Midway City Council approved a resolution at its March 3 meeting to enter into a low-interest loan for up to $250,000 with the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority. 

The loan is part of the water system upgrade for the city in conjunction with the switchover to the Frankfort Plant Board from Kentucky American Water Company. This particular project is for the construction of a new water line from Coach Station to the Industrial Park, which will go under Interstate 64.

 “This is housekeeping to get the money flowing for the low-interest loan we need for the water system improvement,” said Mayor Grayson Vandegrift.

Line of Credit

The City Council approved Vandegrift’s recommendation for the city to set up a line of credit in the amount of $250,000 with Stock Yards Bank & Trust, where the city does its banking business. 

“We may not even need this,” Vandegrift said. “But it is prudent to have this if we have an unbudgeted expense when cash flow is down.”

GIS 911 services

The council also approved entering into the new Geographic Information Systems 911 services interlocal agreement with the City of Versailles and the Woodford County Fiscal Court. 

“The GIS service is back under county government, and so we needed a new agreement,” Vandegrift said. 

He added that the funds for the 911 system come from a surcharge on cell phone services and not from the General Fund.

Bourbon barrel tax update

Vandegrift explained that the city will now be receiving a small amount of barrel tax on spirits that have been in barrels for over two years. He said White Dog Distillery now has barrels that meet this threshold and Bluegrass Distillery will have some in the next year or two. 

Vandegrift said since the General Assembly repealed the bourbon barrel tax last year, the tax will be phasing out over the next several years.

“We expect about $10,000 to $20,000 this year, and so my view is to not budget it (for anything specific) since it won’t be recurring or growing,” Vandegrift explained. 

New EMS station

Vandegrift said Woodford County Emergency Medical Service Director Freeman Bailey told him that the new EMS station had saved a life last week that would likely have been lost if the ambulance had come from Versailles. 

He said, “Our investment, and it was a big one, is already paying off.”