Owen County’s request for funds to cover the cost of a gas line in the county didn’t make it into Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s proposed $17 billion budget presented last week.
But local officials said they aren’t surprised.
“I didn’t anticipate Owen County being included in the original budget,” said Billy O’Banion, Owen County Judge-Executive. “Most of the work we’ve done has been with Rep. Royce Adams and Sen. Damon Thayer. Their work starts now.”
O’Banion explained that since the state’s budget starts in the House of Representatives, Adams will put the request for funding of the project in the budget. After approval in the House, it will move to the Senate, where it will then become Thayer’s responsibility to keep the monies in the the document.
But in the end, the governor’s signature will be what determines if Owen gets funds necessary to bring a gas line to the industrial park.
“We did most of our lobbying with Royce and Damon,” O’Banion said. “While we made an official request to the governor, I simply didn’t expect it to be in the first draft of the budget.”
Owen wasn’t the only Northern Kentucky community that didn’t get its project included. One of the only Northern Kentucky projects included was $14.2 million to Northern Kentucky University to renovate a science building on campus there. The school also received permission to float $17.3 million worth of bonds to complete the financing of the student union building, at a cost of $38 million.
Also included in the budget was $26.6 million for Gateway College for construction of an advanced manufacturing center at the Boone County campus. The Gateway project was the only project from a list put together by the regional consensus committee. In addition to the gas line projects, others on the list not getting funding included monies for a farmer’s market in Covington, an expansion of Lake Williamstown and water and sewer upgrades in Northern Kentucky.
O’Banion pointed out that the county is included in the judicial budget. A new court building is ranked 10th on a list of approximately 16 projects to be completed in the next two years.
The judge said those projects are usually funded so he anticipates that this one will move forward as well.
“I’d be surprised if it didn’t get funded,” he said.
Rep. Royce Adams said it would be late February or early March before Owen County will know if funding for the gas line project is included in the budget. It will take that long, he said, before legislators will know if there will be bonding of infrastructure projects.
“It still remains to be seen,” he said, adding that Fletcher has proposed changing the way the payment from the Phase I funds is received, and if that happens bonding infrastructure projects will be difficult. But he added that “if infrastructure projects are bonded, the gas line remains a priority.”
Raises for teachers
Local teachers may get a raise from the governor’s budget.
Gov. Fletcher has proposed spending $233 million over the next two years to cover the increases for teachers in the commonwealth.
That raise would be equivalent to a 2-percent annual increase but would also include extra pay that would be required for the extension of the school year by three days.
With the current Kentucky calendar being set at 175 days and the national average at 180, Fletcher said it was time for a change.
Around the world, the average school calendar stands at 193 days, Fletcher said.
“Recognizing this competitive disparity, there is a national trend toward increasing school days,” Fletcher said. “Since 1980, many states have done so. But, in Kentucky, the school calendar hasn't changed since 1962, the year of the Cuban Missile Crisis.”
An extra professional development day would be added next year for teachers. Then two extra days of instruction would be added for students the following year.
Of the total set aside for education, $20 million will go to teachers who work in special education and in schools that have been classified as “struggling.”
House leaders had included $212 million in their proposal. That amount would have meant a 7-percent increase over the two-year period, which would raise teacher pay to $46,500.
“Members of the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee will consider the governor’s recommendations as they craft a 2006-2008 state spending plan,” said Royce Adams in his weekly column. “Any budget plan that is introduced is expected to be amended many times before a final version is voted upon between now and April.”
“Our children's education — one of the primary responsibilities of state government — will also receive high priority as we investigate the best way to spend our precious financial resource,” added Sen. Thayer.
Prevailing wages
Also part of the budget was the elimination of prevailing wages on state projects. Fletcher said in his address that eliminating prevailing wages on the projects would increase the number of projects that could be funded during the biennium. The law currently requires contractors to pay workers union scale for projects using public money. It has come under fire recently because it raises the cost of labor for such projects.
Also included in the budget:
• An additional $47 million to fund preschool for at-risk and low-income children.
• A $50-million increase in operating funds for state universities.
• $59 million for education technology.
• $100 million for local school construction.
• $75 million for improvement and maintenance of county and city roads.
•$290 million in federally-backed bonds to widen portions of the three interstates in the state.
•$350 million for a downtown upgrade in Louisville.
• $66 million for construction of a health sciences research center at the University of Louisville.
• $35 million for construction an arena at the Kentucky Horse Park.
• $76 million for the construction of a biological/pharmaceutical complex at the University of Kentucky Medical Center.
Extra funding for this year’s budget is coming from an increase in the revenues from sales and corporate income taxes as well as about $400 million more generated from the increase in the state’s cigarette tax. An additional $120 million is expected as a result of savings announced earlier this month by the governor.

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