Stephanie Garrett, the city treasurer of Glasgow, speaks with members of the city finance committee during a meeting at Glasgow City Hall on Friday, June 10, 2022.
(ANGELA BRIGGS/WCLU NEWS)
STORY BY ANGELA BRIGGS, special to WCLU News
GLASGOW — A $4.5 million allotment in next year’s budget to construct a new city-run pool was struck down during a meeting of the city of Glasgow’s finance committee last week ahead of public hearing and council consideration Monday.
Kentucky law gives the power and responsibility of drafting and proposing a budget to the mayor of that city. Glasgow Mayor Harold Armstrong reviewed his proposed budget with the city’s finance committee last Friday before they recommended the budget be placed before the city council.
One of the major items placed in next year’s budget was $4.5 million for a new city pool near American Legion Park on Happy Valley Road. The mayor said officials learned about 12 years ago of the demise of the current city pool.
“That’s the only reason it’s in here,” the mayor said as he tapped a stack of papers detailing the proposed budget. “You don’t know what you’re missing until you don’t have one. We’ve been through that with other facilities.”
Eddie Furlong, Glasgow Parks and Recreation Director, said the pool would soon be in a position beyond repair. Various issues such as lighting are also present at the site.
Payment of the repairs and construction of a new pool were discussed at length. The city of Glasgow tends to buy equipment or other items at full price, which puts a dent in any reserve money the city has. An alternative called “bonding” is an option though.
“Stephanie and I talked about needs versus wants,” said Chasity Lowery, a councilperson. “You bond the things you need, not the things that you want. And I’m just thinking, with the extra revenue from different sources we’ve had, we could use part of the ARPA money to pay a $1 million toward the pool, bond the rest of the proportion, and still have our money if something awful were to happen.”
Two types of municipal bonds exist – general obligation and revenue bonds.
General obligation bonds simply require the city to pay back money to the issuer regardless of changes in circumstances surrounding the lending. A revenue bond is money paid back to the issuer, which is based on the amount of revenue generated from the project paid for through the bond.
“By utilizing municipal bonds, cities can issue long-term debt obligation to obtain the required funds to support projects for the public good without having to utilize their cash reserves,” according to the Kentucky League of Cities, Glasgow’s insurance carrier. “This long-term debt approach allows for cities to make projects more affordable and to spread costs over its reasonable life, so that current and future taxpayers share the costs and benefits of the project.”
Armstrong said he believes the pool is a necessity for the city.
“When we don’t open it, the phone calls pour in left and right,” he said.
The bonding issue became moot. A majority of the committee decided to remove the $4.5 million allotment from the budget. The city’s parks and recreation department does have money allotted in the proposed budget for vehicles, new restrooms and maintenance, however.
