By Jack Brammer Herald-Leader
Radcliff is wading back into the waters of unified government.
Savitch, a professor of urban and public affairs at the University of Louisville, published an analysis last year of the merger of Louisville and Jefferson County governments into a consolidated metro government in 2003. Savitch’s study, which was commissioned by state Rep. Darryl Owens of Louisville, found the merger failed to accelerate job growth and economic development as promised and was unsuccessful in streamlining government services.
Owens, an opponent of merged government, commissioned the study as a supplement for the task force appointed by Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer to study the effectiveness of consolidated government in Kentucky’s largest city.
Duvall said he wants to present an alternative view on unification from an expert who has studied consolidated governments for years and can present quantifiable data rather than opinion.
“He has told me his opinion won’t factor in,” he said of Savitch.
Anyone in a leadership position asked to vote on creating a unification commission should attend the meeting or recuse themselves from the process, Duvall said.
In addition to the Louisville report, Savitch is a former co-editor at the Journal of Urban Affairs and former president of the urban section of the American Political Science Association. He also has published nearly a dozen books or monographs on urban development, public policy and regional governance, according to Radcliff.
Radcliff City Council approved a resolution opting out of all formal discussions about unified local government after publicly challenging Hardin County United, the volunteer organization that drafted the report on the merits of unification.
In one exchange last August during a forum at Meadow View Elementary School, Duvall and Radcliff Councilman Edward Palmer asked for demographic information of the group surveyed by HCU about unified government to determine where the majority of respondents lived. Palmer said this information was pertinent to city leaders because they needed to know how Radcliff residents responded.
Luke Schmidt, a consultant for HCU, sent the survey to more than 100 community leaders across a cross section of fields, including elected officials, educators, plant managers and agricultural representatives. The study found roughly 90 percent of respondents believed unified government should be studied.
Schmidt said he promised respondents the information would remain confidential and refused to release the documents, which furthered the divide between HCU and Radcliff.
Following Radcliff’s decision to opt out of unification, Palmer and other council members expressed interest in hosting its own town hall meetings and public forums on unification as a means of due diligence but also to ensure HCU cannot use their lack of action as a weapon.
Duvall said Savitch’s study of Louisville government is relevant to the discussion in Hardin County because HCU has pointed to Louisville as an example of a successful merger.
Duvall said proponents of the Louisville merger and HCU also have argued the same points when promoting unification, including an expanded state and national profile, the ability to speak with one voice and an increase in economic development.
“I think we need to hear a different view that’s not opinion or (not) someone that’s a paid consultant but is based on facts and numbers,” he said.
The meeting has attracted attention farther south. Elizabethtown Mayor Tim Walker said he is reading Savitch’s study and has forwarded it to Elizabethtown City Council.
“I plan on being at the meeting on Aug. 27 and I hope the council will be too,” Walker said.
Elizabethtown has taken no action to opt out of unified government but the majority of the council has been critical of the plan.
Hardin Circuit Judge Ken Howard, chairman of the HCU governance subcommittee, has said either Elizabethtown or Radcliff must opt in for unification to be viable.
Hardin Fiscal Court is scheduled to hear first reading of an ordinance Tuesday to establish a unification review commission, whose members would be appointed by participating governments and be tasked with drafting a charter Hardin County residents would vote on.
Should the county approve the creation of the commission, HCU would move to the six cities requesting their participation.
Marty Finley can be reached at (270) 505-1762 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (270) 505-1762 end_of_the_skype_highlightingormfinley@thenewsenterprise.com.
Hardin Fiscal Court takes the fate of county unification into its hands starting Tuesday.
Hardin Judge-Executive Harry Berry said the first reading of an ordinance establishing a unification review commission tentatively is scheduled for Tuesday’s meeting of Hardin Fiscal Court at the H.B. Fife Courthouse in Elizabethtown. Approval of the commission would put in motion the mechanism to draft a charter for unified local government.
