Distillery’s industrial revenue bonds prompt critical questions at fiscal court

 

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Monday, May 17, 2016, 8 p.m. — A resolution regarding industrial revenue bonds generated considerable discussion Tuesday morning at Nelson Fiscal Court.

Heaven Hill Brands is planning to build a fully automated $29 million distribution center at its Bardstown facility off Loretto Road. The 30-year bonds will allow the company to avoid paying property taxes during the life of the bonds.

Fiscal court has approved similar bonds in the past, however as magistrates Jeff Lear and Keith Metcalfe noted, the projects associated with those bonds either brought the county tax dollars or generated additional jobs.

The Heaven Hill project would do neither, though the distiller has agreed to make payments in lieu of taxes to the local school system.

Jeff McKenzie, an attorney with Bingham, Greenbaum & Doll, represented Heaven Hill and described the project as the distillery’s continued investment in its Bardstown facility. Competition for new distillery-related projects is at an all-time high, McKenzie explained.

But Metcalfe and Lear said the lack of jobs or tax revenue for the county made this project different than past industrial revenue bond requests.

“This opens up the door to something else,” Lear said after the meeting. “I’m just afraid of this being a slippery slope. How do you deny other businesses who want the same thing?”

Judge Executive Dean Watts said he supported the resolution because it was important for county government to be seen as “business friendly” in the wake of the competition for new bourbon industry projects.

Metcalfe asked the court to table the matter in order to give him more time to research the project and its benefit to the community.

While the county won’t get property tax revenue from the project for the life of the bonds, the investment means the company doesn’t plan to reduce employment in Nelson County, McKenzie said.

After additional discussion, the resolution for the bonds was approved in a 4-2 vote, with Lear and Metcalfe casting votes against approval, and Magistrates Jerry Hahn, Sam Hutchins and Bernard Ice voting in favor along with Watts.

FIRE DUES. After a brief public hearing, the court unanimously approved a request from the Nelson County Fire Department to raise its annual dues from $50 to $60. The dues are listed on property tax bills and collected by the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office.

The court only approved part of the fire department’s request, however. The court did not approve the fire department’s request to include an automatic $2 per year increase in the fire dues.

The court also received a petition from the Boston Fire Department requesting an increase in its fire dues.

The Boston department would like to raise its annual dues from $40 to $50. According to the department’s 2015 financial statement the department ran a deficit and needs the increase to keep up with rising costs.

The court scheduled a public hearing for its next meeting on Tuesday, June 7, 2016.

MURPHY LANE UPDATE. County road engineer Jim Lemieux told the court that the road surface failure this weekend on Murphy Lane is due to the creek undercutting the bank, which allowed the road to settle.

Murphy Lane is expected to be closed for an extended amount of time while engineers look at the costs to repair the road, he said. The county will seek permission of property owners to create a turn around.

In other business, the court:

— gave final approval of its 2016-17 budget.

— approved a request for a stop sign in Copperfield subdivision.

— approved the appointment of Tim Sharp to the Bardstown Industrial Development Corp.

— appointed Judy Cedarholm to the Lincoln Trail Aging Advisory Council.

 

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