State provides zero toward $11.9 million Chevy Centre debt

YOUNGSTOWN — City officials expecting money from the state’s capital bill to reduce $11.9 million debt on the Chevrolet Centre ended up empty-handed again.

Mayor Jay Williams said he put together a comprehensive package of documents, many of them articles published by The Vindicator, emphasizing the city’s need for the center and previous commitments from state officials for the funding.

But a change made by the state as to how it’s funding the 2009 fiscal year capital bill made it impossible to give Youngstown money to pay a portion of its debt on the center, said state Sen. Capri Cafaro of Liberty, D-32nd and the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance and Financial Institutions.

Because of the state’s financial problems, it used no money from its general fund to fund the capital bill, she said.

Instead, the state will borrow $1.3 billion to fund the biennial bill that provides money for hundreds of projects throughout Ohio, she said.

Read more in Wednesday's Vindicator and Vindy.com