By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Tuesday, May 5, 2015, 11:45 p.m. — The Bardstown City Council spent more than two hours in its monthly working session most of it spent discussing the proposed 2015-16 budget.
For the Bardstown Police, the $48.8 million budget includes $30,000 to fund the purchase of body cameras and the equipment necessary to store and archive the resulting video. for the city police officers.
The members of the city council questioned Chief Rick McCubbin’s request for $160,000 to purchase four new police vehicles. In the past, the city has funded the purchase of two or three each year. McCubbin explained that now that the department has grown from 22 officers to 27, it is necessary to add additional vehicles to support the larger force.
Maintenance is expensive on the department’s older vehicles, McCubbin explained. “I’m spending more than some of the vehicles are worth to just keep them on the street,” he said.
The proposed budget also funds to equip every police cruiser with “stop sticks” — barbed sticks that officers deploy to safely deflate the tires of cars involved in police and pursuits.
FIRE DEPARTMENT. The proposed fire department’s budget on salaries — $371,000 — was a number that will likely change, Mayor John Royalty explained. The city is still negotiating with the Bardstown-Nelson County Volunteer Fire Department to replace a contract one set to expire June 30.
The budget also included $20,000 for a proposed study of merging the two fire departments that operate at the main fire station — the taxpayer-funded Bardstown Fire Department and the dues-supported Bardstown-Nelson County Volunteer Fire Department Inc. (known informally as “the corporation). Royalty said the corporation declined to fund half of the merger study, so that budget item will be eliminated.
The budget also includes $48,000 to purchase equipment so the fire department can replace its current analog radio equipment with newer digital equipment.
CITY UTILITIES. The council discussed the need to pay for contract services for the cable TV system — one contractor to assist with cable TV installs, and a second to conduct “sweeps” — a necessary maintenance measure — of the city cable TV system.
Councilmen Bill Buckman and Bobby Simpson questioned spending $100,000 for a contract to do the cable sweep services when the city could hire employees at lower cost to do the work. The council also questioned the need to spend $250,000 for a new digger truck that is shared by the city departments. A log is being kept of the usage of the existing truck in order to gauge the need.
MISCELLANEOUS EXPENSES. Councilman Fred Hagan questioned why each department in the budget had one or more “miscellaneous” budget lines. Hagan argued that “miscellaneous” expenses — with budgeted amounts up to $50,000 — prevented accurate tracking of expenses. “I would like to take them all out,” he said.
The council took no action on the budget items discussed, and will continue the budget discussions at the next council meeting, 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 12.
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