Miller Park renovations still included in Corbin’s budget

The City of Corbin’s budget for fiscal year 2020-2021, which started on July 1, 2020, and ends June 30, 2021, still has the planned Miller Park renovation, and includes no across the board pay raises although some employees will see pay increases.

The Corbin City Commission held the first reading of its budget ordinance during a special meeting Wednesday morning, and held the second and final reading of the ordinance during a special meeting Thursday morning.

“There are some pay raises with the department heads and some of the laborers at public works,” noted Corbin City Manager Marlon Sams. “There were some salary adjustments that needed to be made.”

In addition, some departments are getting new equipment, and the Miller Park project is still happening, the city is just waiting on final designs and bids, Sams said.

The Miller Park renovation and expansion includes revamping the existing softball fields for Little League play, installing a one-half mile walking track, two batting cages, a pitching cage, three pickleball courts, a new concession stand and bleachers, plus 170 additional parking spaces.

In comparison to the initial budget approved for the fiscal year 2019-2020, this year’s $10,692,816 general fund budget is a $596,872 increase over what was initially budgeted the prior year.

The biggest departmental increases included $394,300 budgeted for special projects, which was a $246,300 increase over what was initially budgeted for the prior year. Parks and recreation’s $1,307,175 budget is an increase of $322,680 over the prior year.

The police department’s $2,976,088 budget, which is the largest departmental budget in the city, is an increase of $74,036 from the prior year, and public works’ $2,116,363 budget is an increase of $69,096. The general government fund’s $905,465 budget is an increase of $23,115, and the fire department’s $1,681,475 budget is an increase of $3,125 over what was initially budgeted for the prior year.

Some departments saw decreased funding for the 2020-2021 fiscal year.

The budget for the downtown manager’s position, which was formally abolished during Monday’s regular monthly meeting, drops from $163,980 during the 2019-2020 fiscal year to $56,000 during the 2020-2021 fiscal year, or a decrease of $107,980.

The City of Corbin is providing additional funding to the Corbin Tourism Commission to assume some of the duties previously performed by the downtown manager.

The recycling center’s $400,650 budget is a $29,144 decrease from the prior year, and the building inspector’s $128,500 budget reflected a $4,356 decrease.

The $15,000 budgeted for the flood control fund, $75,000 for economic development, $136,800 for debt service, and $500,000 for The Arena remained unchanged from the prior year.

The city is expecting to see a decrease in some of the funding that it receives from the state.

The budget for municipal road aid, which represents the city’s share of the state gas tax, is projected to drop from $150,000, which was initially budgeted last fiscal year, to $132,770 for this fiscal year, or a $17,230 decrease.

Money from the Local Government Economic Aid (LGEA) Fund is projected to drop from $50,000 that was initially budgeted last fiscal year to $20,000 this fiscal year.

The LGEA Fund represents a portion of coal and non-coal mineral severance taxes, which are returned by the state to eligible local governments.