimited tax general obligation bonds and 2876-2026 for up to $35,835,000 in limited tax general obligation bonds, authorize the city to refinance certain outstanding bonds. Refunding replaces older debt with new debt, typically to lower interest costs, and does not add new project spending.

The bond package was the largest dollar action of the October 19 meeting. The same night, council directed the City Auditor, in Ordinance 2758-2026, to supplement the 2027 budget materials with historical police and fire overtime data, and approved contracts for water main repairs, traffic signal battery backups and snow and ice removal.

The ordinances were approved as emergency measures. The official record of the October 19 meeting is the Council Journal published in the Columbus City Bulletin.

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