By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Wednesday, May 13, 2015 — Tuesday night’s Bardstown City Council meeting was opened with a bang — literally — as Mayor John Royalty handed the gavel to a visiting 4-H’er in order to open the meeting.
Dressed in matching green shirts, the youth were accompanied by the local extension office 4-H youth development agents, Danielle Hutchins and Luke Fries.
“4-H isn’t just cows and chickens anymore,” Hutchins told the council. “We have kids who go on to day camps where they fly planes, we really try to keep up with the trends in youth development.
BUDGET DISCUSSION. Much of Tuesday’s meeting was devoted to a discussion of the city’s proposed 2015-16 $48.8 million budget.
UTILITY REVENUE PAYING GENERAL FUND EXPENSES. Councilman Fred Hagan told the council that the city budget is too reliant on utility revenues to pay for general fund expenses.
“I want the electric department to quit funding the general fund,” Hagan said. The transfer of utility profits to pay for general fund basically amounts to the city’s electric customers subsidizing the general fund for city residents who do not pay for city electrical service. The city transfers hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to help pay for general fund expenses — police and fire protection, street maintenance, recreation and other expenses.
“It’s always been that way,” Royalty said of the fund transfers. “If you do not want to do the transfers, you have to raise taxes.”
Public Works Director Larry Hamilton told the council that the city has been blessed to have the electric utility revenue surplus to help fund the general fund — but warned the council that may not always be the case.
“As long as your utility rates are competitive with other communities, then its OK,” he said of the transfers. “But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t raise taxes to support general governmental function.”
Only 75 percent of city residents pay the city for electric service, and it is the surplus revenue from their service that is transferred to help pay for services that benefit 100 percent of the city’s residents, he said.
“If I lived on Johnson Street and found out that my electric bill was partially funding general fund services in Springhill and they weren’t contributing an equitable amount, I would sue,” Mills told the council.
Hagan agreed. “If the general public knew this was going on, this room would be packed,” Hagan said. If the city’s residents understood that their city utility bill is paving streets while their neighbor across the street on KU isn’t paying to pave the streets, they would be upset, he said.
Lydian supported using the utility surplus for general fund expenses rather than putting the money back in the city coffers. “Otherwise you have to raise taxes,” he said.
A franchise fee charged to non-city electrical customers may be an alternative to consider, Mills told the council. Hagan suggested the finance committee take up the issue.
CONTRACT OR IN-HOUSE? Following up on discussions from the finance and cable & electric committees, the council agreed to place in the budget money that will have city employees conduct maintenance sweeps of the city cable TV system. Periodic checks are necessary to insure quality signal quality throughout the system.
The city will add three new entry-level employees, one help reduce the need to use a contractor for cable TV installations, the other two will devote their time to the cable sweeps. The move will require the purchase of some equipment, but the move will eliminate the $100,000 contract for cable TV sweep services, and cut by one-half of the money paid to a contractor to help with cable TV installs.
ROAD MAINTENANCE. In an effort to catch up with road paving needs, the council discussed adding $100,000 to the proposed $350,000 paving budget. Jessica Filiatreau, city civil engineer, told the that the city needs to pave approximately 5.8 miles each year in order to have all the city streets in a 15-year cycle. Councilmen Fred Hagan and Francis Lydian said that the city streets have taken a beating, and many are in need of repair or repaving.
NEXT UP. The council will meet next at 7 p.m. May 26 in the council chambers in the City Hall Annex building on Xavier Drive.
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