Florence has become the first city in Kentucky to create a Transportation Improvement District, knowns as a TID, designed to give communities more funding flexibility and local control of transportation-related projects.
The city council voted 4 to 2 on Tuesday to approve an ordinance creating the district, an opportunity made possible through the state legislature.
For more on the discussion around the Florence TID, check out our previous reporting: “What is a Transportation Improvement District and how could Florence use one?”
The ordinance allows the city to establish a board of trustees for the TID who would, in turn, develop bylaws and select projects that could benefit from the district.
Public Services Director Eric Hall had some concerns but said the district may help secure more funds and speed up the process for transportation projects. He said being “the first” sounds good, but his hope is it will allow for a first opportunity at funds available for projects.
“I wish it wasn’t necessary to form a TID to have access to this opportunity, but the law requires that we do,” said Hall. “So I think an important note is Ohio, while operated differently, has had TIDs in place now for 30 years. They can tax their communities. This doesn’t have any component at all to allow us to tax our community to fund this specifically.”
The city receives few calls about local streets, he said, but many about state and federal roadways such has KY 18 and US 42. At present, these calls and concerns are passed on to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. The Transportation Improvement District is designed to give communities more local control, he said.
“You have also heard me say on multiple occasions that we need local control of roadways,” said Hall. “We have 380 local streets. We have over 170 lane miles that we maintain every day. We perform all the inventory, all the inspections, the preventative maintenance, the replacement and, most importantly, all the planning and budgeting that goes with that whole piece.”
He said the goal with creating the district is to focus and prioritize improvements in safety and congestion. Another goal is to enhance connectivity between major roads, neighborhoods and commercial areas. Hall said the city also is looking at projects with the potential to drive economic growth and create jobs.
“We know how to plan,” said Hall. “We know how to budget. We know how to build streets, and we’re going to put that same effort and energy into identifying funds to help. This is an opportunity we have in front of us.”
The ordinance passed with four council members, Patricia Wingo, Gary Winn, Diane Whalen and David Schneider, for and two against, Lesley Chambers and Angie Cable.