The Franklin County commissioners signed off Tuesday on their part of a $645 million plan that includes a new stadium for Columbus Crew SC, additional development just west of the Arena District, and a community sports park at Mapfre Stadium, the Major League Soccer team’s current home.

The unanimous vote on a memorandum of understanding outlines the commitments of the county, city and private investors in the project and meets a year-end deadline set by the league to keep the Crew in Columbus.

Franklin County will cover about $45 million of the development costs, via annual payments of $2.5 million starting in 2020. County Administrator Kenneth Wilson said the agreement "represents a transformational economic-development opportunity" that would create jobs and establish a community sports park and new business, residential and office spaces.

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"And (it will) secure a very important home team for future generations to enjoy and take pride in," Wilson told the commissioners. "This resolution before you truly represents what’s best about Columbus in relation to public-private partnerships."

The commissioners' vote came about a week after Columbus City Council approved its part of the deal, and it marked the culmination of more than a year of efforts by local groups and officials to ensure that the soccer team remains in Ohio’s capital city.

"This plan brings hundreds of millions of dollars of private-sector capital to our community," Alex Fischer, president and CEO of the Columbus Partnership, told the commissioners.

In other business, the commissioners approved nearly $461 million in general-fund spending in the 2019 budget, down about 1.7 percent from expected 2018 expenditures.

No tax increases are proposed, and the final spending plan for the 14 agencies overseen by the commissioners was in line with recommendations that Wilson made last month before a series of public hearings.

As expected, no spending authority was granted to the Franklin County Board of Elections; $9.4 million in appropriations for that office remain as part of the commissioners’ reserves.

That move came after the two Republican members of the elections board declined to sign a memorandum with the three commissioners — all Democrats — agreeing to fund public-service advertisements promoting early voting and explaining new voting machines being bought and put into use in 2019.

In advance of the November general election, the two Republicans had blocked ad spending in a 2-2 vote in which the board's two Democrats voted in favor of the spending.

Republicans Brad Sinnott and Doug Preisse said the spending was no longer necessary because the county's early-voting center has been in the same location for several years, the Ohio secretary of state had sent absentee-ballot applications to all eligible voters, and tens of millions of dollars in campaign spending would adequately publicize the election.

The commissioners countered that the nonpartisan public-service announcements have been funded for years to promote early voting and provide other nonpartisan information for those wanting to cast an absentee ballot.

Absent an agreement on 2019 spending, the elections board will continue to operate, even without a full annual appropriation approved in advance of Jan. 1. Instead, the commissioners will have to approve spending for the elections board piecemeal to cover monthly office, payroll and other obligations.

mkovac@dispatch.com

@OhioCapitalBlog