Meeting of April 9, 2024
Fiscal Court Meeting - April 9th, 2024 · Watch on YouTube ↗
Summary
The Hardin County Fiscal Court met on April 9, 2024, opening with prayer, the pledge, and approval of the March 26 minutes. Michelle Kale of CASA of the Heartland gave an update on volunteer advocacy for abused and neglected children, noting a shrinking waitlist and continued need for volunteers and donations. A public hearing was held on the use of county, municipal, and local government road aid funds, but no public comment was offered.
Animal Control Director Mike Manning reported strong adoption and return-to-owner numbers, an efficient 92% live-release rate, new safety equipment for officers funded by grants, and highlighted community partnerships with schools and volunteer groups. Emergency Management Director Joy Scott reviewed March storm response, training exercises, and a large multi-agency wildfire response, and reminded residents of the seasonal burn ordinance (no burning before 6 p.m. through April 15).
The bulk of the meeting centered on Judge-Executive Keith Tackett's presentation of the proposed FY2024-25 budget, a $59.6–59.9 million balanced budget that relies on roughly $4 million of a one-time Bluegrass (Blue Oval SK-related) PILOT payment to close a gap between about $22 million in recurring expenses and $17.5 million in recurring revenue. The budget includes a 2% cost-of-living raise for employees, funding for new and remounted ambulances, one new animal control position, and continued heavy subsidies to the jail, sheriff, and county attorney's office. Several magistrates—Clem, Muse, Pennington, and Yates—voiced strong concerns about using one-time PILOT and reserve funds to balance recurring expenses, warning it was fiscally unsustainable, while Tackett and other magistrates (Hicks, Thompson, Whitehead) argued the county faced unusual external pressures, including inadequate state funding for jails and lack of parity for urban-county governments, and needed to maintain service levels and employee pay. The first reading of the budget ordinance passed 5-4.
The court also approved on first reading a standing ordinance (341) authorizing routine payroll, benefits, and utility expenditures, and approved a consent agenda covering personnel resolutions, a site development contract with Dirt Work Unlimited, and committee minutes. Magistrates gave closing comments on upcoming committee meetings, a town hall forum, the county's animal shelter rabies clinic, and Child Abuse Prevention Month, along with well-wishes for County Treasurer Lisa Pittman ahead of a medical procedure.
The meeting concluded with the court voting to enter closed session to discuss pending litigation and a confidential economic development proposal, after which the meeting was adjourned.
Agenda (12)
- 4:44
Approval of March 26 minutes
The court approved the minutes of the March 26, 2024 fiscal court meeting by unanimous roll call vote.
- 5:24
CASA of the Heartland presentation
Executive Director Michelle Kale presented on CASA's advocacy work for abused and neglected children in Hardin and Larue counties, noting a reduced waitlist, volunteer needs, and upcoming fundraising events.
- 13:45
Public hearing on county road funds
A public hearing was held on proposed uses of county road aid, municipal road aid, and local government economic assistance funds for roads; no public comment was made.
- 14:27
Animal Control report
Director Mike Manning reviewed adoption, return-to-owner, and euthanasia statistics, an award-winning live-release rate, new safety equipment funded by grants, and community outreach programs including school and military volunteer partnerships.
- 30:05
Emergency Management report
Director Joy Scott recapped March storm response, training exercises, a large multi-agency wildfire response, and reminded residents of the seasonal burn ordinance restricting burning until after 6 p.m.
- 35:48
Citizens concerns and comments
The floor was opened for citizen concerns or comments; none were raised.
- 36:22
Proposed FY2024-25 budget presentation
Judge-Executive Keith Tackett presented a detailed overview of the proposed $59.6 million budget, covering revenue sources, department subsidies, inflation pressures, and the use of one-time PILOT funds to balance the budget.
- 1:07:51
First reading of budget ordinance 340
The court held the first reading of Ordinance 340, the FY2024-25 budget ordinance, with extended discussion and disagreement among magistrates over use of reserve and PILOT funds; the motion to approve passed 5-4.
- 1:37:28
Reading and adoption of ordinance 341 (standing order)
The court considered Ordinance 341, an annual standing order pre-approving recurring payroll, fringe benefit, and utility expenditures, which passed unanimously.
- 1:38:34
Consent agenda
The court approved a consent agenda including personnel resolutions for finance, EMS, and E911 departments, a construction contract with Dirt Work Unlimited, and various committee minutes.
- 1:40:54
County attorney, clerk, and magistrate comments
Officials gave closing remarks including voter registration deadlines, upcoming committee meetings, a rabies clinic, Child Abuse Prevention Month, and well-wishes for Treasurer Lisa Pittman.
- 1:45:36
Closed session
The court voted to enter closed session to discuss pending litigation and a confidential business expansion proposal before adjourning.
