By Cindy Schroeder
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The $14 billion state budget passed by the legislature Monday night will provide a bit more funding for some Northern Kentucky cities and school systems but the $400 million keeps the Commonwealth's belt tight.

The biggest boon for Northern Kentucky was the late-night passage of $11.25 million in tax breaks for Newport on the Levee and the Hofbrauhaus.

Statewide, education fared better than expected, at least in K-12 programs. Kenton County Schools received some big funding for repairs to aging schools.

Here are some other Northern Kentucky highlights of the budget.

Base court revenues

• Twenty-nine Northern Kentucky cities that stood to lose $578,174 in base court revenues, or state funds they received for police overtime and other expenses, will have half of that money restored in the fiscal year that begins July 1. The new budget eliminates base court revenues on June 30, 2004. However, a new $10 fee for any arrest or citation, including traffic tickets, is expected to replace base court revenues.

That fee will be paid only on local citations and arrests where there's a conviction or the offender pleads guilty.

"We're asking cities to keep good records of how much revenue the $10 fee generates between July 1 and the end of this year," said Joe Ewalt, director of advocacy for the Kentucky League of Cities. "If it's not proven to be an effective replacement for base court revenues, we'll seek some adjustment for that."

Replacement or renovation of facilities

• The new budget will make it possible for Kenton County Schools to increase its bonding potential by $9.2 million. The money must be spent on the renovation of Caywood Elementary and Twenhofel Middle School.

The two buildings are among 13 Kentucky elementary and secondary schools that the Kentucky Department of Education has said are in the worst physical shape.

"Because of our projects at Simon Kenton and Dixie Heights (high schools), our bonding potential is very very low,'" said Susan Cook, superintendent of Kenton County Schools.

Levy for growing school districts

• As a high-growth district that meets certain criteria, Kenton County Schools stands to gain up to $200,000 for facility improvements if its school board agrees to levy an additional nickel on each dollar of property tax.

All money raised is to be used for the renovation or construction of schools.

State education officials couldn't say Tuesday if this new levy for growth districts such as Kenton County would be subject to voter recall.

Cook said that she does not anticipate any change in the school board's recent decision to close Visalia Elementary School and the Kenton Central Alternative School in Park Hills for at-risk students.

"The decision to close those schools was not entirely based on the lack of funding," Cook said. "It was based on `could we continue to spend this much more per student than we do on students in the other 18 schools in the district?' At Visalia, the cost of delivering instructional services was double what we were spending at the majority of the other buildings."

Reduction in inmate fees

• The state will reduce the daily fee it pays to county jails to house state prisoners by $1 per day, or from $28.76 to $27.76.

The Kenton County Detention Center, which normally houses between 50 and 60 state inmates, stands to lose between $15,000 and $25,000 a year, Jailer Terry Carl said.

Teacher pay raises

• Teachers will receive a cost-of-living adjustment totaling at least $1,080 next year, equal to a 2.7 percent raise on a salary of $40,000. Classified personnel, such as secretaries, cooks and janitors will get 2.7 percent raises.

School employee raises would be mandatory for school districts. All school districts also will receive a 3.6 percent increase in the SEEK formula.

"We are heartened by the fact that the state finally passed the budget,'' said Fred Bassett, superintendent of Beechwood Independent Schools. "We are getting a little extra this year, though we will not receive as much as other districts because of inequities in the SEEK formula."

Postsecondary education

• "Given where we started out, the leadership has put together a budget that most of us can live with,'' said James Votruba, Northern Kentucky University president.

"I commend them for that."

The budget cuts spending for universities by 2.6 percent this year, which translates into a 1.8 percent cut for NKU because of its historic under-funding.

Next year, NKU's base budget will increase by $1.8 million. "While that is a very nice increase, the net on that after the ($1.3 million in) reductions the last two years is about $500,000," Votruba said.

The budget gives NKU $400,000 for its information technology initiative, and the university will be able to request another $400,000 next year.

"That was very important for our regional economy," Votruba said. "It'll allow us to create a whole new information technology initiative."

NKU also will receive $2.6 million through Bucks for Brains to help the university attract top flight researchers, and the new budget has bonding authority that will enable the university to build a $9 million, 2,000-car parking garage.

"The difficulty for NKU is the reality of being the fastest-growing university in the commonwealth and not having that growth fully supported," Votruba said.

William Croyle contributed.

E-mail cschroeder@enquirer.com