Three EKY counties receive money from the EKSAFE fund

KNOTT COUNTY, Ky. (WYMT) - On February 23, during Governor Andy Beshear’s Team Kentucky update, he announced four different awards from the Eastern Kentucky Safe fund.

Two awards are going to the City of Booneville, and the other two are going to Perry and Knott counties.

Knott County Judge Executive Jeff Dobson said the county has millions of dollars in needed repairs and, with their tight budget, the EKSAFE fund is necessary.

“You have to use every penny you have of your day-to-day operational fund in order to pay your bills, keep payroll up, buy gravel, pay your day-to-day utility cost, your operational cost,” he said.

Dobson said the county has millions of dollars in road damage, and it is frustrating for the county to allocate the money to pay for the additional FEMA match cost for the repairs they need.

“FEMA requires a local cost share match, and you know we’re having to access this EKSAFE fund to come up with our match,” he said.

He added this money is a step in the right direction to continue helping with the repairs and having the funding in their budget to do that.

“We’re 20 plus million in damages out there, and, you know, we don’t have that money laying around. We’re actually operating on about a 7.2-million-dollar budget,” said Dobson.

He said, with the multitude of the disaster, the damage is about three times more than their actual budget.

“We’re thankful that the legislation has set this pot of money up and approve this. The house and senate you know we appreciate the state management and the governor’s office for approving us on our request,” he said.

The City of Booneville also received almost $6,000 for FEMA match along with $100,000 to help ease fiscal strain. Plus, Perry County received $700,000 to help purchase equipment needed for relief repairs.

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