Local News

County officials met last month to discuss the budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year, and while it appears there will be alterations from last year’s budget, major changes shouldn’t be expected when the spending plan is finalized this summer.

Less than two weeks after the first reading of the proposed budget, Washington County Judge-Executive John Settles, the magistrates and other officials are still early in the process with plenty of time to make changes, but the foundation for the upcoming budget has been set.

Since Gov. Steve Beshear signed the graduation bill (Senate Bill 97) in March, each school district has the option of raising the high school dropout age from 16 to 18 years old.

Eventually, the entire state will be forced to adopt the change, but Washington County High School Principal Paul Terrell would like to see his district to be among the first to take action.

A grant that will be used for personal safety equipment, training and traffic control aids was accepted by the Springfield Water and Sewer Commission last week.

The check, for $3,000, was presented by Marty Nemes, senior marketing agent at the Kentucky League of Cities Insurance Services.

“KLCIS has been our insurance provider for several years and strive to help us maintain a safe working environment,” said Angela Culver of the Springfield Water and Sewer Commission.

The Washington County Fiscal Court held a regularly scheduled meeting on Friday, but had a special guest in Jennifer Decker, a representative of Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Decker, who is one of nine representatives covering counties for Paul, requested that Washington Countians inform the senator of any concerns.

“If there are constituents who have issues with federal government, we’d like to know about it, and the senator would like to help,” Decker said.