Pennyrile Area Development District officials made plans for their 2025-26 fiscal year Monday afternoon, approving a new budget with expected revenues valued at more than $37.3 million — which is more than a $5 million increase from the last calendar.
According to Chief Financial Officer Alisha Sutton, projected expenditures wouldn’t exceed $35.5 million. It’s still roughly $4 million more in spending than last year, but does leave room for a nearly $2 million expected windfall surplus.
This budget, per PeADD’s Community & Economic Development Director Amy Frogue, includes the offering of professional drone services for the region — which impacts all forms of mapping needed here, as well as the continued emphasis on disaster resiliency.
Frogue noted that her department remains in “strong demand” for efforts of “increasing complexity,” and that currently more than 300 projects totaling just under $500 million in funding remain in play for the area. She said she is seeing “more of a demand” for grant management services, and that it’s imperative for communities to remain “project ready,” while PeADD works to maintain “competitive applications,” while trying to be problem solvers who can help craft local budgets.
West Kentucky Workforce Board Executive Director Sheila Clark noted their budget would be smaller this year as compared to most in recent memory, still focusing on connecting employers and prospective employees — but remaining busy on other fronts, like disaster emergencies.
Director Jill Collins confirmed that the former Area Agency on Aging and Independent Living is being renamed and reorganized into the Department for Health and Family Services.
Among the reasons for this, she said, included clarity, transparency and an overall expansion of her office’s services, as Hopkinsville continues its course as one of the country’s four “super-hubs” for veteran directed care.
Through this past April and May, Collins said more than 8,000 congregate meals and more than 1,400 home-delivered meals were administered in the nine-county region, while veterans directed care services exceeded 500 total calls. These are but two of the common, but effective and oft-used, offerings through PeADD and her station.
DEPARTMENT DISCUSSION:
