Bardstown City Council grills Royalty over city budget overspending

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2016, 11:45 p.m. (Video added, Jan. 26, 3 a.m.) — The Bardstown City Council took time at its meeting Tuesday to ask Mayor John Royalty and city staff some pointed questions about the city’s budget and areas where the city is overspending without the council’s authority.

FIRE APPARATUS. Councilwoman Kecia Copeland asked about the difference between the price paid for the city fire department’s new ladder truck versus the price that was quoted.

Councilwoman Kecia Copeland listens to discussion Tuesday night at the Bardstown City Council’s meeting.

The original quote was approximately $746,000, and the city paid $759,000, and Copeland asked if there was a change order the council did not review.

The mayor assured the council that Fire Chief Randy Johnson could explain the difference and the additional expense may have just been additional equipment that was added to the truck. Johnson attended the meeting but left before questions surfaced about the apparatus.

If the city paid a price different that was quoted, then that’s a problem, Councilman John Kelley Jr explained.

“If you overspend on it, then the purchase is void under the law,” Kelley explained.

“We didn’t document what the extra money was for?” Councilman Bill Sheckles asked. “The procedure is not correct, regardless of what was spent — it may be a very legitimate expense.”

“You can’t bid something and then turn right around and write a check for a different amount without the council’s approval, that’s illegal,” Sheckles said.

Royalty cautioned the council against jumping to conclusions, adding that the fire chief should have a chance to explain the difference.

“Mayor, with all due respect, you’re in charge of following the budget and you write the checks … it kind of concerns me that you don’t know why that was done and you wrote the check,” Kelley said.

Councilman Bill Sheckles discusses the budget during Tuesday’s council meeting.

Sheckles echoed Kelley’s concern.

“I know how the process works — or should work,” Sheckles said. “There are certain things you have to do a certain way to be legal. You just can’t do what you want to do when you want to do it.”

WORKERS COMP OVERSPENDING. Kelley asked Royalty about the overspending reported in the Dec. 31, 2016 finance report. Halfway through the fiscal year, several city departments have already spent more than the budgeted amount for worker’s compensation insurance, including administration (107.75 percent); police (109 percent); parks & recreation (129.11 percent); fire department (204.55 percent); street department (184.65 percent); electric department (149.24 percent); and the water department(110.33 percent).

“The fire department’s worker’s comp was double what is in the budget and we paid it,” Kelley said. He said the budget should have been amended to avoid the overspending.

“The budget is a law, it’s not a guideline,” he said. “Do we have any explanation about why we keep going over budget?”

Royalty did not respond.

Kelley said the budget should be amended to account for the overspending. Not doing so removes the council’s ability to examine the overspending, once the money is spent.

Chief financial officer Tracy Hudson told the council the city’s workers compensation premiums are based on payroll, but the premium numbers changed based on a loss in the fire department the previous year.

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