- Boone County’s TID is working to strengthen its relationship with OKI as it seeks greater access to state and federal transportation funding.
- The TID is pursuing a roughly $1.6 million safety improvement near the Walton-Verona Athletic Complex, including a deceleration lane and turn lane.
- TID Chairman Larry Brown said right-of-way work is nearing completion, with officials hoping to bid the project this fall and finish construction by the end of the year.
Boone County’s recently formed Transportation Improvement District is being put to the test as it works to secure increased access to state and federal funding.
It’s been over two years since the Boone County Fiscal Court became the first county in Kentucky to establish its own TID. At its inception, Boone County Judge/Executive Gary Moore described it as “another tool in the tool box” to aid in the financing of local infrastructure projects.
In Kentucky, a TID is essentially a special-purpose governmental entity that pools together public and private investment money to fund transportation-related projects within the boundaries of a specific geographic area. TIDs are used across the United States but are especially prevalent in Ohio, where Warren, Butler, Clermont and Hamilton counties in Greater Cincinnati each have their own.
On Tuesday, Aug. 11, Boone County TID Chairman Larry Brown delivered a presentation to the Boone County Fiscal Court, discussing the current status of the entity, as well as its ongoing projects.
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TIDs are governed by a management committee that consists of five voting members and two non-voting members. The voting members of Boone County’s TID, besides Brown, are former Florence City Councilman Larry Brown, Heritage Bank CEO David Wallace, Toebben Builders President John Toebben, Dedden Excavating President Matthew Dedden and Sanitation District #1 Director of Planning, Design & Construction Laura Tenfelde.
One of the TID’s major focuses since its inception has been to build a stronger relationship with the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments, commonly known as OKI. Brown believes that developing a rapport with OKI can help the TID court secure more investment from state and federal funds.
“This is a necessary step that we’ve got to take if we intend to get matching state and federal funds,” Brown said. “We’ve got to become known by them, recognized by them so that the cabinet can also recognize us in a further step in terms of transportation planning.”
Brown said OKI’s governing board is expected to consider amending the organization’s bylaws later this year to accommodate TIDs outside Ohio, as the Buckeye State was the organization’s only member state with TIDs.
Brown said the TID’s first project was a $1.6 million investment in a deceleration lane and turn lane outside the Walton-Verona Athletic Complex. The aim was to enhance safety for visitors of the complex. He mentioned the project cost approximately $400,000 for consulting and design, with $1.2 million allocated for construction.
As of now, Brown said the right-of-way was nearing completion. The next step would be for the TID to bid the project in the fall, with completion by the end of the calendar year.
“We are in the process of finishing up right away, and we hope to try to get this project completed this year, get a bid in sometime this fall, and get it finished during this construction season,” Brown said.
Moore said the small-scale project near the Walton-Verona Athletic Complex was a way for the Boone County TID to demonstrate its effectiveness in its early stages.
“Right now, just getting the TIDs formed, getting them started, allowing them to demonstrate whether they can be effective and receive their funding from partnering agencies, whether that be private sector, city or county government, state or federal funds, to be able to try to demonstrate–and that’s really why the TIDs started with the small project down at Walton Verona–how that might work,” Moore said
