Kentucky budget negotiators earmarked $100 million for key downtown area Louisville projects and set aside more than $46 million for University of Louisville initiatives in a massive spending bill lawmakers approved Thursday night.
The version of House Bill 1 hammered out by General Assembly leaders in the hours before adjourning for a two-week break distributes $50 million annually over the next two years to Louisville Metro government for six high-profile projects.
Those include the Belvedere, which Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg wants to overhaul; the city’s Community Care Campus for the homeless; the LOUMED medical district campus; Louisville Gardens, which would be repurposed into a media soundstage; swaths of vacant lots downtown; and the Butchertown Sports District, where the owners of Louisville’s professional soccer teams have promised additional development.
The bill, a budget measure making one-time appropriations from the state’s budget reserve trust fund, passed the GOP-dominated Senate and House of Representatives Thursday and now heads to Democratic Governor Andy Beshear’s desk.
In addition to the urban Louisville projects, the legislation also directs $25 million to U of L for cancer research, screening and educational programs at the Center for Rural Cancer Education and Research; $10 million for the university’s cybersecurity program; $10.6 million for U of L’s Kentucky Manufacturing Extension Partnership; and $900,000 for the university’s Rural Dental Outreach Program.
Among other investments, the bill gives $4.3 million to Louisville Orchestra operations and programing and $4 million to the Waterfront Botanical Gardens. Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport would get $5 million, and Goodwill Industries’ Opportunity Campus in western Louisville would receive $3 million.
Source: WDRB
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