COVINGTON — Construction of a new Kenton County jail dominated the debate during a Thursday night campaign face-off between county Judge-executive Dick Murgatroyd and Democratic challenger Patrick Hughes.

Mr. Hughes, a lawyer from Fort Wright, maintained Mr. Murgatroyd and Kenton Fiscal Court have fumbled the issue by being unable to settle on a location and by raising taxes to pay for the jail.

Dick Murgatroyd (right), GOP incumbent Kenton County judge-executive, and Patrick Hughes, the Democratic challenger shake hands before a candidates' forum Thursday. (Patrick Reddy photo) | ZOOM |

“The jail and the way it has been mishandled has balled up every other positive development in Kenton County. It has been a major distraction,” Mr. Hughes said.

“My opponent tried to put the jail in Elsmere and then in Covington without being upfront with the residents,” he said. “The law was violated on multiple occasions and with respect to open records. And then a payroll tax (to pay for the jail) was illegally assessed.”

The payroll tax, challenged in court by residents and a business owner with assistance from Mr. Hughes' law firm, was overturned by a circuit court. The county is appealing that decision.

Mr. Hughes said he would pay for the jail, which could cost an estimated $25 million, “by cutting the budget and tightening the belt” and not by raising the payroll tax.

Mr. Murgatroyd, a Republican in his first term, disputed Mr. Hughes' portrayal of how the jail has been handled and said there is not enough fat in the budget to pay the annual debt service for a new jail.

He also said the county agrees with the city of Covington that the jail should be built on the site of the present jail at 303 Court Street and that the payroll tax is needed to pay for the facility.

“I don't think we have mishandled the jail,” Mr. Murgatroyd said, adding past administrations failed to act on the issue.

“We did make the decision on where to put the jail, we made the decision on how to pay for it,” he said. “Because of the lawsuit ... it is an issue at a stalemate at this point.”

Other issues included:

Merged emergency dispatch centers. An independent consultant told the county nearly a year ago that Kenton County could save $600,000 annually by merging its emergency dispatch center with Covington's. Mr. Hughes had advocated looking at the merger because of the potential savings and has criticized Mr. Murgatroyd for not acting sooner.

But Mr. Murgatroyd disputed the findings of the study.

“I'm not so sure we're convinced the facts are there to verify ... that both the county and Covington are going to save dollars,” Mr. Murgatroyd said. “And I'm not convinced it creates any better service.”

Selling county golf courses. Mr. Hughes has proposed studying selling at least one of the three county-owned golf courses to a developer who could build homes around it.

After reviewing the county's financial statements Mr. Hughes contends the courses are losing about $250,000 last year.

“It's something we have to do, we're losing money,” he said.

Mr. Murgatroyd said the golf courses are not in as bad financial shape as Mr. Hughes says.

“No tax dollars go into the golf courses, those pay for themselves,” he said. “Under our leadership we were able to cut $100,000 in expenses from the golf courses.”

Mr. Murgatroyd blamed a slowing of revenue, on dry weather keeping players away.

Economic development. Mr. Hughes said he would create economic incentives for

businesses to expand, but he was not specific. He did say a high-tech computer company recently moved to Newport after it could not reach a lease agreement in the county-owned 501 Main St. building in Covington.

Mr. Murgatroyd's staff has previously said the tenant wanted a to pay rent lower than what the county felt was reasonable.

E-mail pcrowley@enquirer.com

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