Efficient, Responsive, & Fiscally Sustainable Government Operations

The commissioners' commitment to Efficient, Responsive, and Fiscally Sustainable Government Operations can be found in everything they do.

The county's budget is carefully balanced each year even in the face of a pandemic, and Franklin County is one of only three percent of local governments that maintain a Double Triple-A credit rating.

Office of Management and Budget

The commissioners are responsible for the entire county budget, including even those of other elected county officials, and they rely on their Office of Management and Budget to make sure that the funds are available to meet the county’s needs both today and tomorrow.

The county’s All Funds budget is nearly $2 billion each year and requires careful planning so that the commissioners and their agencies are prepared to respond to anything that may arise.

Office of Management and Budget Statistics

39.2%

Portion of All Funds budget devoted to human services

59.3%

Portion of General Fund budget devoted to safety agencies and initiatives

$62.5 million

Franklin County Rainy Day Fund

$250,203,655

Cash balance on-hand

$3,438,856.40

CARES Act funding

$87,946,836

American Rescue Plan grants so far

Your Franklin Five

This episode of Your Franklin Five (our new public affairs program) talks about the passage of the 2022 Franklin County budget, innovative partnerships with community partners, recommendations from the Racial Equity Council, and where you can get a COVID-19 vaccination or booster shot.

The American Rescue Plan was passed by congress and signed by the president in order to help Americans who are suffering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and includes significant resources to support a strong public health response and vaccination strategy, provide direct assistance to families, and deliver resources to local governments for use in their own communities.

The commissioners have created a website to help you keep track of all the ways they’re using the American Rescue Plan funding to help our community recover.

Visit Recovery.FranklinCountyOhio.gov to learn more.

$265 Million is the amount Franklin County will recieve from the American Rescue Plan over the coming years.

HERE ARE A FEW OF THE GRANTS MADE POSSIBLE ALREADY FROM AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN FUNDS:

$109,662 was added to a previous $4.5 million grant for the Summer Jobs and More program linking youth to summer jobs, skills to prepare them for the workplace, and other projects
$680,000 was used expand the PrimaryOne Health Center which is located in an underserved neighborhood where few residents have private medical insurance, and many are burdened with health concerns
$55,472 provided summer camp for minority girls ages 12-15
$1,148,036 funded the Ready 2 Earn Program, providing work readiness and offering some employment with designated non-profit agencies
$80,585 was added to assistance for economically disadvantaged senior citizens to help them connect to the digital world
$7,000,000 went to a Mid-Ohio Food Collective campaign to reimagine ending hunger
$5,000,000 was provided in economic support for nonprofits that have been hit by COVID-19
$1,125,000 helped fund A Kid Again which provides recreational therapeutic relief for children with life-threatening conditions
$2,350,000 was used to support the Building Futures and Driving Futures programs which offer training for low-income residents for a variety of in-demand occupations paying middle-class salaries
$678,000 was granted to Franklin County Department of Public Health for its work on increasing vaccination rates, mask compliance, facility needs, and more
$2,537,000 in new funding went to an initiative with the Workforce Development Board of Central Ohio offering training and help for women returning to the workplace following the pandemic
$500,000 went to the United Way of Central Ohio to work with school districts to improve reading proficiency among third grade students
$500,000 was used to support the ongoing Learning Lunchbox program project with COSI
$200,000 to Franklin County Public Health to address health disparities

Community Partnership Program

The Community Partnership Program provides competitive grants to local community-based nonprofits and other agencies that serve Franklin County residents. This work has been doubly important during the pandemic when the need for services increased dramatically just as donations to nonprofit agencies were drying up.

In 2021, Community Partnerships made much more than $20 million in grants to almost 50 local agencies such as Equitas Health, the Mid-Ohio Food Collective, Future Ready Columbus, the Charitable Pharmacy of Central Ohio, Girls On The Run, and the Columbus Diaper Bank.

Community Partnership Grant Totals by Category

Benefits to Franklin County Employees

The commissioners recognize that their greatest asset is their team. They rely on their Human Resources department to help them recruit and retain the best possible workforce to serve our community.

In addition to Public Employee Retirement benefits and excellent health insurance benefits, Board of Commissioners employees enjoy a progressive suite of policies designed allow them to have the best possible work/life balance so that they can focus on their service knowing that their families are taken care of, including domestic partner benefits, disability programs, an employee assistance program, adoption assistance, and paid family leave to care for a new child or sick loved one.

90%

of employees were vaccinated for Covid-19

MORE THAN 200

Virtual training were attended last year by 2,200 employees

The Franklin County Cooperative Health Improvement Program

One of the great benefits of working for Franklin County is the commissioners’ continued focus on wellness and the series of tools provided for Board of Commissioners employees and their families to live their best, healthiest, happiest lives.

The county’s wellness program, ThriveOn, focuses on the whole person and the desire that each of us has to “live well”. Instead of looking for ways that a person should improve to achieve better health, ThriveOn encourages behavior changes made from the desire to live and be well, emphasizing the setting of achievable goals and celebrating one’s accomplishments.

ThriveOn offers a variety of supports to county employees, including traditional ideas like gym membership reimbursement, tobacco cessation programing, and financial incentives, but also health coaching, nutrition counseling, maternity support, access to comprehensive cancer resources, dedicated on-call nurses for both physical and emotional health support, and more.

THRIVE ON

recognizes that wellness is a lifestyle, not just physical activity and nutrition, but also including emotional and environmental health, and that it is a journey.

This year, ThriveOn introduced new Wellness Your Way programing with a thoughtful menu of health activities and incentives focusing on physical, emotional, and financial wellbeing, and more than 700 participants registered for the annual Franklin County 5K and ThriveOn Challenge.

This investment by the commissioners in their team has not gone unnoticed, and this year the county was named Sixth Healthiest Employer in Ohio for its size and achieved a gold level award from the Healthy Business Council of Ohio for healthiest worksites.

Results of the Commissioners' Inverstment in their Team

Human Resources

288 Jobs Posted
2,772 APPLICATIONS RECEIVED
119 Hires
26 New positions created

Doing Business with The County in 2021

6,494 total number of purchase orders
$375,447,200 - Total dollar amount of purchase orders
445 purchase orders with Small and Emerging Business Enterprises totaling $15,128,516.71
6,866 vendors registered to do business with the county

County Print Shop

1,869,433 items copied or printed
220,406 election ballots
$1,051,356.73 savings by using the county print shop for these and other printings

County Mail Room

1,869,433 pieces of mail processed
$226,316.73 savings by using the county mailroom

Surplus Auction

$4,432,708.21 worth of obsolete county property items has been sold via internet auction to date