McCracken County says it had agreed to reserve $1.5 million for Paducah spec building but will not now pay after city funds project

McCracken County Judge Executive told the county fiscal court on July 14 that the county had told Paducah Mayor Bray on July 2 it would provide 25% — $1.5 million — toward the city’s $6 million local share for a proposed speculative industrial building in Industrial Park West, but the county will not now provide that money because the city voted to fund the full local share without county participation.

The judge executive said the agreement with the mayor was reached in a July 2 phone call and that, on the day of the Paducah City Commission vote, the mayor called again around noon. “I advised Mayor Bray in a phone call that the county would, at city's request, pay 25% or 1,500,000 of the cost, and we would no longer ask for reimbursement from payroll tax,” the judge executive said for the record.

The matter matters because the allocation of local matching funds determines whether county and city governments jointly underwrite economic-development projects and how occupational- or payroll-tax revenues are later used for reimbursement. The judge executive told the fiscal court that he raised the discrepancy because the mayor did not tell the city commission during its meeting that the county had agreed to participate; instead, the mayor told the commission they had not reached an agreement.

According to the judge executive, he wrote to the mayor after viewing the city meeting and met with him the next morning. The mayor told the judge executive he “would never have intentionally misrepresented our discussions,” saying the intent to partner had not registered with him. The mayor asked if the county would agree now to partner; the judge executive said no, because the city had voted to fund the local share on its own and therefore “didn't need it.”

Court members discussed whether a standing interlocal framework would reduce future misunderstandings. One commissioner supported creating a default skeleton interlocal agreement to set participation rules and a reimbursement formula tied to occupational-tax receipts, saying it would avoid ad hoc negotiations on each project. “If we had, like you said, kind of a skeleton, I think the skeleton of the agreement that you're talking about is, if it's in the county, 75/25 way. If it's in the city, 75/25 the other, with there always being a reimbursement based upon reimbursement plus 10%, off of the occupational tax that it generates,” the commissioner said.

No formal fiscal-court vote or appropriation on the spec building occurred during the July 14 meeting; the judge executive described a past informal agreement and explained why the county will not now provide funds since the city voted to proceed without county participation. Court members directed staff to continue talks about drafting an interlocal template for future projects.

The judge executive said documentation of his exchanges with the mayor — emails and notes — supports his account. He said the county will pursue a clearer process for future joint projects but will not provide the previously discussed $1.5 million now that Paducah has voted to fund the local share itself.