The Kenton County Fiscal Court approved its budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year this week.
The $282 million budget includes key investments in roads, County operations and economic development initiatives.
“One of the biggest responsibilities of the Fiscal Court is to ensure our taxpayer dollars are being used appropriately,” Judge/Executive Kris Knochelmann said. “We take that very seriously, and this budget represents our commitment to building a better Kenton County that serves all its residents effectively and efficiently.”
Included in the budget are investments in key public safety measures that benefit the entire community, including $8 million for the Kenton County Police Department and Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management, $11.2 million for the Kenton County Emergency Communications Center and $24.9 million for the Kenton County Detention Center.
The newly approved budget also contains $18 million in roads funding, with the bulk of those dollars going toward maintenance projects to ensure Kenton County residents can safely navigate our roadways.
Another key piece of the 2024-25 fiscal year budget is more than $61 million committed to capital projects in the General Fund, including $46 million in state funding to support economic development.
Projects included within the state funding are:
• $6 million to support the construction of SparkHaus, an initiative of the Fiscal
Court, Blue North and Northern Kentucky Port Authority to create an
entrepreneurial hub in Covington
• $10 million to begin the development of the Center for Biomedical Excellence in Covington, which will house Northern Kentucky University’s Salmon P. Chase College of Law and the University of Kentucky College of Medicine’s Northern Kentucky campus.
• $10 million to support site development projects. As an example, this fund previously was used to support the redevelopment of the former Drawbridge Inn in Fort Mitchell.
• $15 million in reimbursement expenses for the construction of a parking garage neighboring the Kenton County Government Center in Covington.
• $5 million to aid in the redevelopment of underutilized or previously-developed sites within Kenton County .
Kenton County Fiscal Court
Please help me understand the justification of $25.7 million for a new admin office from general obligation bonds. 1st, why the need, period?? What was wrong with continuing to lease their existing facility?
2nd, what’s the justification of borrowing that amount of money while interest rates are sky high??