City revises budget ordinance; Mayor praises city workers’ storm response
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021 — The Bardstown City Council approved first reading of an ordinance that will covers what Aaron Boles, chief financial officer, called “non-major” city funds.
Boles said that the city’s new auditor noted that the city’s budget ordinances approved each year have included only the city’s general fund and the combined utilities funds. The city’s annual budget ordinances have not included smaller city funds, which include the self-insurance fund, municipal road aid fund, equipment fund, cemetery fund, and others.
According to Boles, the city’s new auditor recommended that the city include those funds in its official budget ordinance because the council should vote on and approve all of the city’s budget categories. Boles said that the practice is commonplace among other city budgets he’s examined.
The new ordinance groups all of the “non-major” 2020-2021 budget funds under one ordinance. Future budget oridnances will include all of the non-major funds, Boles explained.
Mayor Dick Heaton said that the city council has always reviewed the non-major funds as part of the annual budget review process; the difference is that the non-major funds will in the future be included in the city’s budget ordinance.
ROWAN CREEK PROJECT CHANGE ORDER. The Bardstown City Council approved a change order of $10,725 requested by Grant’s Excavating for additional rock removal along KY 245 that is required in order to lay the Rowan Creek wastewater trunk line.
The additional rock removal is expected to add about 45 days to the project’s completion day, now expected for late August 2021.
The council also approved a request for additional time and $13,200 in extra funding to HDR Engineering for its construction management and inspection services of the project for the extended construction time.
ORBIS RESOLUTION. The council unanimously approved a resolution in support of tax incentives for Orbis Corp.’s for their $30 million expansion that included new production and warehouse space.
The expansion also included creation of 55 new jobs, Heaton explained.
The tax incentives will go into effect for a 10-year period.
Orbis was in competition with other Orbis locations for the expansion. The city upgraded the electrical substation serving Orbis to assist them with the expansion.
MAYOR PRAISES CITY EMPLOYEES. Heaton expressed his appreciation for the hard work and dedication of the city’s employees during the recent ice and snow events.
Members of the city’s customer service team stayed overnight on night to answer phones, he said. Outages were reduced in the city in part because the city aggressively trims trees along the power lines to avoid outages.
Heaton also praised the public works employees who treated and plowed the city streets.
“The whole team did a great job,” he said.
NEXT UP. The Bardstown City Council next meets at 6 p.m. March 9, 2021.
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