This morning, the Franklin County Commissioners released their annual State of the County Report, and an interactive website that give the community valuable insight into how their Franklin County government is working for them. The report is available at
Report.FranklinCountyOhio.gov, and broken into sections based on the commissioners’ six core principles of good governance,
Safety and Security,
Economic Development,
Health and Human Services,
Environmental Sustainability,
Fiscally Responsible Government, and
Racial Equity. This year’s report shows that the county has maintained its double Triple A bond rating throughout the pandemic, one of only about 3% of local governments with a credit score that high. It notes that the county’s “rainy day” fund is $85 million, and details some of the ways that the commissioners have allocated more then $200 million in American Rescue Plan funds.
“It’s such an honor and responsibility to be an elected leader in a community that you love, and all of us at Franklin County look forward to the State of the County report each year as an opportunity to report to the community on everything we’ve been working on for the past year and some of what we’ve got planned for the year to come,” said Board of Commissioners President John O’Grady.
Highlights of this year’s report include the more-than $50 million the county spent in 2022 to develop affordable housing, support the homeless, and help families avoid homelessness, as well as the early results of last year’s small business grants which show almost three dollars in value for every one dollar granted. They include reports on innovative workforce development programs and historic investments in affordable child care, and insight about how the commissioners are working to instill the tenets of equity and inclusion in everything they do. The report also details the day-to-day work of the county, which Franklin County families rely on such as the 163,000 SNAP recipients, the more-than 450,000 Medicaid recipients, and the more-than 24,000 children in publicly funded child care.
“County government touches the lives of every one of our residents each year,” said Commissioner Kevin L. Boyce. “This report is our opportunity to let our residents know how we’re working to serve every one of Franklin County’s residents every day.”
Among the services provided to county residents last year, the commissioners’ Office on Aging delivered more than 1.2 million meals to seniors at their homes and attended 329 community events to reach their constituents where they live. The county’s Child Support Enforcement Agency supported 78,814 children last year, and the commissioners’ Community Partnership department made almost $20 in grants to more than 110 community agencies that serve the public.
“The state of Franklin County is strong and the local economy is recovering well from the pandemic,” said Commissioner Erica C. Crawley. “But at the end of the day, how well we do our job is not measured by the stock market. It’s measured by how many children are in quality pre-K programs and are kindergarten ready, how many seniors have transportation to their doctor’s appointments, how much support the people getting out of jail have so that they can succeed and not return to the system, and whether families have the tools they need to thrive, not just survive. We’re very proud of all of our accomplishments last year and looking ahead to being even more successful for our neighbors in 2023.”
The commissioners’ full State of the County report is available online at
Report.FranklinCountyOhio.gov.