Harrodsburg City Commission Approves $19.9 Million Budget
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Robert Moore
Herald Staff
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The Harrodsburg City Commission has approved the $19.9 million fiscal year 2026 budget. At a special-called meeting on Wednesday, June 25, the commissioners voted 3 to 1 to approve the budget. Mayor Bob Williams, who’d questioned the budget when the commission gave it first reading on Monday, voted against it. Commissioner Marvin “Bubby” Isham was not in attendance at Wednesday’s meeting. Isham did attend the Monday regular meeting.
The budget as approved includes a shortfall which the city is funding from their savings. This year’s shortfall is more than $840,000 for the general fund and more than $1 million for the water and sewer.
“We can get through this year for sure,” Chief Administrative Officer Stacey Maynard told the city commission at their regular meeting on Monday, June 23. Moving forward, she said the city will “have to look at revenue on both sides.”
Last year’s original budget was more than $21 million, which Maynard said included the last of federal ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funding. That budget had a general fund shortfall of nearly $1.4 million and a water and sewer shortfall of nearly $765,000.
“It’s better this year than it was last year,” Maynard told the Harrodsburg Herald.
On Monday, Mayor Williams said the past year has been “extremely difficult” financially for city with flooding and other weather-related issues.
“Is there anything short-term we can do to shore this up?” Williams asked.
“There is not a lot of fluff in the budget,” Maynard said. Even though this year’s budget is approximately $2 million less than last year, it includes hiring extra positions as well as deferred maintenance projects for the water department.
“You can cut those things but there is a cost associated with that,” Maynard said.
Commissioner Isham said at Monday’s meeting that in all the years he has served on the city commission, they’ve always had to use the city’s financial reserves to balance the budget.
“We’ve never been able to balance the budget without taking money out of the bank,” Isham said.
He said any cuts they made would cost the city more.
“I can’t see where we can deduct any money,” Isham said.
Williams asked about other expenses, like contributions to organizations the city has no vested interest in. The mayor said “meeting the needs of essential services” is the city’s first priority.
Maynard said the money had been provided for outside agencies as far back as she could find. The only increases in this year’s budget were for Anderson-Dean Community Park and the Harrodsburg-Mercer County Industrial Development Authority.
“It’s something you all could decide,” Maynard said, but she said it did not add up to a lot of money. Not including line items the city splits with the Mercer County Fiscal Court, it amounted to approximately $40,000.
“Not a huge amount,” Maynard said.
In the past, Isham said the shortfalls were largely covered from unspent money from the previous year.
“You can’t count on that,” Williams said. “You can’t budget for something in hope it’s going to be there.”
The mayor asked if Maynard anticipated any residual revenue at the end of this fiscal year.
“I don’t anticipate a very large balance on the water and sewer side,” Maynard said. “By the time of our next meeting we should have a better idea.”
Harrodsburg had to approve the budget before the beginning of the new fiscal year on July 1. It they were to revise the budget, they would have had to hold at least two special-called meetings. On Wednesday, Maynard told the commission the budget included no changes.
“Everything is the same as the original that was presented,” Maynard said Wednesday.
On Monday, Commissioner Jack Coleman said, even with the growth Harrodsburg has experienced over the last five years, the city commission has placed itself in a financial bind. More residents and businesses increases the demand for city services, which are becoming more expensive. However, the city commission last year voted to lower the property tax rate from 0.067 to 0.061. While the rate was calculated by the state to bring four percent more revenue than the compensating rate of 0.059, it left the city in the position of digging into its fiscal reserves to pay for public services.
“I’m not saying raise taxes four percent,” Coleman said, referring to the legal limit established under state law that would require requires a public hearing before it can be put into effect.
“I’m saying raise revenue,” Coleman said.
With increasing property appraisals, it’s possible for the city to raise revenue without increasing the tax rate. Coleman estimated 150 families had moved into the community over the past 10 years, but the city commission had not raised any revenue.
“It’s something we really need to take into consideration,” Coleman said.
“We’re still experiencing growth,” he said. “Its a great thing as long as you can take advantage of it.”
Maynard said the city is looking at doing a rate study over the next year. The commission recently approved cost of living increase of 2.9 percent on the utility rates but the cost of chemicals to treat water and sewer went up 10 percent.
“We’re sitting here spinning our wheels,” Williams said. “We’ve got to figure out where other sources of revenue are.”
Maynard also announced that a crew was in town dedicated to cleaning up city streets damaged by the winter and spring weather.
“Hopefully people around town will see some improvement,” Maynard said.
She announced the city has purchased a hot box to keep asphalt hot instead of using cold patch to repair potholes. Maynard said the hot box, which has a capacity of four tons, will allow the city to purchase asphalt even when the local plant is shut down because of weather.
“It does look a lot better when they use that,” Isham said.
There have been a lot of complaints about potholes on city streets over the past several months. Officials say the city has been hampered by the weather, which has left the local asphalt plant closed for extended periods and hindered the efforts of public workers to make effective repairs.
Williams said he has been approached by drivers complaining their vehicles have been damaged by potholes.
“File it with your insurance,” the mayor said.
He asked City Attorney Norrie Currens for her advice.
“That’s one way to handle it,” Currens said.
