The proposed state budget that emerged from closed-door negotiations early Tuesday carries a bittersweet taste for Tri-county tongues.
"Foremost, I'm proud to report that the money necessary to open and operate the Sullivan Technology Center (at Henderson Community College) will be in the free conference committee report," said state Sen. Dorsey Ridley.
Earlier versions of the state budget as written by the state Senate did not include funding for opening and operating about 14 new buildings in the state community and technical college system, but according to Ridley that money has been replaced.
The not-so-tasty news is that the long list of infra-structure projects throughout the Tri-county area that had been included in the House version of the budget have been removed as named items.
"The coal severance tax money is in place, but the naming of the projects that has been routine for the last five or six budget cycles was removed by the Republican leadership of the Senate," Ridley explained. "With that said, the money is still there and belongs to each coal-producing county. That will be administered by the Governor's Office of Local Development. "
Applications for the projects will have to be requested by local legislators and fiscal courts, much the way it's been done the past two years. But Ridley said he doesn't see that as an insurmountable problem.
"I think you'll find that Henderson, Union and Webster counties have friends in the governor's office who understand our needs," he said.
"The one issue I am not pleased with is the multi-county bonds (to be bought with coal severance tax receipts) will not be purchased and therefore the $1.3 million for the Canoe Creek project won't be funded at this time. That doesn't mean we won't have an opportunity to get that back."
Ridley stressed that the situation with the state budget is still fluid, and there are possibilities that specific funding for Canoe Creek and the various other infrastructure projects could be approved. "But those are possibilities and not fact," he said.
Ridley said he got his information from Sen. Ed Worley, the minority floor leader and one of the members of the House-Senate free conference committee that negotiated the most recent version of the budget.
