Scott Wartman

swartman@enquirer.com

While Gov. Matt Bevin on Tuesday proposed cuts across state government, he still wants to paint the Brent Spence Bridge.

Kentucky's new Republican governor proposed $38 million to paint and repair the Brent Spence Bridge and pay for engineering studies to improve the traffic flow.

Don't expect many more local projects to make it into the two-year, $20 billion budget Bevin presented to the legislature on Tuesday in a speech that lasted one hour and seven minutes. He did pledge more money to fight heroin abuse, but most of the available money will go towards fixing the $30 billion hole in the pensions of state workers and teachers.

To do this, Bevin proposed a 9 percent cut over the next two years for most areas of government, including colleges.

“There will be cuts across the board,” Bevin told reporters before his budget address Tuesday. “No one thing will be singled out.”

He has found money to maintain roads and bridges. The $2.6 billion Brent Spence Bridge replacement project will take years or decades to pay for and build, Bevin said. The state needs to look at what it can do now, he said.

“In the meantime, we still have traffic flow problems,” Bevin said. “In the meantime, we still have safety problems. In the meantime, we still have a bridge that looks terrible. So we’re going to take care of that. We’re going to study what we can do to alleviate some of that angst.”

This is just a proposal. The General Assembly over the next three months will hash out a final budget, which the governor can line-item veto and sign into law.

The engineering studies to improve the traffic flow for the Brent Spence Bridge corridor would look at what could be done immediately, Bevin said.

The state will also look at options, including the proposed southern route called the Eastern Bypass, Bevin said. He didn't say how much money would be allocated for that.

Some hope this signals Bevin will look more carefully at Northern Kentucky's needs.

Two weeks earlier, Bevin had traveled to the Cincinnati region to discuss the bridge and transportation issues with Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Government Mark Policinski.

Policinski said these repairs will keep the bridge safe until Ohio, Kentucky and the federal government can figure out how to pay for the $2.6 billion replacement and renovation project.

“If the governor said, 'You know, we’re not putting money into the Brent Spence Bridge project,' we’d all be sucking oxygen right now,” Policinski said. “But he didn’t.”

Less money for most projects

Bevin sprinkled money in his budget for social workers, police troopers and other first responders. Money for other projects will be scarce.

“There’s less money for most of the things people want than they would like,” Bevin said. “Almost nobody, unless they were taking care of frontline people, social workers and police officers, were getting what they wanted.”

Exactly where the cuts he’s proposed will go will be up to each individual cabinet. It will save $650 million, according to the Bevin administration. Certain areas are exempt, including per pupil funding for schools, student financial aid and services to Kentucky’s veterans.

That will make it tough going for the $116.7 million in projects the Northern Kentucky business community will lobby for this session. The bulk of this includes $69 million for repairs to Northern Kentucky’s aging waterlines.

Northern Kentucky Chamber President Trey Grayson, however, said he’s pleased the governor is trying to address the pension issue. Otherwise money for roads and schools, among other things, would dry up.

“All those things get squeezed out by pension and health care,” Grayson said. “We have to change some policies and we have to put some money down. For too long we’ve been ignoring the problem.”

More money for the battle against heroin

Those battling Northern Kentucky’s heroin epidemic still hold out hope. Bevin said he will increase funding for heroin abuse treatment above the $10 million allocated in the last budget by $5.7 million in the 2017 fiscal year and $6.3 million in the 2018 fiscal year. He didn't specify what the money would be used for.

"The opiate addiction is real," Bevin said. "It is a scourge we've got to fight."

The toll in life and dollars heroin has taken across the state, particularly Northern Kentucky, will hopefully convince lawmakers to send more money to the region, said Rick Wurth, chief executive officer of the Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky.

The Children’s Home treats mental health and substance abuse problems in children at their facilities in Covington and Burlington. They want $5.6 million for a new building to treat children with substance abuse issues. Transitions, which treats substance abuse in adults, wants $1.1 million for additional detox beds.

“I appreciate the need to be fiscally conservative, to not live beyond our means, but if we’re not treating the critical addiction needs, the cost of not doing something could be beyond our imagining,” Wurth said.

NKU comes out ahead

In a speech that lasted an hour and seven minutes, Gov. Matt Bevin covered a lot of ground and detail about his proposed budget.

Northern Kentucky University would actually come out slightly ahead in Bevin’s proposed budget despite the proposed 9 percent cuts, NKU President Geoff Mearns said.

Bevin, in his speech, singled out NKU for receiving less money than its peers. He said his proposed budget would reduce this disparity by 50 percent in the next fiscal year and 50 percent the following year.

Mearns said he’s grateful Bevin recognized this disparity, which for NKU is $10.7 million.

“It’s a very significant step forward,” Mearns said. “It is something we’ve been advocating for many years.”

That would offset the 9 percent cut proposed by Bevin with a “modest” gain, Mearns said. Over the next few months, Mearns said he will fight to prevent the cuts while keeping the parity Bevin pledged.

More money for state police and law enforcement training

The biggest standing ovation Bevin received was for state police raises. He’s proposed an additional $12.4 million to fund the salary increases.

“We will use those dollars to not only ensure we get the best and brightest but keep them,” Bevin said.

Bevin's budget also put more money in a training fund, known as the Kentucky Law Enforcement Foundation Fund, for an additional 200 peace officers to get a $4,000 training stipend.

Bevin confronts media

Gov. Matt Bevin took a confrontational tone with the media before he presented them Tuesday with his budget proposal.

With dozens of reporters assembled in a committee room, Bevin admonished the media for reporting on rumors and hearsay, though he didn’t specify what rumors he was talking about.

“You’re better than that, you truly are,” Bevin said. “It’s going to be a long four years if this is the kind of thing we see more of. We, as a policy, will never comment to you on rumors. If you were disappointed that you couldn’t get quotes based on rumors, we don’t comment on things that are made up.”