COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The weak economy has made what would already be a slow winter construction season in Columbus even worse.
Now the city of Columbus is hurting for revenue as building permits and licenses are significantly down from a year ago.
The city's building services division is on the verge of having to borrow money from the city street department to make its payroll after a sizable slowdown in new residential and commercial construction and a flattened level of renovations.
In January 2008, the city issued 791 commercial building permits.
One year later, that number dropped to 413 permits.
The number of building licenses and registrations issued fell 43 percent.
And the number of city conducted inspections fell 38 percent.
With the drop in permits, licenses and inspections, comes lost revenue that the building services department was counting on.
The mayor's office has ruled out increasing building fees or dipping into the rainy day fund to cover the balance, so the question this year is will construction pick up in time to avoid more city worker layoffs?
Columbus City Development Director Boyce Safford called the recent period "among the hardest times" seen by the building services division.
"It hasn't impacted us dramatically yet, but it will if we don't see an uptick," Safford said. "We have to see a dramatic upturn in the commercial and residential market. I don't think you'll see that short-term."
Safford already has laid off eight development department employees and eliminated four vacant positions.
He said he expects to make a decision on layoffs in the coming weeks as new numbers indicate whether spring will produce an increase in construction.
Jim Hilz, the executive director of the Building Industry Association of Central Ohio told NBC 4 Tuesday that he is not expecting a dramatic increase in construction in the first six months of the year.
Hilz said he was disappointed that the federal stimulus package did not include greater help for the housing industry such as a $15,000 tax credit for homebuyers.
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