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The Kentucky House of Representatives and Senate both approved a state budget on Thursday which contains a number of big projects for Harlan County, including $3.8 million for a wellness and recreation center and over $2.5 million for a new water tank and other water system repairs for the city of Evarts.

As of this writing, the budget still requires Governor Andy Beshear’s signature.

Harlan County Judge-Executive Dan Mosley talked about the budget allocations during an interview on Friday.

“I’m thankful that Adam Bowling is our state representative and Johnnie Turner is our senator,” Mosley said. “They have worked so diligently this legislative session in this budget cycle getting Harlan County projects to the forefront and securing funding for several important things that are line itemed in the state budget that passed both chambers and are now headed to the Governor as part of the state budget.”

Mosley noted the water situation in the Evarts area is of top priority.

“What the people of Cloverfork have dealt with over the last two years has been unfair and unacceptable,” Mosley said. “It takes money to fix the problems they’ve experienced.”

According to Mosley, the budget secures $2.6 million to be used by the city of Evarts for a new water storage tank, clear well, and waterline replacement.

“The city of Evarts also has a grant submitted for a storage tank,” Mosley said. “If they get that, this will be extra money that can go toward the match of that grant or additional things that are needed like the replacement of water lines. This will go a long way in reducing the problems they have up there.”

Along with the Evarts water system funding, a long-awaited project for a wellness and recreation center is addressed in the budget. The Harlan County Fiscal Court is designated to receive $3.8 million to be used to support the development of the Harlan County Wellness and Recreation Center.

Mosley mentioned the wellness and recreation center project has been in the works for some time.

“The wellness and recreation center is something that has been wanted for many years here in our community,” Mosley said. “That process started from a planning perspective in 2018. We commissioned a feasibility study on that project. We applied for grants and some money was appropriated and set aside for that project, but not enough to bring it to fruition. We’ve applied for grants and been turned down time and time again. We felt like we were close to getting it done in 2019 and then COVID hit. That drove up a lot of prices – inflation is a very real thing – that put us back to the drawing board.”

Efforts to realize a wellness and recreation center continued.

“We continued to talk to funders, our legislators, and everybody in the funding arena about this project,” Mosley said. “The opportunity to make a request through the state budget process was available and we went with that option.”

Mosley said Turner and Bowling were able to secure funding for the center.

“$3.8 million to go toward this project is a major stride in getting us to where we need to be to get this wellness and recreation center started,” Mosley said.

The budget also includes money to be used to support tourism in Harlan County. The Kentucky Department of Local Government is set to receive $500,000 each fiscal year of the budget to be distributed to the Harlan County Fiscal Court for Backroads of Appalachia. Another $125,000 for fiscal year 2024-2025 is designated to support the construction of the Black Mountain Roadside Overlook on KY 160.

“Once the budget is enacted – of course right now we’re in a veto period when the Governor has the option to veto certain pieces of legislation – then the legislature will reconvene for a couple days to consider taking action on any of the vetoes the Governor may make,” Mosley explained. “Once that is concluded, then of course the legislative session will be over. The budget that will be enacted will go into effect on July, 1, of 2024.”

Mosley added three of the Harlan County projects – the Wellness and Recreation Center, the city of Evarts water project, and the roadside overlook project are all identified for the first fiscal year.

“I couldn’t be happier for our citizens,” Mosley said. “I’m extremely grateful for the efforts of Senator Turner and Representative Bowling in seeing these projects funded.”