$6K fireworks item sparks Monroe County council talk about convention center expansion
A $6,000 appropriation from food and beverage tax receipts, to pay for a Harrodsburg Heritage Festival fireworks display, was approved on Tuesday night by Monroe County’s council.
The vote was not unanimous.
Dissenting was Geoff McKim, who said he knew it would amount to a symbolic gesture. Still, McKim wanted to establish that he would not support uses of the food and beverage tax for purposes other than the convention center expansion—until it is clear that revenues from the tax will be adequate to pay for the convention center project.
McKim and Cheryl Munson are the only two members still serving on the seven-member county council who in late 2017 voted in favor of imposing the 1-percent tax on all prepared food and beverages sold in the county.
On Wednesday morning in related convention center news, Monroe County commissioners approved the content of a letter to Monroe County’s capital improvement board (CIB) about county-owned real estate near the existing convention center at 3rd Street and College Avenue.
The letter says: “It has always been the Board of Commissioners’ intent to provide all necessary property that it owns or controls to the Capital Improvement Board for no compensation.”
The CIB was established to oversee the convention center expansion project.
The letter approved by county commissioners was written in response to a request from the CIB
inquiring about the availability of the county’s land. The CIB voted at its April 10 meeting to direct CIB president John Whikehart to ask the city and the county governments about the availability of land that they own near the convention center.
The county government’s response comes ahead of the CIB’s hoped-for timeline of May 6, which would give CIB members a couple days for review before the CIB’s May 8 meeting. It’s at the May 8 meeting that CIB members are hoping to get a presentation from Schmidt Associates on preliminary conceptual rescoping of some previous work the firm did, for a northward, eastward, or southward expansion.
Key to a northward expansion would be for the CIB to acquire the former Bunger & Robertson property at 4th Street and College Avenue, which is now owned by the city and includes the temporary headquarters for the city’s fire department.
The city of Bloomington has not yet given a formal response to the CIB’s letter. But after the city council’s budget advance meeting held on Wednesday evening, Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson told The B Square that her administration’s stance is that some kind of compensation for the former Bunger & Robertson property would be required.
Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC) used about $7 million in tax increment finance (TIF) money to purchase the property, in two separate transactions—one in 2019 and the other in 2023.
The compensation for the land would not necessarily have to take the form of $7 million in cash paid at once, Thomson said, and could include approaches with installments paid over time, or arrangements in the form of land swaps. But Thomson said that the city has critical affordable housing needs that the land should, in some way, help meet.
McKim’s dissent on the fireworks vote came in the context of some brewing discontent from a couple of Bloomington city councilmembers about using the city’s share of the food and beverage tax revenues solely to fund the convention center renovation and expansion.
Councilmembers Matt Flaherty and Kate Rosenbarger indicated at the council’s April 10 meeting that they would potentially like to consider spending some of the city’s share of the tax revenue on trails projects or pedestrian infrastructure projects in the vicinity of the convention center.
That kind of talk from Flaherty and Rosenbarger prompted several local business leaders a week later, at the council’s meeting on April 17, to take the public mic in support of the convention center project. They spoke during general public comment time, which is for items not on the city council’s agenda.
Speaking in support of the convention center expansion were: Cindy Kinnarney, now with Owen County State Bank; Matt Seddon, current president of Downtown Bloomington, Inc. and pastor at Trinity Episcopal Church on Grant off Kirkwood Avenue; Sue Aquila, owner of Bloomington Bagel; Mike Klinge, owner The Orbit Room; Ron Stanhouse, owner of Crazy Horse; Bob Costello, owner of Soma Coffee House and Village Deli; Michael Fox, owner of Lennie’s Restaurant; Jordan Davis, director of operations at The Chocolate Moose; and Galen Cassady, co-owner of Uptown Cafe.
On Tuesday night, McKim led off his remarks explaining his vote against using food and beverage tax revenue to pay for the fireworks display by saying, “I feel really bad about this comment, but I feel like I need to make it.”
McKim said he thinks the fireworks display does fit within the general agreement between city and county officials when the tax was imposed, about how the money would be spent. That is, the city of Bloomington would use its share of the tax on expanding the convention center, and the county government would spend its share on tourism-related projects outside of downtown Bloomington.
But McKim pointed to “certain members of the Bloomington city council” who have recently proposed diverting city food and beverage tax revenues away from the convention center expansion to other projects.
About that diversion of funds, McKim said, “I have been particularly and publicly critical of this attempted diversion.”
So far, it looks like the convention center expansion has solid support from a majority of city councilmembers. McKim put it like this: “Fortunately, the majority of the city council so far has remained in support of the convention center project and recently voted to approve the requested budget for the CIB.”
McKim pointed to the statutory requirement about how food and beverage tax money has to be spent, which is “to finance, re-finance, construct, operate or maintain a convention center, a conference center or related tourism or economic development projects.”
McKim wrapped up by saying, “I just can’t support the secondary and supportive uses of the funds…until I’m convinced that the primary use of the convention center is fully funded.”
Councilor Marty Hawk asked McKim if he included the county government’s own plans for development of a limestone heritage park on former quarry land in his withdrawal of support for other, secondary uses of the food and beverage tax. McKim’s response: “Not until the convention center is under bond.”
McKim’s position was not without some support from his colleagues. Hawk told McKim, “I see where you’re coming from.”
Council president Trent Deckard said, “I want to say, councilor McKim’s comments are very strong comments, because we’re in a precarious, difficult position with the convention center. And there’s a part of me that goes in his direction…on his arguments.”
But in the end, councilors were persuaded by McKim’s own observation—that the proposed use of the food and beverage tax for the fireworks display fits within the planned use of the money when the tax was imposed. The request received a positive recommendation from the Food and Beverage Tax Advisory Commission (FABTAC) at its March 28 meeting.
Harrodsburg Heritage Festival organizer Paul Strain attended Tuesday’s meeting. He was asked to give a rundown of some of the events leading up to the Saturday, May 18 fireworks display.
On Friday, carnival rides will be open, shuttles will be running, the fish fry will be cooking. Bands will take the stage at 6 p.m. and play until 10 p.m. On Saturday morning, the baby contest will be held. There will be a children’s pedal tractor pull. After that, the parade starts. Strain said over 100 entries will be in the parade—weather permitting.
There will also be an adult pedal tractor pull, Strain said. Firefighters from the Monroe County Fire Protection District will be participating in a tractor pull competition among different stations. Strain said he is hoping that the Monroe County sheriff’s office can also get involved. Strain indicated that a potential pedal tractor pull competition between sheriff’s deputies and firefighters could be promoted as Guns N’ Hoses.
