Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signs $3.7 billion capital budget

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Monday signed the state's $3.7 billion FY2027-28 capital budget, lauding the budget's breadth and impact on ordinary Ohioans.

"The investments we are announcing today build upon the work we have done to strengthen communities, support our workforce, and grow the economy over the last seven years," the Republican governor, whose final term is drawing to a close, said in a statement.

"The projects outlined in this budget will improve our parks, county fairgrounds, and historical sites; upgrade schools and classrooms to support the future workforce; promote safe and independent living for Ohioans with disabilities; continue building the mental healthcare system; and more," he added.

Most of the capital budget ? $3.43 billion ? will be funded by debt, according to a fiscal impact note from the Legislative Service Commission.

Senate Bill 450 spends capital funds on higher education campus safety and modernization, as well as Ohio's 76 state parks. It appropriates funding for the renovation of some behavioral health hospitals in the state and funds the construction of a youth specialty care facility.

It also funds renovations to correctional institutions and residential care facilities for Ohioans with developmental disabilities. It allocates funding to historical sites and museums, including the Poindexter Village Museum and the Ohio River Museum. And it upgrades fairgrounds, parks, trails and Ohio Fire Academy training facilities, among other things.

The capital budget also launches the Aging School Accelerator Pilot Program, which will give state financial assistance to school districts of at least 40% of total capital project costs.

"Depending on the number of school districts that qualify for assistance under ASAPP and the scope of those projects, state facilities funding obligations could increase," the fiscal impact note said.

"It's important for Ohioans to understand that the capital budget funds? things that are tangible ? buildings, renovations, bridges, physical infrastructure. This is not funding SNAP, it's not funding Medicaid, it's not funding child care," said Ali Smith, senior project coordinator at Policy Matters Ohio, a nonprofit think tank with progressive leanings.

"We have seen over the last 20 to 30 years this prioritization of tax cuts that benefit the wealthiest Ohioans and corporations" in the operating budget, Smith said. "No matter what else gets neglected or chronically underfunded, like our public schools, which just this past budget cycle were underfunded by $2.75 billion."

"The capital budget generally pays for capital projects, not services, so that would be our response" to that line of criticism, said Dan Tierney, press secretary for Gov. Mike DeWine.

Smith noted that states are also just starting to see the impacts of H.R. 1, the Trump administration's 2025 tax and spending bill.

"This capital budget is an important investment; it will be pretty widely spread across the state in rural, suburban and urban areas," she said. "But it is absolutely not making a dent or making up for deficiencies in some of these important popular programs and institutions like public education that Ohioans really prioritize."

This budget is more modest than the last biennial capital budget, which came in at over $4 billion, Smith said.

"I think the scope of it is pretty fair," she said. "Ohio legislators and policy makers take that very seriously, our bond rating, and want to make sure we're making good on that."

Some counties received more than others in this budget, even correcting for population size, according to Smith. Rural counties like Lawrence, Knox, Seneca, Hocking, Warren and Jefferson counties are on the lower end of the appropriations list, while Athens, Lincoln, Franklin, Wood, Portage and Washington counties did better, either because they have big public institutions like a major university, or because their representatives had more clout and advocated more energetically, Smith said.

However, she stressed that the capital budget was bipartisan and that none of Ohio's 88 counties came away from it empty-handed.

"Some themes in the budget are education funding, both for K-12 capital projects, as well as state institutions of higher education," she said. "There's a lot of (funding) going to (county fairgrounds) restoration or expansion projects, as well."

Overall, the capital budget has more pros than cons, Smith said. It directs funding toward projects "that people can enjoy in their communities," she said. "It seems that they've intentionally tried to prioritize that, which we really appreciate."

Ohio's general obligation bonds are rated triple-A across the board.