Ohio's HB 96 Budget Bill Reshapes Local Aid: What Cincinnati Stands to Gain and Lose Compared to Columbus and Cleveland

Ohio's House Bill 96, the state's fiscal year 2026-2027 general operating budget signed into law earlier this year, allocates roughly $210 billion over two years in combined state and federal funds. For Cincinnati residents, the bill's fine print matters: the city's share of Local Government Fund disbursements, transit-linked capital dollars, and social services matching grants differs in measurable ways from what Columbus and Cleveland are positioned to receive, according to figures in the Ohio Office of Budget and Management's enacted budget documents.

The timing is pointed. Cincinnati is mid-way through a capital improvement cycle, and City Hall is relying on state formula funding to close a roughly $35 million gap in its FY2026 infrastructure plan, according to the City of Cincinnati's adopted capital budget. Meanwhile, the broader national context of federal program uncertainty, including reductions to several USAID and public health grant streams under the current administration, makes state-level funding even more consequential for municipalities that previously supplemented local budgets with federal pass-through dollars.

How the Numbers Break Down Across Ohio's Three Largest Cities

Under HB 96, the Local Government Fund, which distributes a portion of state income and sales tax receipts directly to municipalities, is projected to send Hamilton County jurisdictions, including Cincinnati, approximately $48 million in FY2026. Columbus, in Franklin County, is projected to receive more than $72 million through the same formula, and Cuyahoga County, home to Cleveland, falls roughly in between at an estimated $61 million, according to the Legislative Service Commission's budget analysis. The disparity reflects population weighting in the distribution formula, but policy analysts note that Cincinnati's higher poverty rate, currently around 27 percent according to U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey five-year estimates, means each dollar must stretch further than in Columbus, where the poverty rate sits closer to 19 percent.

The bill also contains a new $500 million Broadband Expansion and Digital Equity line item. Cincinnati benefits from its existing partnership with Cincinnati Bell (now Altacel) and prior federal Affordable Connectivity Program infrastructure, but the state's broadband office has confirmed that rural and exurban counties will receive priority scoring in grant applications under HB 96's allocation rules. That means urban neighborhoods in Cincinnati with persistent connectivity gaps, particularly in Bond Hill and Avondale, will need to compete through a separate municipal application track rather than the rural-priority channel, a process the state says will open for applications in October 2026.

What Residents Can Expect on the Ground

For Cincinnati households, the most immediate effects are expected in transit and public health. The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority, which operates Metro bus service, is projected to receive a 4 percent increase in state transit assistance under HB 96, amounting to roughly $2.1 million in additional annual operating support. That is a smaller percentage increase than Cleveland's RTA, which is expected to see closer to 6 percent, partly because Cleveland qualified for a distressed-transit-system designation under the bill's criteria. Metro officials have said the additional funds will help sustain existing routes but are unlikely to fund service expansions this budget cycle.

On public health, HB 96 increases state matching funds for county-level mental health and addiction recovery boards by 8 percent statewide. The Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board, which serves Cincinnati, is expected to see roughly $3.8 million in additional state dollars, projected to support outpatient treatment slots and crisis stabilization services. Local advocates working on addiction recovery note this increase partially offsets earlier reductions in federal block grant funding but does not fully restore prior capacity levels.

The next significant checkpoint is October 1, 2026, when the Ohio Controlling Board is scheduled to release the first quarterly allotment of Local Government Fund transfers and open the municipal broadband application window. Cincinnati City Council's Budget and Finance Committee has a review session scheduled for September to assess whether the city's capital plan needs adjustment based on actual disbursement figures. Residents can track Hamilton County's specific allocations through the Ohio OMB's online transparency portal, which is updated monthly.