Hardin County United, the volunteer organization lobbying for the commission, appeared before Fiscal Court for a second time in June, but no formal action has been taken as magistrates gather information and hear from constituents.
HCU wants to present the charter to Hardin County voters by November 2014, and a plan only can be issued by the committee, a 20-to-40-member body appointed by participating governments. The appointment of the commission is not a vote in favor of unification, but creates a designated body to flesh out what unification would look like in Hardin County, HCU officials said.
Under state law, the county and at least one city must partner to form a unified government.
Ken Howard, chairman of the HCU governance subcommittee, said Wednesday he has been pleasantly surprised by responses he has heard. HCU officials installed an online mechanism allowing residents to send their opinions directly to local officials, and Howard estimated more than 200 individuals have sent responses in support of the commission to county officials.
The biggest hurdle, Howard said, is educating residents the commission’s purpose. Once learning the commission would give them a chance to vote on unification, support was generated for the endeavor, he said.
But input from county magistrates contacted by The News-Enterprise was mixed.
Magistrate Doug Goodman, whose district represents parts of northern Hardin County, said he has received negative feedback about unification from hundreds compared to small pockets of support.
“It’s just not a good feeling in the north end of the county right now regarding unification,” he said.
Goodman said he is unsure how he will cast his vote for the commission, but he said he fears Radcliff and northern Hardin County may get the “short end of the stick” if a unified government materializes. The county already has attempted a commissioner form of government, which he declared a “flop,” and he said unified government likely would leave parts of the county without proper representation.
Even now, he said, the northern part of the county has failed to secure its rightful share, including state funding for infrastructure improvements tied to the Base Realignment and Closure initiative and a county recycling trailer lobbied for by Goodman, Magistrate Roy Easter and Radcliff City Council.
“We got all this BRAC money and we got pennies in Radcliff,” he said. “We’re sitting right on top of Fort Knox.”
Radcliff Mayor J.J. Duvall has said he will release details today on a public unification forum hosted by the city later this month. Radcliff has been the most openly critical of unification since HCU introduced the plan, and the council approved a formal resolution last year opting out of any future unification plans or discussions.
Magistrate Fred Clem declined to comment on his decision or views about the commission in advance of the first reading, but he said the input he has received from constituents has been decidedly mixed with a larger percentage speaking negatively about unification during face-to-face conversations.
Magistrate Lisa Williams, on the other hand, said she has received an overwhelming share of supportive responses regarding unification, particularly from business owners, Hardin County Chamber of Commerce members and other economically minded people.
“I have been swamped with responses,” she said.
Williams expressed excitement for the possible benefits of unification, including an expanded profile as one of the largest cities in the state.
“Anything that creates jobs, I’m in favor of,” she said.
Williams also believes county officials should make the “progressive” choice of forming the commission and allowing voters to have the final say on unification.
“I think it’s our duty to at least move to the next phase and draft a document,” she said.
Magistrate Garry King said he was “noncommittal” about the creation of the commission but said most of the constituents who have contacted him by email or spoken to him in person have been critical of the idea. He said Tuesday should be interesting.
“I really don’t know right now how it’s going to go,” he said of the vote. “It’s going to surprise me. I think it could be close.”
The initial push for unification by HCU was delayed when officials found a flaw in state legislation that could entrap cities within a unified government even if they voted against it.
With the aid of state legislators representing Hardin County, HCU successfully lobbied to change state law governing unification to ensure cities would have a right to opt out of a unified government if the majority of their residents rejected the charter at the polls. The law also has improved in that it has created a voting bloc for rural Hardin County, Howard said, meaning unification must receive majority support in unincorporated Hardin County to pass.
Howard said he is not concerned about Fiscal Court’s vote.
“I trust our elected representatives to make an informed decision that works best for everybody,” he said.
Marty Finley can be reached at (270) 505-1762 or mfinley@thenewsenterprise.com
Article originally posted to the Williamson Daily News Web site: http://www.williamsondailynews.com/view/full_story/19712368/article-PCFC-to-use-coal-severance-to-attract-air-service?
