Hopkinsville City Council will again consider using the third payment of CARES Act funding to help with future pension obligations after action by the Committee of the Whole at Thursday night’s meeting.
Comptroller Melissa Clayton with the City of Hopkinsville presented a detailed pension fund report at the meeting. The report was requested by city council members after they failed by a 5-6 vote to approve a municipal order authorizing the transfer of the third CARES Act payment of $231,094 to the General Fund for future pension obligation reserves at the November 2 meeting.
During the pension plan report, Clayton said the worst-case scenario for the city’s pension fund is a 12% increase each year for the next six years that would leave the city’s unfunded pension obligations over $4 million.
She noted their thought was if they put the extra $231,000 CARES funding in the future pension obligation reserve it would look really good for the city’s bond rating if they had almost two years saved.
Clayton said they did receive some good news last week but after crunching the numbers the city may still need an additional half a million dollars in next year’s budget to cover pensions.
After fielding some questions from council members and more discussion, the committee unanimously approved a motion by Councilman Phillip Brooks to transfer the $231,000 CARES funding into a future pension obligation fund to be considered by the full city council.
In other action, Community and Development Services Assistant Director Holly Boggess recommended a downtown development incentive application be considered for The Rabbit’s Nest LLC for property located at 601 South Main Street. She noted the property is in the heart of the downtown sub-district in the Downtown Renaissance District at the corner of South Main Street and Court Street and most recently served as the law office of Petey Rogers.
Boggess said when the building is developed it will include retail, office, and garage space, along with residential units.
She said they are offering a favorable recommendation to forward to the city council for The Rabbit’s Nest LLC to participate in the Downtown Incentive Program because the work conforms to the renaissance design standards.
The committee voted 11-1 to forward the recommendation to the city council for consideration.
