Fiscal Court Gives First Reading To $46.5 Million County Budget
Mercer County Fiscal Court (file image).
Robert Moore
Herald Staff
[email protected]
The Mercer County Fiscal Court gave first reading to their $46.5 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which starts July 1. The fiscal court also approved roof repairs, gave first reading to an ordinance giving the Harrodsburg-Mercer County Tourist Commission authority to run Anderson-Dean Community Park and heard a broadband expansion update.
At their regular meeting on Tuesday, May 12, the fiscal court reviewed the budget for the 2027 Fiscal Year, which includes $15 million in grants for the Bluegrass Innovation Gateway as well as another $1 million in grants, including deceased animal removal grants and opioid abatement funds. The budget is $17 million lower than last year’s budget, Mercer County Judge-Executive Sarah Steele said.
Officials say the budget, which is balanced, includes $16 million in reserve.
On Tuesday, Judge Steele said the budget also includes a 2.7 percent cost of living allowance for county employees as well as an allocation to fund a code enforcement board.
The budget also includes $400,000 in local funding for road improvements. While assembling the budget, Steele said they learned state road funding was being cut $200,000 this year as well as $200,000 next year. State funding for roads come from the gas tax. Last week, Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency in response to rising fuel prices and issued an order temporarily lowering the state’s motor fuels tax by 10 cents, from 26.4 cents per gallon to 16.4 cents per gallon. Beshear’s executive order also prevents a two-cent automatic increase that was to take effect on July 1.
The governor has said the state gas tax reduction could save Kentuckians about $27 million per month. It also limits the money the state and local governments use for road repairs, which comes from the gas tax. $300,000 in interest income.
On Tuesday, the fiscal court unanimously approved first reading for the budget. Steele said the budget will receive second reading in June after review by the Kentucky Department for Local Government.
The magistrates also approved a change order for decking replacement on the fiscal courthouse roof. Steele said contractors had discovered issues with an exterior retaining wall. She said a temporary fix had been done and the county had subsequently received two estimates to fix the issue.
The project to repair the roof will cost $62,804 for the decking as well as $46,713 for the wall to be rebuilt.
“We have to get that fixed in order to get our roof secure,” Steele said.
The magistrates approved moving ahead with repairs and issuing 50 percent down payment.
When work starts, the fiscal courthouse may need to be shut down for a whole day, Steele said.
