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$10.5 million downtown construction project begins amid budget shortfall

Road construction has begun on Summit Street, but the money was not originally allocated in this year's CIP budget.

If you plan on traveling down Summit Street this summer, there's a good chance you'll run into construction.

A multi-million dollar project is now underway in between Monroe and Washington Streets. 

The $10.5 million dollar project has some people asking questions.

"Toledo still has a budget hole. The city anticipates a $20 million less in revenue this year which then creates a hole in our CIP budget. So, how do we recoup that and what other projects need to be cut? Those are my concerns," said Toledo City Councilperson Katie Moline.

Despite the budget hole, the Summit Street improvement project is moving forward, even though according to councilperson Moline, who is also a certified public accountant and regularly reviews budgets, it wasn't in the city's original capital budget for this year.

Moline is also concerned because the city doesn't currently have a finance director.

This expenditure on construction means it's likely that cuts will have to be made in other places to limit the city's shortfall.

WTOL asked the Mayor's Wade Kapszukiewicz administration about it and got this response.

"We are not sure we would have started a project like this if we were starting today. However, we did not start it today. We started it nine months ago. And hundreds of thousands of dollars have already been spent," Administration Communications Director Ignazio Messina said.

Construction didn't start until this week, however the city's response was that planning and engineering for the project started months and months ago.

Still, Toledo City Council only approved the project last Wednesday. 

Councilperson Moline as well as Councilperson Larry Sykes expressed concerns about the project in that meeting.

Just hours before, Moline learned about the resignation of the city's Finance Director. 

"I think this project is going to look really good for Toledo, for our development, and help businesses in downtown Toledo. But when undertaking a project like this, having answers to how we can afford to reconcile it to a budget deficit should be answered," Moline said.

The project was passed 10 to two in city council with the belief that it will bring in jobs as well as economic development.  

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