BY EARNEST WINSTON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON -- The Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce will report Tuesday on successfully securing $56.5 million in state funding for capital projects from the 1998 General Assembly, the Chamber's chairman said.
The money includes $36.5 million to build a Northern Kentucky University Science Center and $17 million for the Cincinnati - Northern Kentucky International Airport and expansion of the DHL Airways hub there.
An additional $3 million also went to fund a golf course at Kincaid Lake State Park near Falmouth in Pendleton County.
The projects are listed in the Chamber's 1998 Legislative Report Card, which will be made public Tuesday during Eggs "N Issues. The program, from 7:15 to 8:45 a.m., will be at Four Seasons Sports Country Club in Crestview Hills.
Participants will include state Reps. Jim Callahan, D-Wilder, and Paul Marcotte, R-Union.
"I thought (the legislative session) went very well. I thought there was no significant legislation that was anti-business," said board chairman Joe Von Lehman.
The chairman said Northern Kentucky lawmakers were more proactive in introducing legislation this year.
Among legislative actionthe Chamber sought, but didn't have much luck with: repealing the remaining tax on intangible personal property; restoring the original prevailing wage threshold and exempting school construction; and creating a statute with cleanup standards to allow the redevelopment of vacant, private property. Mr. Von Lehman added, "We didn't get health care fixed to the extent we thought it should have been."
The Chamber was pleased to see legislation that:
- Allows credits against individual and corporate income tax for qualified companies for approved occupational and skills upgrade training.
- Allows local districts to take up to six years to use School Facilities Funding Commission funds, instead of four years. Bonding potential for school capital projects also increased to $201 million statewide, with the annual debt ceiling increasing from $62 million to $118 million.
- Provides a sales and use tax credit for air carriers that pay more than $1 million annually in sales and use taxes when purchasing aircraft fuel.
- Creates a fund to provide operating subsidies for public transportation. Awards $232 million for projects in the Six Year Highway Improvement Plan for Boone, Campbell, Kenton, Carroll, Gallatin, Grant, Owen and Pendleton counties.
The Chamber failed to get legislation it wanted to change employment and labor laws.
But just getting the legislation introduced was a victory of sorts, said Robert Hudson, human resource issues coordinator for the Chamber.
"If the General Assembly had lasted longer, I firmly believe we would have had a wonderful opportunity to see that legislation enacted," said Mr. Hudson, a lawyer.
