Kenton County’s annual budget is expanding by 63% year-over-year due to massive increases in funding for capital projects, contingent appropriations and general government operations.
At a meeting on June 11, the Kenton County Fiscal Court approved the county’s budget for the 2024-2025 Fiscal Year. The current fiscal year ends on June 30. The total dollar amount of Kenton County’s All Funds Budget Total is around $282 million — a nearly $103 million increase from last year.
“The second reading related to the approval and adoption of our the fiscal court’s budget,” Judge/Executive Kris Knochelmann said prior to the adoption.
Kenton County’s General Fund is also increasing by over $100 million. A press release from the county attributed a portion of the increase to approximately $46 million in state funding, some of which will be doled out through the state of Kentucky’s biennial budget, which was signed into law by Gov. Andy Beshear in April.
Kentucky allotted tens of millions to multiple projects in Kenton County, including:
- $6 million to support the construction of SparkHaus — an initiative of the fiscal court, Blue North and Northern Kentucky Port Authority that looks to transform the vacant Sims Furniture building at 727 Madison Ave. in Covington into a regional hub for entrepreneurship.
- $10 million to develop of the Center for Biomedical Excellence in Covington that will eventually house Northern Kentucky University’s Salmon P. Chase College of Law and the University of Kentucky College of Medicine’s Northern Kentucky campus. The building will be located on the 23-acre site of the demolished IRS processing center along the Ohio riverfront in Covington.
- $15 million in reimbursement expenses for the construction of a parking garage that neighbors the Kenton County Government Center in Covington.
In addition to the General Fund, Kenton County’s budget saw million dollar increases to the Jail Fund and COLT Fund, which the county uses to account for the collection of occupational licenses and payroll taxes.
Kenton County’s budget also includes approximately $2.6 million in opioid settlement funds, up from $1.8 million last year. In 2017, Kenton County sued Cardinal, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen — three of the United States’ largest pharmaceutical distributors. The three companies officially settled last February, resolving over 4,000 claims between state and local governments. The net settlement payout was approximately $26 billion.
Knochelmann said the county plans to use a portion of the opioid settlement funds to hire multiple police navigators/social workers. The new workers will be overseen by the Kenton County Police Department.
Kenton County Chief of Police Spike Jones said the department was looking to hire candidates with experience in law enforcement and social work.
“We’re looking at folks that have a good blend and a good firm understanding of law enforcement issues and but we also want them to have that background in social work,” Jones told the court. “We’re looking for the perfect blend — trying to find unicorns right now, but we’re gonna find them.”
Knochelmann compared Kenton County’s ambition to hire police navigators/social workers to Boone County. In February, Boone County voted to allow the use of opioid abatement funds to hire up to three police navigators/social workers.
“It’s unprecedented for the region,” he said. “It’s unprecedented, quite frankly, for the state of Kentucky and, again, I think we’re setting the standard on what can be done.”
Kelly Pompilio, the social worker embedded with Alexandria’s Police Department, was the first in Kentucky. She recently described to LINK nky about her work with a local veteran suffering from PTSD who would frequently have nightmares and make calls to the police to get help. Although he wasn’t in any concrete danger, the frequency of his calls sucked up the time of normal police officers to the point it was arguably drawing them away from cases that were better suited to their training.
“In the first week that I was there, he had called six times or seven times in that week,” Pompilio said. “And [the officers] are like, ‘Kelly, do whatever you need to do. We’ve got to figure out how to help this gentleman.’”
The Road Fund decreased by approximately $800,000. Despite this, it remains the third largest fund in the budget behind the General Fund and Jail Fund.
Budget Total, All Funds
2024-2025: $282,262,790
2023-2024: $179,189,870
General Fund
2024-2025: $195,904,250
2023-2024: $95,217,860
Road Fund
2024-2025: $17,966,320
2023-2024: $18,816,590
Jail Fund
2024-2025: $24,863,610
2023-2024: $23,736,220
Community Development Block Grant
2024-2025: $546,300
2023-2024: $546,300
Golf Fund
2024-2025: $957,270
2023-2024: $603,970
COLT Fund
2024-2025: $17,552,480
2023-2024: $14,024,710
Dispatch Fund
2024-2025: $11,200,860
2023-2024: $11,402,770
Opioid Settlement Funds
2024-2025: $2,678,770
2023-2024: $1,788,010
ARPA Fund
2024-2025: $9,353,160
2023-2024: $11,570,820
Clerk Record Storage Fund
2024-2025: $1,239,770
2023-2024: $1,465,880
