The Elizabethtown City Council met for a work session Monday afternoon.
Bryan Skinner of RSA Advisors presented to the council on bonding options for the outdoor music venue. Skinner reviewed the city’s current obligations and legal debt limit, and said the city has options.
“You guys are, I’ll just go ahead and say it, in great financial shape,” Skinner said. “One of the best cities, best rated cities out there. Good bond rating.”
The current estimate for the required bond is $45 million. RSA will set up a bond sale for the city after it is instructed to do so via ordinance.
Elizabethtown Stormwater Director Rita Davis presented an update on her department’s activities. Davis recounted projects completed in 2024 and upcoming projects, including working with FEMA on remapping the floodplain. Davis said the city is considering introducing a stormwater utility fee to help offset some costs.
“This is something we’ve been working with with Strand consultants to kind of look at how much money we can generate with the stormwater utility fee, so hopefully it sounded like we do a lot with what I’ve been discussing here, and that should help pay for some of these things,” Davis said.
Also meeting for a work session Monday was the Radcliff City Council. After the council took no official action during a called meeting, Radcliff Mayor JJ Duvall said one bid was submitted for city street resurfacing. Duvall said he will likely be requesting the council approve additional funding for resurfacing in order to cover additional side streets. The council discussed a resolution opposing the centralized collection of taxes. City Attorney Mike Pike said the resolution opposes proposed legislation that takes occupational tax and license fee collection away from municipalities and turns it over to the state, which Pike said the Kentucky League of Cities is “vehemently against.”
“I think it’s a bad idea if they adopt this,” Pike said. “Cities are going to get the short end of the stick. You know, we have very little means of raising revenue anyway, you guys already know that.”
The Elizabethtown City Council and the Radcliff City Council will both next meet on February 18.
