Norfolk Southern spent a total of $5,975,000 on a campaign to convince voters to sell the city-owned Cincinnati Southern Railway, according to a final campaign finance report filed with the state Friday.
Voters narrowly approved the sale in the November election, with 51.56% support and a difference of just 2,614 votes.
Norfolk Southern is the only donor to Build Cincinnati's Future, the political action committee that ran the campaign. The PAC reported spending $4.2 million through mid-October; the new report discloses contributions and expenditures through Dec. 14.
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The reports show about $4.6 million was spent on ad production, ad buys, direct mail, and some printing. The rest includes consulting, research, legal services, election day staffing, and bank fees.
Pre and post-general election campaign reports are available online:
The deal is expected to close in March, when the the railway's Board of Trustees will receive the $1.6 billion sale price. A money manager will invest the funds and the Board will send the returns to the city to spend on maintaining existing infrastructure.
