Shelbyville, KY (WDRB) More than $100,000 for a fence? There is a controversy at the Shelby County Courthouse that has taxpayers and government workers upset.
Resident Nina Glass says, "It's my tax money and we need people in the courthouse working, not a fence."
Starting on August 6th, state employees are required to take three furlough days to help balance the budget.
Now, the Shelby County Project Development Board, known as PDB, made up of six members including local judges, voted to spend more than $109,000 dollars to build a fence around an AC unit at the courthouse to block people from seeing it.
Resident Tabetha Taylor says, "You see air conditioning units at apartments, so they don't bother hiding those. So why hide it at a courthouse? It's an air conditioner."
Shelby County Judge Executive Rob Rothenburger is a member of the PDB, but wasn't there for the vote. He says he would have voted against it. The other members have not returned our calls or emails for comment.
Rothenburger says, "I think that it's government's responsibility to be very frugal with tax dollars especially with this fragile economy that we have and that other options were available that would at least be more cost effective." He says those options included $2200 to paint the AC unit a neutral color or $5,000 to $10,000 to put up landscaping that would one day cover the unit. But he says PDB members worried that landscaping would take too long to grow.
The Administrative Office of the Courts in Frankfort approved the fence expense, saying there was leftover money from building the new courthouse and it leaves it up to the PDB to decide what to spend it on. The AOC says money from the state budget and furloughs come from different pots of money, even though it's all state money.
Taylor says, "We need those jobs. It's taxpayer money. We need the jobs instead of the fence around the AC unit."
In the meantime, the project moves forward. Cones are up where it appears the footing of the fence will be.
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The AOC issued this information to WDRB News.
Here is information about how the judicial center construction and financing process works and specifically about the fence that the Shelby County Project Development Board voted to add to its project:
The Shelby County PDB voted to have a fence built to enclose the cooling tower. There were Shelby County project funds available to cover the cost of the fence. The fence was not part of the original plan. The Administrative Office of the Courts confirmed that funds were available to cover this expenditure. This expenditure does not come out of the AOC budget.
The Kentucky General Assembly authorizes judicial centers and appropriates funding. The only funds appropriated to the AOC for the judicial center projects are to pay the annual debt service. These are county projects and the bonds are sold under the county's name to finance the projects. The local PDB oversees all project decisions.
The construction manager for the judicial center project, Codell Construction Co., contracted with the fence company, Hubbard Construction Co., on behalf of the owner of the judicial center project, which is Shelby County. The construction manager is hired by the PDB.
The total cost for the fence project is $109,197. That breaks down to $97,750 for materials and labor, $4,399 for a construction manager fee at 4.5 percent and $7,048 for an architect/engineer fee at 6.9 percent.
The Shelby County PDB would make any decision about changing the fence plan.
As the administrative and fiscal agent for the state court system, the AOC oversees the construction and maintenance of court facilities statewide. The AOC also supports the activities of nearly 3,300 Kentucky Court of Justice employees and 403 elected justices, judges and circuit court clerks.
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