JULIA ROBERTS GOAD
Staff Writer
PIKEVILLE, Ky. — In a heavily debated decision, the Pike County Fiscal Court agreed to support request a to use multi-county coal severance funds to fund efforts to bring commercial air service to the Pikeville/Pike County Airport.
In a courtroom filled to near capacity with people involved in the debate, the Court approved the resolution 5 – 2. Judge Executive Wayne T. Rutherford reversed his previous position and voted to throw his support behind the request currently pending before the Kentucky Department of Local Government of an appropriation of $1 million from the multi-county coal severance tax fund to the City of Pikeville, to be used to support the initial profitability and long-term sustainability of an airline.
The money is part of a proposed revenue guarantee package that would be used to recruit a major airline to service the airport (whose code letters are PBX). That package has been a point of contention at Fiscal Court. The Floyd County Fiscal Court has already passed a resolution supporting the use of the tax money to attract an airline to PBX.
The concept is that some money is set aside in as the revenue guarantee fund.
An airline doing business in the county would set a financial goal for each month. If the company falls short, money from the revenue guarantee package would be used to bring the amount of money the airline makes up to the monthly goal. The money would be given to the airline on a monthly basis so the company would not incur financial losses during the first two years of operation.
The Airport Authority has already secured a $650,000 grant from the Department of Transportation which would be part of the $2.5 million package, along with money from counties in West Virginia and Virginia that would be serviced by the airline, and funds from a travel bank.
Luke Schmidt of L.B. Schmidt and Associates, a consulting company, hired by the City of Pikeville and the Eastern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce to study bringing commercial air service to Pike County, gave a snapshot of the project so far, calling the project He said commercial air service is vital to supporting existing businesses as well as recruiting new ones to Pike County.
Two court members, District One Magistrate Jeff Anderson and District Six Magistrate Chris Harris, were the only “no” votes when the court voted to support the request.
“Until now, in the public eye, but it has been a one-sided conversation in favor of the project,” Magistrate Harris said.”That is due, in large part to a publicity campaign by the Chamber of Commerce, the newspaper … you have done a good job at getting the word out for your side of the story. But there is the rest of the story.”
“My opinion of what we are looking at is corporate welfare,” Harris said. “We are making sure that airlines will make a profit.”
He added that, if PBX has such potential for profit, he did not understand why the Airport Authority was having to work so hard to bring their service to PBX.
“I am surprised that only two airlines are interested if we are guaranteeing these folks that they’re going to make money,” Harris said.
“You can characterize it as corporate welfare, but I think it is a job creator,” Luke Schmidt said. “The money is there, communities apply for it every year, if the money is available, doesn’t it make sense to try to get your fair share it?”
“No,” Magistrate Harris said. “I don’t subscribe to that theory, that there is this money out there, and we need to waste it before somebody else does. That’s a different philosophy maybe than a lot of other politicians have, I don’t think just because the money is there that we need to go waste that money. I think we, as elected officials, have a duty to the public to protect their tax dollars, to only use their tax dollars on projects that have a good likelihood of success.”
Harris said that with the bleak financial outlook the county is facing caused by the decrease in coal severance funds, he felt government should be spending less money, not investing in the airport project.
“The coal industry is cutting back,” he said. “The airlines are cutting back because less people are flying. Our population in this area is declining. Those are facts.”
He said he thought the project was trying to attract airlines “by throwing tax dollars at them.”.
“We’re saying, ‘Here, look at all this money you can have if you come here and operate,’” Harris said. “If our area was a good candidate for commercial air service, it wouldn’t be much of a sale. I’m not convinced that this project will continue after the subsidy ends.”
Harris said people in his district do not see the project as a benefit to the county.
District One Magistrate said that while he appreciates that the Airport Authority is operating in a more transparent and communicative manner, he still does not think the commercial air service is a viable project for Pike County.
