COVINGTON, Ky. — Once a JCPenney department store on West Pike Street, Covington City Hall is woefully inadequate to suit the town's needs, according to Mayor Joe Meyer.
On Tuesday, the Covington Commission moved forward an ordinance that would allow the city to issue tens of millions in bonds to pay for a $26 million new city hall building near Seventh and Scott streets and refinance tens of millions more of the city's existing debt.
Meyer said the town needed to move the ordinance to a final vote in two weeks to get the project moving and spread out debt despite an increased cost to the city over the long-term, according to a report from WCPO 9 partner Link NKY.
"Covington has had five different city hall addresses in the last 50 years," Meyer said. "This facility is inadequate for our needs."
One man spoke at the meeting asking council not to approve the bonds. He spoke out over fears that future tax revenue projections could be inadequate to meet the burden debt and interest could place on the city.
When we asked if taxpayers would bear the increased cost brought with the ordinance, Meyer said the city could bear it without raising taxes thanks primarily to the region's increased job market and new developments, including the highly anticipated Covington Center Riverfront project on Fourth Street.
"In the last four years we've announced over 5,600 jobs that will be added to the city, not counting any future development associated with the redevelopment of the IRS," he said.
Economic Development Director Tom West said the CCR project was moving along well.
Council read the official names of streets now visible in the dirt into the record at Tuesday's meeting, and West said it was exciting to see the project go from diagrams on paper to reality.
"For me, this is the most exciting part of the development," West said.
West said three blocks of the project have been contracted for development, four more have been put out for development proposals, and he expected vertical construction of buildings to begin by the end of 2024.
"In addition to great places to shop and live, there will be great places to work. For the city, that's important because a lot of our revenue comes from payroll taxes," he said.
If the commission approves the millions in new spending and restructuring at a meeting in two weeks, city officials said a ground breaking for the new city building would be set for Oct. 29 with construction scheduled through May 2026 and a tentative ribbon cutting in June 2026.
Watch Live:
