Saturday, January 24, 1998 Funding for area projects in budget Water upgrade, riverfront work, museum on list By FRANK BOYETT Gleaner staff Gov. Paul Patton's budget includes $3.5 million for three local projects, which would come out of the special economic development pot of money funded from coal severance taxes. The three projects are: • $2 million for a major upgrade of the water treatment plant for the Webster County Water District. • $1 million for Union County to acquire what was once the officers club at Camp Breckinridge near Morganfield. The county plans to convert the building into a museum of local history. • $500,000 to help fund improvements on the Henderson riverfront. Patton's budget doesn't actually appropriate money for the projects, since the money technically already belongs to the three counties involved. But it authorizes spending the money, which is tightly regulated by the Economic Development Cabinet. Coal severance money goes into two separate funds for local economic development. One fund is used to develop multi-county projects, such as the industrial park proposal currently being put together between Sebree and Robards. The other fund is mostly earmarked for individual coal-producing counties, but must be used strictly for economic development. Patton has said projects like riverfront development and the museum project promote tourism, which helps local economies. And upgrading the Webster County water treatment plant is certainly related to economic development, according to Webster County Judge-executive Jim Townsend. "If you don't have water, you can't get economic development," he said. The Webster County water system has had a moratorium on extensions in recent years because of a lack of production capacity. The upgrade will increase that capacity from 800,000 gallons a day to 4 million gallons a day, Townsend said. It will also change the source of the water. Currently, Webster County gets its water from deep wells; the new source will be an intake on the Green River. Townsend said he first talked to Patton about the project about six months ago. "As time proceeded we were able to convince him that it was a worthwhile project for our county and for the coal severance monies," he said. The Union County project involves buying a 55-year-old building currently owned by Marty Girten for $165,000. The county already has an option on the property. The building contains more than 40 murals that were painted by German and Italian prisoners of war during World War II. Renovation is expected to cost about $1 million. The building would not only house the Union County Museum, but county officials also are eyeing it as a possible convention site and as a performing arts center for the Union County Arts Council. The Henderson County project will cost much more than $500,000, but exactly how much is still to be determined. Walt Dear, the chairman of the Riverfront Committee, said tentative estimates are about $7.5 million. "We're looking at partnerships at the local, state, federal and private levels," Dear said. "We haven't gotten much further than that. "The governor committed $1.5 million outright (out of the state budget surplus) and $500,000 was committed out of the coal severance money."