“We want the area to progress,” Anderson said. “But we have had layoffs, it’s like the industry has taken a tremendous gut-punch. We need to manage our money efficiently and effectively. Will it succeed? I don’t think so, I hope I’m wrong.”
Judge Executive Wayne T. Rutherford has had a position that the Fiscal Court was left out of much of the latest airport business by the City of Pikeville and the Airport Authority. He has publicly opposed the use of multi-county money to support the revenue guarantee, but changed his position – with reservations.
“No one worked harder to build this airport than I did,” Rutherford said. “The city needs to sit down with us, and not go off on your own with projects we have worked on. I have had serious doubts, but we are a progressive community and we need to stay that way. I am willing to take a chance, we need to move on.”
Read more: The Williamson Daily News – PCFC to use coal severance to attract air service
PIKEVILLE, Ky. (WYMT) – It was a highly anticipated vote by some Eastern Kentucky leaders.
The Pike County Fiscal Court was asked to pass a resolution asking for multi-county coal severance money that would help fund commercial air service.
The fiscal courtroom was packed Tuesday with people waiting and wondering what the fate of commercial air service would be.
Without a resolution from the court asking for multi-county coal severance money, the possibilities for air service would be unlikely.
They have debated the topic for months, and Tuesday’s meeting was no different.
“I feel like we need to look at this airport as the potential for growth for pike county,” said District 5 Magistrate Hillman Dotson.
Some disagree.
“The overall success rate for this program is thirty percent. Now that’s not the kind of investment i would make with my money,” said District 6 Magistrate Chris Harris.
After everyone had spoken their opinions about commercial air service, it came down to the vote. Many people say they were not sure how it would end up.
Judge Rutherford made the motion, and after a long pause the vote was on.
The court passed the resolution five to two.
Supporters call it a victory for the region.
“It’s a sign on progressive vision, and I think it creates a positive business environment for local industry and new industry looking for the area,” said Jared Arnett, Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce President.
Others fear it will be money wasted.
“For us to say there’s this extra money sitting over there we just need to grab it before someone else does, I don’t fall in line with that,” said Harris.
But for now all they can do is wait and see.
The court should know in about a month if it is awarded the multi-county coal severance money.
Multi-county coal severance funding must be approved in the county that would host the proposed project and by another neighboring county that would benefit.
The Floyd County Fiscal Court has already approved the resolution, but commercial air service project leaders have found resistance from the Pike County Fiscal Court.
Floyd County Judge-Executive R.D. “Doc” Marshall feels it would be a good investment to use multi-county coal severance funds to bring commercial air service to the region.
“The benefits of corporate people to be able to locate into our area — be it businesses, small factories, restaurant chains, anything that has a group [that travels via plane] — for them to be able to come to a nearby adjacent county, which is our next door neighbor, Pike County, would benefit Floyd County, for sure,” Marshall said.
The U.S. 23 sewage project that is currently underway will open up Floyd County to new businesses, Marshall explained, and those business leaders will need an efficient means of travel.
During a July 17 meeting, the Pike County Fiscal Court took no action on the proposal, and Magistrate Chris Harris, who did not attend the meeting, voiced his opposition, via letter, to using “local tax dollars to subsidize commercial air service.”
Schmidt compared the proposal to the ways county, city and state governments authorize tax incentives for new industries.
“Anytime an airline starts a new route or expands into a new market, particularly a smaller market like Pikeville, they want to be assured that they are not going to be losing money left and right,” he said. “This is similar to recruiting new industry into a community. Many local governments approve tax incentives for that company, and it’s all designed to help that industry get off to a good start.”
Coal severance funding would ensure the airline that its revenue targets will be met during its first two years of operation in Pikeville. If its revenue goal is, for example, $2 per month and it makes only $1, then coal severance funding would help the company to make up the shortfall.
Schmidt, on behalf of the chamber, city and airport board, issued a press release on Aug. 1 encouraging public support in the matter. He reported that 121,000 passengers fly out of the region from other airports each year.
