Budget: Over $50 million for Whitley

Local and state leaders are calling a proposed biennial budget, which could pass the state House and Senate at any time, the biggest financial windfall for Whitley County in history, packed with over $50 million worth of projects.
State Senate President David Williams (R-Burkesville), whose six-county legislative district includes Whitley County, revealed details of some of the projects that he said were in a conference report Tuesday. Once both legislative houses pass the budget bill, it will go to Gov. Ernie Fletcher. Williams said he expects swift approval.
“We feel very good about this budget,” Williams said. “I think it is by far the best budget we’ve ever had for the area.”
Biggest on a list of capital projects for the county are $18.9 million for the construction of a new judicial center in Williamsburg and $10 million to build a pharmacy school at the University of the Cumberlands.
Williams said he’s most excited the pharmacy school and what it could mean to the area.
“I really felt like the University of the Cumberlands has a very excellent academic program there … now it will only be enhanced,” Williams said. “You can imagine the number of new faculty that will be hired there. Families will be moving to town and you can imagine the impact they will have, along with the other jobs that will be created. This is a major economic development tool and will enhance the university and its stature among other private institutions.”
Williams said the school was a prime candidate for a pharmacy college because it has a larger endowment than most other private colleges in the state. Currently, about 900 students apply every year for about 110 spots at the University of Kentucky’s College of Pharmacy. It is the only active pharmacy school in the state.
Along with funding for the school is $1 million that sets up a “pharmacy scholarship fund” to help subsidize tuition for students at the future school.
Williamsburg Mayor Roddy Harrison said another of the proposed budget’s big-ticket items, the judicial center, could change the face of the town. He could not reveal potential locations for the center, but did say all current possible sites are inside the city’s limits.
“It’s going to change the face of Williamsburg,” Harrison said. “It will be a huge project.”
Williams said the center should be complete in two years.
Also included in the budget is $14.7 million worth of improvements at Cumberland Falls State Resort Park. Of that, $9.7 million will go toward constructing a golf course contiguous to the park. Williams said flyover studies have already been done to design the course, and added he is hopeful that an agreement can be reached with the U.S. Forest Service to “swap land” with the state so work on the course can begin.
“We have to make that a destination location,” Williams said. “Beyond the Falls, there’s not been a lot to do out there … This would be a tremendous asset to the entire community. University of the Cumberlands and other high school teams in the area will be able to use that as their home course.”
The plan is for an 18-hole course. Officials envision the course being part of a “golf trail” that includes courses at Dale Hollow and Barren River. Local and some state officials have contended for years that Cumberland Falls, while one of the most visited places in Kentucky’s public park system, has a low average stay time for visitors. A golf course, they claim, would extend that stay to just over three days.
“Whatever is good for Cumberland Falls is good for Corbin,” Corbin Mayor Amos Miller said of the course. “Anytime people stay in our area, that spills over into our city, and Whitley County and Williamsburg. It’s good for all of us.”
The money should be sufficient to complete the course in about two years.
The remaining $5 million will be used to renovate and upgrade the park’s campground area. Williams said it will be a “world class” campground.
Boons for the county’s two cities in the proposed budget are $2.5 million for utility work at the Corbin Area Technology Center and $400,000 for expansion at the Hal Rogers Waterpark.
Williams said the $2.5 million would be used to run an access road up to the soon-to-be-constructed Southeast Kentucky Agriculture and Exposition Center. Money for the waterpark will be used to add a new attraction and upgrade the waterpark’s computer system.
“Every three to five years or so, you have to upgrade to make your waterpark something to make people want to come back to,” Harrison said. “All this money, for the improvements and Cumberland Falls and the waterpark, will get people to come here for more than one day and stay. They won’t just look at the falls and say ‘that’s pretty, now let’s go home.’ They will be here for two or three days.”
Williams said this budget will jumpstart road projects in Whitley County that have lingered on the state’s six-year road plan for 20 or more years. He pointed to construction on highways 92 and 25 from the Goldbug interchage to the I-75 bridge as two examples. The two projects alone cost over $20 million.
Money will also be appropriated to extend waterlines in Meadow Creek and Tackett Creek, and to the Tatersall subdivision near Corbin.
As of press time Tuesday, the budget had not received final approval from legislators. Williams said he expected it would pass by Wednesday.
Budget Highlights
* $10 million for the new pharmacy school at the University of the Cumberlands
* $18.9 million for the construction of a new Judicial Center
* $9.7 million for the Cumberland Falls Golf Course
* $5 million for the Cumberland Falls campground
* $2.5 million for utilities infrastructure for the Corbin Area Technology Center
* $1.16 million for rural water lines for unserved regions in the Meadow Creek/Tackett Creek area where mining has altered the water tables
* $700,000 for Corbin Utilities Company – Tattersall
* $500,000 for the Oak Grove Community Center
* $400,000 for an expansion of the Hal Rogers Water Park
* $250,000 for courthouse renovations
* $64,000 for the lease and principle for two police cars for the Sheriff’s Department
* $40,000 for a fire hydrant refill station for Canadatown community
* $35,000 for a police cruiser for the Corbin Police Department
* $30,000 for the library for books and technology upgrade
* $20,000 for a service upgrade for senior citizens
* $10,000 for improvements to the Whitley County Historical Society
* $10,000 to purchase equipment for vegetation control of sensitive areas for the Fiscal Court