By RONNIE ELLIS
FRANKFORT — Greg Stumbo says it’s a “jobs creation bill,” an economic stimulus which could employ up to 25,000 Kentuckians. The Democratic House Speaker from Prestonsburg in Floyd County says with interest rates low, material costs down and construction companies and workers hungry for work, now is the time to improve Kentucky’s infrastructure.
Even if the state incurs “historically high” debt ratio and faces a $1.4 billion revenue shortfall in a recession which many economic experts say will be historically slow to recover. For the second time in a year, Stumbo has proposed a major spending plan to replace dozens of older public school buildings and address water and sewer needs in rural Kentucky.
Below is a partial list of some of those projects contained in the House budget which passed Wednesday and now goes to the Republican controlled Senate where it’s likely to face significant alteration. In total, the budget contains $2.2 billion in borrowing for schools, water and sewer projects and highways. About $600,000 of that is for the school projects. Most of the schools are classified as category five – those in worst condition – or category four buildings. But not all category five schools were funded, especially in districts represented by Republicans who voted against tax changes to fund the budget.
In the end, conferees from both chambers will gather to cobble together some sort of compromise budget.
SCHOOLS
Boyd County High School, $4.75 million
Caverna School (Barren County), $1 million
Elliott County High School/Lakeside, $2.1 million
Clark County Schools, $12.1 million
Floyd County Elementary re-organization, $14 million
Floyd County Vocational Education Building, $4 million
Wheelwright Gymnasium (Floyd County), $1.2 million
Glasgow High School, $5.8 million
Hart County High School, $23.1 million
Louisa West Elementary, $4 million
Madison County Model Laboratory School, $30 million
Knox County – Dewitt Elementary, $11 million
Worthington Elementary (Raceland, Greenup County), $2.3 million
Robertson County – Deming Elementary-High School, $2.3 million
Russell High School (Greenup County), $8.4 million
Russell Middle School, $8.3 million
MISCELLANEOUS PROJECTS
Western Kentucky University, Science Complex Phase III, $9 million
Licking Valley Campus-Maysville Community College, $5 million
WATER/SEWER
BARREN COUNTY
Caveland Environmental Authority, Cave City water lines, $600,000
Glasgow, waste water treatment plant improvements, $1.5 million
BOYD COUNTY
Cannonsburg Water District, line improvements, extension, $500,000
Ashland, Roberts Drive pump station, $2 million
CARTER COUNTY
Grayson Keyhole water line extension to Greenup County, $110,000
ELLIOT COUNTY
Sandy Hook Water District, system improvement, line extension, $450,000
ESTILL COUNTY
Irvine Municipal Utilities, waste water plant, $500,000
FLOYD COUNTY
7 projects totaling more than $2.3 million
GREENUP COUNTY
Flatwoods, line upgrades, $400,000
Flatwoods, Indian Road water tank, $585,000
Raceland, Cherokee Road sewer extension, $102,000
Raceland, Rogers Avenue upgrade, $20,000
Russell, water tank, $350,000
Russell, filter backwash project, $25,000
Russell, Russell Heights sewer, $600,000
Worthington, water treatment plant upgrade, $150,000
Wurtland, sewer upgrades, $150,000
KNOX COUNTY
Fiscal Court, water system extension at Stinking Creek, $2 million
LAWRENCE COUNTY
Louisa water storage tank, $300,000
Lawrence County Fiscal Court, sewer improvements, $500,000
MADISON COUNTY
North Madison Co. Sanitation District, Ft. Boonesboro, $1.3 million
South Madison Co. Sanitation District, Scaffold Lane extension, $3 million
MARTIN COUNTY
Warfield sewer project, $800,000
ROBERTSON COUNTY
Mt. Olivet Water Tank, $300,000
ROWAN COUNTY
Water system improvement, line extension, $500,000
RONNIE ELLIS writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com. Follow CNHI News Service stories on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cnhifrankfort.
