Bardstown Mayor Heaton presents city council with $65 million FY2021-22 budget
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Thursday, May 27, 2021 — At a special noon-time meeting Thursday, Mayor Dick Heaton formally presented the Bardstown City Council with the proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2021-22.
The $65 million budget represents an increase of about $4 million over the current budget, Heaton noted. That increase is fueled mostly by $3.5 million in capital projects on city utility infrastructure that carry over from the current year.
Heaton said the city was able to use one-time $1.7 million in American Rescue Plan funds, as well as money from unrestricted reserves to balance the proposed budget.
The American Rescue Plan funds “are a help, but they aren’t funds we will be able to count on long-term,” he said.
Spending in the proposed budget ranges from infrastructure repairs and upgrades to recreation improvements and broadband internet.
The budget includes:
— $500,000 for street repairs and resurfacing.
— $125,000 to address drainage and lighting issues in the Edgewood neighborhood.
— a new gym floor in the city’s Rec. Center gym, and addition of ziplines to the Jones Avenue and Bardstown Community parks.
— $275,000 to place power lines underground in Wellington and other areas in order to reduce power outages in these areas.
— $6 million for the replacement and expansion of the city’s sewer system.
— $1.6 million to expand and upgrade the city’s broadband infrastructure to high-speed fiber.
Heaton said that like the rest of the community, the City of Bardstown’s proposed budget has had to deal with the soaring costs of construction materials and labor.
The budget will have two readings at the council’s two June meetings in order to have final approval completed by the end of the current fiscal year June 30, 2021.
NEXT UP. The council will return to in-person meetings when they next meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 8, 2021, in the council chambers on Xavier Drive adjacent to the Rec. Center gym.
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