Girdler shakes off council criticism

Local News

By TRICIA NEAL, CJ Staff Writer

Members of Somerset’s city council are miffed that Mayor Eddie Girdler didn’t include them in some of his recently announced plans. But Girdler says some of his alleged plans are merely ideas on the drawing board — and at least some of his ideas were created on a deadline, leaving him no room to seek the council’s approval in advance.

During a council meeting held earlier this week, several councilors complained that the mayor had released information to the local newspaper without first getting their input on the issues. In the articles, Girdler had discussed the possibility of taking a large portion of occupational taxes away from county government and his financial “wish list” for the City of Somerset.

Girdler was out of town when the meeting was held. On Thursday, he responded to the councilors’ criticisms.

Concerning the possibility of taking occupational taxes away from the county government, Girdler said “that issue is just on the table.”

“We have a large number of projects that have to be done this year and next year,” Girdler explained.

The question, he said, is: “How are we going to finance all of this?”

Girdler believes there are several possible solutions. The city could start collecting its own occupational tax, which would substantially decrease the amount collected by the county, or fees for county residents who use city utilities could be substantially increased.

New water and sewer plants are badly needed in Somerset, Girdler said. Since those resources are used by individuals and businesses located outside the city limits, Girdler believes Pulaski County government should some-how contribute to the construction of those facilities.

“Seventy percent of our water is used outside the city limits,” Girdler explained.

“People are saying we need a new EMS building and eight new positions in the EMS department (which serves both the city and the county). ... Is that totally the city’s responsibility, or do we need to get with the county to decide how to fund these things? ...

“We have 11,000 people in the City of Somerset. We can’t afford to finance these projects ourselves. We will have to borrow $34 million just for our water and sewer projects. Can 11,000 people pay for that, or should it be spread out over the county?”

Girdler said “every funding source would have to be considered,” and that he doesn’t want to hurt the county by taking away a large part of its budget.

“My preference right now is to work with the county,” he said.

“I never indicated our intent to do anything with the occupational tax. ... The county needs it. We need it. We need to decide who’s going to do these improvements. ... I don’t know why this got out of proportion.”

The county needs to decide, Girdler said, how to help contribute to the upcoming projects.

“Should the city use some of the occupational tax, or should we increase their fees?” he said.

Utility rates for customers in the county could “possibly double or triple,” Girdler said, to help foot the bill.

“The question isn’t so much about the occ-upational tax,” he said.

“More generally, the question is: Who is going to finance these projects?”

Concerning Girdler’s recently released “wish list” for the City of Somerset — presented to U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers’ office for consideration in President Barack Obama’s stimulus package — Gir-dler said he had to compile the list quickly, and he didn’t have time to consult his council members about it.

Girdler said he learned that he needed to create a list of projects for which the city would like to have federal funding late one evening, and he found himself scrambling to get the list together.

“Every city that I know of was already putting in their requests,” he said.

“I had four or five hours to put the package tog-ether. ... I had a deadline. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to explain it to everybody. ... There was not enough time at 1 a.m. to be concerned about what people think. If I had not done the list, everyone would have been critical of that. I just wanted to make sure we got our list in.”

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