Both candidates for Columbus mayor say that the local economy will need to adapt to changes in technology.
The Columbus mayoral race is between City Director of Administration and Community Development Mary Ferdon, a Republican, and bartender Sean Burton, an independent. There is no Democratic candidate in the race. Early voting for the upcoming municipal election starts Oct. 16. Election Day is Nov. 7.
When asked what types of businesses the city needs to attract, Ferdon noted that Columbus has a history of being a “really strong manufacturing city.”
“We have thousands of workers who make parts for internal combustion engine vehicles,” she said. “We know that we need to be able to shift and evolve because as carmakers shift to electric vehicles, it will change and it’ll change how supporting companies need to do business. For instance, they’ll need fewer parts to support electric vehicles. And so we need to figure out how to transition those companies and help them do that.”
She later clarified that electric vehicles and hybrids “require fewer parts”, which means that there will be fewer workers if local companies aren’t needed to produce these parts. Therefore, there is a need to transition employees over to different jobs.
Over the past eight years, the city has sought to diversify the local economy with more pharmaceuticals and other companies that create well-paying jobs, Ferdon said.
Burton likewise said that it’s important to look to the future.
“I feel like all cities should kind of navigate with the way the world’s moving,” he said. “And the world’s moving in the direction of robotics, in a direction of energy efficiency, in a direction of electric vehicles, things of that nature. And I feel being such an automotive heavy-city that we are, it would benefit us to kind of look toward the future of the automobile.”
Ferdon also emphasized the role of sports tourism as an economic driver, stating that the greater Columbus area saw about $17 million in direct spending in 2021, and the creation of NexusPark is expected to boost these numbers.
“We project double revenue in our sports tourism spend over the next five years,” she said.
Another notable change to the business landscape is the new prevalence of remote and hybrid work, which affords employees increased freedom in choosing where they live.
Ferdon said that that the city needs to ensure that there are several incentives for remote workers to live in Columbus, including “great public services,” housing and local amenities.
“Some of it is out of our control, such as good schools and a good medical system, but there’s other things that the city really can affect,” she said. “Obviously, our parks and having amenities like NexusPark, like working on the riverfront, having a downtown that’s activated. Those are the kind of amenities that we know are attractive to people and will hopefully get them to want to stay and live in Columbus as well as work here.”
Burton said that he feels the city already has a lot to offer in terms of safety, art, architecture and diversity.
“So I feel just to continue to increase and double down on public art, things that people find attractive,” he said. “Again, I think we do an amazing job from a public safety standpoint. It’s a safe place to live. Like I said, from my perspective, I can’t see why somebody would want to live anywhere else.”
When it comes to attracting new employers, he emphasized the importance of “business-friendly, transparent local government” and commended the work already done by the city to create a good business environment and attractive community.
“We need to, I feel, continue to upgrade our infrastructure, to make sure that our infrastructure can grow with a growing community,” Burton said.
If elected, Ferdon plans to work with the Economic Development Commission and the Columbus Redevelopment Commission to make sure that shovel-ready property is available for new businesses.
“Employers want good public services,” she added. “They want good roads. They want dependable utilities. They want strong public safety, because that helps the efficiency of their operations. They also want amenities for their employees.”
She also plans to continue the city’s use of certain economic development tools. This includes tax abatements, which allow businesses to save on property taxes for new equipment and property improvements. Typically, when the Columbus City Council approves an abatement, the company’s new property taxes are phased in over a period of 10 years, with the company paying 0% of the new taxes during year one, 10% during year two, and so on until they finally begin paying the full amount in year 11.
Tax abatements are “a great economic tool,” Ferdon said.
“We want to be competitive in the region,” she said. “And tax abatements are one of the ways we’re able to do that, because it’s really just compounding interest. The more that the company invests in the community, the more that we see growth in our tax revenue and our net assessed value.”
Burton said that tax abatements are “a great way for the city to show its support and solidarity” with businesses. However, he also expressed concern about an abatement that was recently granted
City Council approved Nikkei MC Aluminum America’s request for real and personal property tax abatements in a 5-2 vote this past July.
Council members Elaine Hilber and Grace Kestler voted against the measure due to concerns about Nikkei not fully meeting its promised headcount growth from a previous abatement request. Plant manager Dean Trapp said that this was partially due to economic conditions, as well as “bottlenecks” with the new equipment it purchased under the previous abatement.
Burton said that companies should have a reasonable explanation if they fail to meet their promises.
“I don’t want to set a precedent of you can just agree to a tax abatement, come back to the table for another one without having met the obligations of the previous abatement,” he said. “And I feel like that may have been the direction the council went.”
Another tool Ferdon expressed support is for tax increment financing (TIF). A TIF district is a mechanism that allows the redevelopment commission to retain increasing property taxes in a selected area to fund projects intended to benefit the community.
According to Ferdon, TIF dollars have been used to fund a variety of projects, including The Commons, the State Street Corridor, downtown parking garages, The Cole, The Taylor and workforce development initiatives from the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp.
“It’s a way to fund development projects with revenue from that development, and then fund future developments,” Ferdon said. “It really does grow the community. And again, it’s another tool that is compounding interest.”
Burton said that he is not “overly familiar” with TIF funding, though he has read a little bit about the subject.
After hearing a brief description of the tool, he said, “I would just want to be sure that the affected areas of increased property taxes are the same areas that we return the money to.”
Sean Burton
Mary Ferdon
