Valley to claim $24M from state for capital improvements

YOUNGSTOWN

About $24 million from the proposed Ohio capital budget is coming to the Mahoning Valley with $14 million of it going to Youngstown State University.

The $2.6 billion biennial capital-improvement package was unveiled Tuesday by the Republican leadership in the state Legislature and quickly introduced in the Ohio Senate.

The bill should be approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. John Kasich shortly since Republicans and Democrats met in recent months behind closed doors to work out the proposal.

“It’s just a formality now, so it should be passed soon,” said Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, D-33rd. “They don’t allow amendments to the capital budget because everyone would run to get projects that were rejected in the budget.”

The capital budget includes funding for school improvements; public colleges and universities; roads, bridges and other infrastructure; state parks and dams; state prisons; health and human services projects; and community projects.

The $160 million for community projects – a small amount of the total budget – receives the most attention with members of the General Assembly seeking to obtain money for special projects in their districts.

Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties have $6,367,500 for 11 projects in that part of the proposed budget.

The three counties received $2,861,737 for seven community projects during the last capital bill in 2014.

“We did significantly better this year than in 2014,” Schiavoni said.

Read what is being funded in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.