COVINGTON, Kentucky – The former JCPenney department store on West Pike Street, Covington City Hall, does not serve the city’s needs at all, says Mayor Joe Meyer.
On Tuesday, the Covington Commission passed an ordinance that would allow the city to issue tens of millions of dollars in bonds to finance the construction of a new $26 million city hall building near Seventh and Scott streets and to refinance another tens of millions of the city’s existing debt.
Meyer said the city needs to bring the ordinance to a final vote within two weeks to move the project forward and spread the debt despite rising costs to the city in 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 and urged the council not to approve the bonds, expressing fears that future tax revenues would not be enough to cover the burden the city could face from debt and interest.
When we asked whether taxpayers would cover the additional costs caused by the ordinance, Meyer said the city could cover them without raising taxes, largely thanks to the area’s increased job market and new developments, including the highly anticipated Covington Center Riverfront project on Fourth Street.
“Over the last four years, we have announced over 5,600 new jobs in the city, not including future development related to the redesign of the IRS,” he said.
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Economic Development Director Tom West said the CCR project is progressing well.
The City Council recorded the official names of the streets now visible in the dirt in the minutes of its meeting Tuesday, and West said it has been exciting to see the project go from diagrams on paper to reality.
“For me, that’s the most exciting part of the development,” West said.
West said three blocks of the project have already been contracted for development, development applications have been submitted for four more, and he expects construction on the buildings to begin in late 2024.
“In addition to great shopping and housing opportunities, there will also be great jobs. This is important for the city because a large part of our income comes from payroll tax,” he said.
If the commission approves the millions for new spending and restructuring at a meeting in two weeks, the groundbreaking for the new city building is scheduled for October 29, according to city officials. Construction work is scheduled to be completed by May 2026, with the provisional opening planned for June 2026.
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