The City of Frankfort is facing tough financial decisions as a result of the COVID-19 economic downturn. One project to be discussed on Monday, April 13, 2020, City Council meeting is the planned aquatic center at the T.P.A. park.
When bids were opened in February 2020, the lowest bid was some $1.6 million over projected cost. The aquatic center timeline has been that work would begin in 2020 with an opening in 2021.
A work session in March 2020 consisting of the Parks Councilmatic committee and Kyle Lueken of HWC Engineering found nearly a million dollars of cuts through the removal of the concession stand and having the street department work on doing paving in-house.
The current Monday night agenda calls for “a resolution delaying TPA Aquatic Center Project”.
The economic impact of COVID-19 facing the City is multifold. The City is facing a delayed property tax draw, normally in the month of June, it has been pushed to July. This is a result of a March 19, 2020, executive order issued by Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb stating non-escrowed property tax payments set for May 11 are still due, but counties are to waive all penalties on payments made after May 11, 2020, for a period of 60-days.
The Department of Local Government Finance issued a memo stating spring 2019, pay 2020 tax bill for non-escrowed property owners “may be paid up to and including July 10, 2020, without penalty.”
The City is also looking at how best to address underfunded carryovers from 2019. These are projects/programs that have carried over into 2020 but lack the necessary funding.
Also, the City will face a changing local income tax revenue target as a result of a 90-day extension in the filing of state tax returns to July 15, this was done by the executive order of Governor Holcomb on March 19, 2020.
Local income tax is also impacted by an unknown unemployment rate. Fewer workers in the labor market working yield less revenue for the City via local income tax collected.
Those are just a few of the issues impacting the City’s finances and one of several projects that will face scrutiny in the coming months.
Clinton County Today will report the outcome of the City Council meeting as well as monitor the City’s response to the fiscal challenge in future articles.
The City Council meeting can be viewed on the City’s YouTube channel. That information and the full city council agenda can be found here:
