Nelson Fiscal Court approves Salt River bridge loan for amphitheater project
Nelson Fiscal Court. From left, Magistrates Jerry Hahn, Jeff Lear, Bernard Ice, Sam Hutchins, Keith Metcalfe and Judge Executive Dean Watts.
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2018 — Nelson Fiscal Court gave its approval of an application for a zero-interest loan from Salt River Electric to help with financing of the renovations of the J. Dan Talbott Amphitheatre renovation project.
Magistrates Bernard Ice and Sam Hutchins discuss an item on the agenda prior to the start of Tuesday’s Nelson Fiscal Court meeting.
The $330,000 loan will help finance the project for the next three years while pledges are paid. More than $900,000 in funds have been pledged, and as those pledges will be used to repay the Salt River loan.
The magistrates also approved an amendment to the county’s lease with the state’s Department of Parks for the amphitheater property. The amendment specifies that the state will contribute $125,000 a year toward the project for the next two fiscal years.
HEAVEN HILL INDUSTRIAL REVENUE BONDS. Fiscal court approved an ordinance and pilot agreement regarding issuance of $29 million in industrial revenue bonds related to Heaven Hill’s new Distribution Center.
The ordinance is required for the industrial revenue bonds, while the PILOT agreement — “Payment in Lieu of Tax” — governed the distillery’s agreement to make a payment to the Bardstown Independent School District in lieu of being assessed school tax.
The PILOT payment to the school district is not included in the district’s computations when the board of education calculates its tax rate.
The agreements will require a second and final reading at the court’s next meeting. They follow a resolution fiscal court approved back in May 2016.
SYRINGE EXCHANGE UPDATE. Sara Jo Best, the public health director of the Lincoln Trail District Health Department provided an update and answered questions about the syringe and needle exchange program in Nelson County.
Magistrate Sam Hutchins reviews documents during Tuesday’s Nelson Fiscal Court meeting.
Nelson is the only county in the Lincoln Trail District that is participating in the exchange program. The goal of the program is not to enable drug abuse, but to stop the spread of disease among addicts by giving them clean needles. Sharing needles enables the spread of HIV, hepatitis C and other blood-borne pathogens, Best explained.
While just under 100 people were helped by the program in its first year, Best said the second year of nearly every exchange program experiences growth in the number of users in the second and subsequent years.
FARM LEASES. Fiscal court held a live auction for the rights to farm property it owns at the Nelson County Landfill. The farming rights to the property known as the Keeling Farm were sold for $230 per acre, while the right to farm the Mattingly farm property sold for $90 per acre.
Both leases are for three-year terms.
SPECIAL COURT MEETING. Due to the General Election falling on the usual Fiscal Court meeting date, the court will move its meeting to Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018.
In other business, the court:
— heard that the county’s Fall Roadside Clean-up is now under through Oct. 29th.
-30-
