By: Charles Romans
Carter County Times
The Carter County Fiscal Court was presented with state funds at a special meeting on May 18. Kentucky State Representative Patrick Flannery and State Senator Robin Webb were in attendance to present the court with the funds.
“It is good to be here with you all. We have had a very busy spring and a lot of challenges in the budget, especially with transportation,” Webb told the court. “We anticipate this continuing to be a challenge, and we will start working on the next budget now.”
Webb then told the court that the transportation budget did not look good at first, but they were able to get a “pretty good chunk of change.”
“And we’re glad to bring some of that to you now,” Webb said.
“We do have two checks tonight,” Flannery added. “The first is for $577,000. This is what is called LARP (Local Assistance Road Program) money. So, when you get calls in your magisterial districts about things that need work, this will take care of that. And there are some specially designated roads you are aware of that this will help greatly.”
Webb told the court to not be hesitant to prioritize these roads because that was the point of the LARP funds.
“It’s for the ‘ground up,’” Webb said. “And no one knows the need better than you do because you travel them every day. So, be mindful and don’t hesitate.”
“We can’t get them all,” she said of road repair funds. “But we have managed to get a few.”
Flannery told the court that the second check presented was for a little over $14.5 million, and what could be called the road budget. This money, however, wasn’t just for roads the county maintains itself.
“This is for the entirety of the county, so if there is work on I-64 or other designated roads, it will all go there for bridge repairs and things like that,” Flannery explained. “So, we are really pleased with this because it is over $15 million altogether.”
Flannery told the court that he appreciates their service to the county, and commented that they probably do not get thanked enough for what they do.
Other guests at the fiscal court meeting included Jessica Price, Program Director for the Olive Hill Center for Arts and Heritage.
“We, like everyone else, have had a hard winter,” Price told the court. “We have our big season during the Christmas season. We do the Festival of Trees, we do a play for the school kids, and we do Christmas On The Hill.”
“From the second week of December until the first week of March we were only open 14 days,” Price continued. “The lights weren’t on. The heat wasn’t on, and nothing was running. In that time, we received over $30,000 in utility bills. That has been quite a process to investigate, and the city utility department has been trying to help us. We have been working on that, and we were just able to complete our solar project.”
Price said the Center for Arts and Heritage is excited about the project completion, but because of the extremely high and unexpected utility bill their insurance provider, KAOCO, recommended that they come and speak to the fiscal court.
“We are in need of about $14,000 to pay our insurance bill for the year,” Price told the fiscal court.
“We already have a giant fundraiser that is about to happen to pay next year’s insurance,” she explained. “But we can’t do any of our programs if we can’t pay our insurance.”
The fiscal court agreed to discuss the request, but no action was taken during the special meeting.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