Motions & votes (6)
- 4:51
passedApprove the March 26, 2024 fiscal court minutes
unanimous
- 1:07:57
passedApprove the first reading of Ordinance 340, the proposed FY2024-25 county budget
5-4, Squires Muse, Pennington, Saltzman, and Yates opposed
- 1:38:01
passedApprove the reading and adoption of Ordinance 341, the annual standing order for recurring payroll, benefits, and utility expenses
unanimous
- 1:40:20
passedApprove the consent agenda items including resolutions and the Dirt Work Unlimited contract
unanimous
- 1:45:54
passedEnter closed session under KRS 61.810(1)(c) and (1)(g) to discuss pending litigation and a confidential business proposal
Moved by Judge Executive Keith Tackett · unanimous
- 3:10:46
passedAdjourn the meeting
unclear
Transcript (130 segments)
- 0:04
so when's he coming back is they making a e so it's good to see everyone here today picking a cell phone check those so s all right so this uh this is the April
- 1:24
9th 2024 Harden County here here yes please pray with me Father God we come to you today to ask for your guidance and making important decisions that are in the best interest of our County help us all to remember that it is by your grace and mercy that we serve others in a way that will enhance and benefit their
- 2:38
lives watch over our families and communities as we progress and grow in a manner that pleases you Lord we pray together this afternoon help us to remain humble and appreciative of your blessings and love Lord Jesus may we all do and say things in your glory amen amen I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all all right again thanks uh thanks for joining today uh just a quick review of the agenda as we have um approval of our minutes coming up next we have some um we have a uh a presentation uh today that I'm looking forward to uh we also have a public hearing that will go through we have some Department office
- 3:53
reports presentations uh we'll have our typical time of uh any citizens conc concerns or comments uh we will move into um some time that we'll be spending on proposed budget I'll I have a presentation at that point and then we'll move on into our first reading of of the budget ordinance uh we'll have another ordinance to deal with there and then we'll have our consent agenda that I'll uh go through and then comments uh at the end and then uh we do have a close session today uh before we adjourn okay so that's the agenda um at that we will move on to approving the Harden County Fiscal Court 326 2024 minutes is there a motion to approve so move second second um all right uh any discussion uh hearing none we will uh have a roll call Squire Clem yes Squire Hicks yes Squire Muse yes Squire
- 5:05
Pennington yes Squire Saltzman yes Squire Thompson yes Squire Whitehead yes Squire Yates yes judge executive Keith tall yes motion [Music] passes all right next we have in our informational uh uh agenda item here uh we have the court appointed special Advocates cassa of the Heartland Michelle kale will present for us today hi good evening y'all um thank you so much for for having me out this evening as judge said I'm Michelle K the executive director for Casa of the Heartland um so for those of you who might not be familiar with Casa it is court appointed special Advocates and we recruit train and support community volunteers to advocate for Abused neglected independent children in now both Harden and laroo counties um we currently have around 50 children on our waiting list and those are children that Casa has been appointed to but we don't currently have an advocate to serve those children um 50 is a large number
- 6:17
but this time last year that number was around 98 and so we have worked very strenuously in the last year to you know get children off of that weight list work with the courts to um get Casa appointed and you know recruit and train Advocates to serve those children so I'm you know very happy to see that number coming down but still 50 kiddos too many um that we really need volunteers to serve so in 2023 we were able to serve 182 children um which is a significant increase from 2022 with 126 children um so we are trying to keep up with you know the growth that we're seeing here in Harden County and surrounding counties um and then we more than doubled the number of new children served last year from 2021 um so we were able to serve 93 new children um and 64 of the 182 that we served were able to find permanency either through reunifying with their um with their parents um living with a relative a family friend or through adoption um and then some of
- 7:31
those were older youth that recommitted to the cabinet and worked toward Independent Living um but we had 64 of them that were able to achieve permanency in in some form um so the financial impact of Casa um our volunteer background checks are close to $65 um and then training is an additional 20 so that is a significant increase for us um this time last year it cost us around $15 to run a background check for an advocate and now that's up to around $65 so um we wised up and we started not running those checks until they get at least halfway through their training um and that has has helped us out quite a bit um one month of advocacy for a child with Casa is $195 and one year of advocacy with Casa is around $2,340 and that's based on our annual operating expenses the number of children served and the number of volunteers that we have um and right now our annual cost to provide advocacy for a child is about $47 less than it cost
- 8:44
for one month of foster care so casa is very efficient um in in the advocacy that we provide for the children in our community um so a lot of one of the biggest questions that we get all the time is you know what are some ways that our community or our local governments can support Casa um so monetary support is of course always appreciated with General donations budget inclusions um we do have an endowment that's eligible for tax credit we recently started accepting stock donations and then of course sponsorship for any of our events um and then come to Casa event so on March 28th we had our pinwell planting um over to Elizabeth Town Police Department I know several of you came out to support so thank thank you um it was I would say it was very successful we had close to 200 um community members come out to plant pin Wheels with us and it's really just to raise awareness throughout the month of April for Child Abuse Prevention um on May 10th we are going to have our light the night 5K over at Elizabeth Town Sports Park and then on June 15th we will have our annual farmed Fork dinner um so I invite you all to come to any of our events I think I put some invites in your folders