“When it comes to establishing airline service, it’s all about connectivity — the ability to connect PBX [the airport] literally with the world and the global economy,” he said in the press release. “The proposed service that we are working on will do just that — connect Pike County with the global economy.”
NOVA Pharmacy owner Joel Thornbury noted a local commercial air service would save his pharmacy between $5,000 and $10,000 annually. Appalachian Wireless Marketing Director Danny VanHoose also favors the resolution.
“Think about what this will mean when a community wants to recruit a new business or industry to the region and the CEO of the prospect company can fly commercially right to the heart of the Central Appalachian Region,” he said in the press release. “Simply put, it means new jobs.”
A local commercial airline will also help Pikeville Medical Center, President/CEO Walter E. May said. He has asked Rutherford and county magistrates to pass the resolution.
“Pikeville Medical Center spends thousands of dollars each year on commercial air travel,” he said. “In addition, the hospital spends thousands of dollars each year chartering aircraft in order to meet our mission of serving the region and our patients. Having this service in town will help our medical staff as they travel in and out of the community. This service will also help us recruit new physicians to the community.”
Commercial air service proponents are not seeking funding from the county; only the permission to use multi-county coal severance funding.
Schmidt reported that two commercial airlines have expressed interest in providing service at the Pikeville-Pike County Airport. If made available, the service would benefit residents of 13 counties in eastern Kentucky, southwestern Virginia and southwestern West Virginia.
The city’s multi-county coal severance funding request is one of 29 multi-county coal severance funding applications that are being considered by state officials, and it’s the only application that is currently incomplete, Schmidt reported. He isn’t sure whether the resistance of Pike County leaders will affect the decision of state leaders who distribute the funds.
“Hopefully, this issue will be resolved next Tuesday,” Schmidt said. “I would hate to see us lose this funding.”
If the court approves the resolution, notification of multi-coal severance funding grants should take approximately one month, Schmidt reported. He will then provide a community incentives package to encourage the two airlines to offer commercial services in Pikeville.
Schmidt encourages local residents to get involved.
“Anyone interested in commercial air service should pick up the phone and call their magistrate or the judge and share their support and encourage the members of the fiscal court to vote yes on the resolution,” he said.
Leaders in Hardin County and Elizabethtown will decide in coming weeks whether to pursue merger talks. Ordinances establishing a unification review commission must pass Hardin County Fiscal Court and the Elizabethtown City Council.
“By law, the minimum legal requirement is that we have approval to form the commission by the county court and the largest city in the county, which in this case, would be Elizabethtown, says consultant Luke Schmidt.
If approved by those two bodies, ordinances would eventually go before each of the five remaining incorporated cities in Hardin county, which include Radcliff, Sonora, Upton, Vine Grove, and West Point.
Voters will ultimately decide if city and county governments merge when the question is put on the 2014 ballot. In the meantime, the unification review commission will develop a plan for merged government that will deal with issues such as tax rates and the makeup of a metro council. The commission will consist of 20 to 40 citizens appointed by the participating governments.
Pike County has witnessed two political controversies in the past couple of weeks: The spat between County Judge-Executive Wayne Rutherford and the ANE over
Rutherford’s efforts to establish a natural gas filling station using coal severance tax funds, and the decision of the Pike County Fiscal Court to refrain from voting on a proposal to support an application for $1 million in severance tax funds to attract commercial air service to Pike County Airport
What both controversies make painfully apparent is that Pike County deserves a more open and objective process for deciding how to use coal severance tax funds. To
In an ideal world, an open call for proposals for severance tax funds would be issued, and a summary describing the proposals along with a detailed specification of robable
This doesn’t happen, obviously. Too often the relevant decisions are made behind the scenes, and elected officials are subsequently not willing to answer questions about
With all due respect, asking to be informed about how and why millions of dollars — funds that are supposed to be allocated for improving the economic stability of Pike
County — are distributed in a particular manner is not “nitpicking.” It’s political accountability, and it’s a basic right of any democracy.