The Pike County Fiscal Court found itself split Tuesday on a request for coal severance funding by one of the county’s municipalities.
In a special meeting Tuesday, the Pike County Fiscal Court approved applying for $65,000 in single-county coal severance funds for a new dump truck with a snow plow for the city of Coal Run Village.
The approval was not without some dissent. District 5 Pike Magistrate Hilman Dotson said he has taken criticism for how coal severance funds are used. He said if one project is deemed not worthy of coal severance funding because it doesn’t promote economic development, other projects that could be questioned the same way should be passed over, as well.
Dotson added that Coal Run, which passed its own occupational tax ordinance in response to Pike County’s passage of an occupational tax ordinance in 2015, should foot the bill for the dump truck.
Dotson, Pike Judge-Executive Bill Deskins, and Magistrate Bobby Varney all voted against the project, which was ultimately approved by a 4-3 vote. Magistrate Jeff Anderson indicated during the meeting that State Representative Chris Harris agreed to endorse the funding request if the fiscal court approved it.
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