State budget woes worry county officials

By RONNIE ELLIS

LEXINGTON — While state lawmakers and the governor argue about how to fill a $1 billion-plus shortfall in the state budget, county officials watch nervously and wait.

“We’re just waiting to see what’s going to happen,” said Barren County magistrate Howard Bowman Jr., a Republican. “We’re needing money – just like any other county – and the last three years we haven’t gotten any.”

His fellow magistrate, Democrat Charles Allen, said Barren County used to get as much as $1 million in state aid to maintain county roads – but not anymore.

Tony Quillen, a Republican Greenup County commissioner, said Bowman and Allen probably shouldn’t hold their breath waiting for state aid in the upcoming budget.

“It’s not if they’re going to cut,” Quillen said, speaking of state legislators. “They’re going to cut. Now what part of the county budget is it going to affect?”

Local officials from across the state gathered Wednesday in Lexington for the annual winter conference of the Kentucky County Judge/Executive Association and they’re not looking for good news from Frankfort. They’re expecting the legislature to pass a drastically scaled-back budget with little money for local needs and they say their local constituents are in a surly mood about Washington especially but also Frankfort.

Kenny Sowder, a Fleming County magistrate who calls himself a moderate Democrat, said when Republicans and Democrats sit down on Fleming County Fiscal Court to approve a county budget they don’t start out trying to paint the other side as extremists on some “polarizing issue.”

“It seems like our legislators in Frankfort and in Washington make the most polarizing statement they can to help their party in elections,” Sowder said. “In Fleming County, we balance our budget by compromise. Why can’t they do that in Frankfort?”

Pike County Judge/Executive Wayne Rutherford, a Democrat, sees the same problem.

Lawmakers and the governor “need to come together and solve our problems instead of just putting a band aid on the (budget) problem,” Rutherford said. “But it’s hard for politicians to solve problems in an election year.” All 100 state House seats and half the 38 state Senate seats are on this year’s election ballot.

Bill Skaggs, Grayson County magistrate and a Republican, said he understands Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear and lawmakers from both parties have a tough job in front of them – but he’s still frustrated by the length of time it takes to get anything passed in Frankfort.

“When they get ready to pass something, it takes 14 committees and six months,” Skaggs said. But counties are hurting right now. He’s expecting Grayson County’s budget to be affected by the new state budget, although he added that Grayson County is “a Republican County and we don’t get any road money since Ernie Fletcher went out of office.”

Larue County Judge/Executive Tommy Turner, a Democrat, said nearly all of the officials gathered at the KCJEA conference are worried about the effect of state budget cuts on county governments.

“There’s a great deal of concern about the budget process in Frankfort,” Turner said. Counties want to know about funding for new courthouses, road funds and other state funding. Sowder, the Fleming County magistrate, said his county is constructing a new judicial center and he’s worried the state might not come through with the promised funding for financing the project.

And the surly mood of the electorate hasn’t gone unnoticed by county officials. Allen, the Barren County magistrate, said voters are clearly unhappy with the way government operates these days.

“People are basically in a real bad mood about government,” Allen said. “Primarily about health care, but they’re in a bad mood about a lot of things.”

No wonder local officials are nervous.

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.