MAGISTRATE VOEGELE WANTS DEAL WITH SCHOOL BOARD RECONSIDERED

Magistrate David Voegele wants the Oldham County School Board to consider relinquishing all or part of the two hundred thousand dollar payment that the Fiscal Court gives to it each year as a result of an agreement reached with it several years ago.

As many of you may recall the Dynegy Company, located on Commerce Parkway wanted to build a plant to generate electricity. The county agreed to lease the property to Dynegy for twenty years which meant that Dynegy would not have to pay any property taxes. At the end of the twenty years the property would be turned over to Dynegy and they would pay regular property taxes. As part of the deal Dynegy agreed to pay the county several hundred thousand dollars each year. The school board felt that the agreement would preclude it from collecting property taxes for the twenty year period. Therefore, the county agreed to pay 200 thousand dollars annually to the school board.

Voegele’s assertion now is that since the school board seems to be “flush” with money, at least in the building fund, and times are “tough” for the county, the Board of Education should consider relinquishing all or part of the money each year. County Attorney John Fendley stated that Fiscal Court had a contract with the school board and that we were bound by that contract. However, the court passed a resolution calling for the finance committee to attempt to reach a new agreement with the Board of Education.

I agree with Voegele’s contention although I don’t know that the county is financially strapped for money. Therefore the county may not be able to make a good argument for their position. As for honoring the contract, I do not remember a contract being entered into. Several years ago I read the minutes of the Fiscal Court meeting during which the resolution was passed to give the money to the schools. I do not remember any contract being mentioned. However, that has been a few years ago and it is possible that a contract does exist. Certainly some simple record checking would resolve that question.

Voegele also argued that the Board of Education did not put up any money in the effort to have Dynegy come to the county but was receiving some of the profits. It is certainly true that had Dynegy not come to the county, the schools would not have received any of the money that it has received. Further, the Board of Education did not suffer from any of the political fallout that was the result of the Dynegy agreement. Simply put, the Board of Education was the beneficiary of a deal that did not cost them anything.