Committee forwards budget, Greenway extension ordinance

The Hopkinsville City Council Committee of the Whole made quick work of forwarding operational and capital budgets Thursday night and forwarded an ordinance to bond extension of the Greenway.

It’s going to cost about $3.2 million to extend the rail-rail from Pardue Lane to Tie Breaker Park with construction of a pedestrian bridge at Country Club Lane and Lafayette Road—approximately $1 million more than was originally projected for the project. The added expense is for constructing the bridge, but council members agree that area is too busy with motor vehicle traffic to not have a bridge.

City Financial Officer Robert Martin says revenues from the insurance premium tax are enough to pay the debt service on a $3.4 million bond that would also pay for construction of the new Joe Mumford Park.

The Committee forwarded the bonding ordinance to council and it will likely be heard in the first meeting of June.

The only change to Mayor Carter Hendricks’ $36.5 million operational budget didn’t have any impact on the bottom line, as council members Patricia Bell and Paul Henson wanted to be precise with the library contribution. Instead of giving one lump sum—the amended budget ordinance says $30,900 will be given to the Imagination Library and about $337,200 to the Hopkinsville-Christian County Public Library as a whole.

The capital budget was forwarded to council with no changes.