Series helped chronicle progress in Henderson in 1990s
The Henderson community had a lot of problems in the early 1990s, which prompted The Gleaner to publish a series of stories describing them.
One reason is that the officials elected in 1993 would serve five years – one year longer than usual.
At the end of 1998 – between Dec. 14 and Jan. 1, 1999 – The Gleaner published another series called “1994/1999 Agenda Revisited.” The idea was to look at what progress – or lack thereof – the community had made. (I’m going to focus on only certain aspects of the series because of space considerations.)
For the most part, the news was good. Chuck Stinnett wrote the last article in the series and focused on economic development. Here is how he began:
“Five years ago, Henderson worried that it had fallen behind in economic development.
“Only a handful of small industries had located here in the preceding years. A 60,000-square-foot spec building had sat vacant for more than three years.” Furthermore, concerns were raised about soil conditions at what is now Henderson Corporate Park.
Better times were ahead, though. “From 1994 through today, 10 new industries have opened shop here, creating more than 2,000 jobs.” And an 11th firm, Eastern Alloys, was getting ready to build a plant at the Henderson County Riverport.
Taubensee Steel and Wire Co. – three months after Chuck’s story ran – announced it was going to occupy the spec building.
In the fall of 1999, after much talk, work began on the 4 Star Industrial Park on the Henderson-Webster county line.
The park comprises about 1,000 acres that were acquired with state coal severance tax funds. Four years later Columbia Sportswear Co. officially confirmed that it would build a $40 million distribution center in the park.
“Eventually that will prove a tremendous tool for us,” Judge-executive Sandy Watkins said in Chuck’s story.But the economic gains did not come without problems. Odor problems plagued four of the new industries, although those problems were being resolved by the end of 1993.
Another problem was the loss of company headquarters. Peabody Coal moved its headquarters to West Virginia – and then to St. Louis – and Accuride Corp. had recently announced it would move its headquarters to Evansville in 1999.
County government had its own set of problems in 1994. An outmoded jail threatened to drown the county’s finances in red ink. The jail had been out of compliance with state standards since the early 1980s, so in 1989 Henderson Fiscal Court began looking at ways to build a new jail. Former Judge-executive Paul Herron advocated building a large jail off U.S. 60-West – and pay for it by housing state inmates.
Growing public opposition killed that idea. Shortly thereafter, the state imposed a 62-inmate cap on the old jail, forcing the county to pay other counties to house its excess prisoners. The question of raising property taxes to build a new jail was put on the ballot in the fall election of 1993. It won a majority, but not the two-thirds majority needed for passage.
That prompted fiscal court to begin thinking of either a payroll tax or an insurance premium tax. The court passed a 10-percent insurance premium tax in March of 1994. The city of Henderson had an 8-percent insurance tax at that time and – hours after fiscal court had acted – Mayor Glenn Johnson and Commissioners Al Baity and Bill Womack voted to raise their tax to 10 percent.
That meant that only those county residents who lived outside the city limits would be paying for the new jail. But the county’s insurance tax generated much more than the judge-executive had anticipated − $1 million by 1997 – which prompted fiscal court to lower the tax to 8 percent.
The money allowed the county to build a new jail, raise employee pay, upgrade Road Department equipment, and pave more miles of county roads.
The new Henderson County Detention Center opened in October 1996 and by the end of 1998 was generating enough money to pay for the debt service and operational costs. The county’s finances improved dramatically: The General Fund went from $2.3 million in 1994 to $4.2 million by late 1998, and the Road Fund nearly doubled in the same time frame.
The city of Henderson, meanwhile, with a surplus of more than $3.4 million, also was in solid financial shape as 1999 dawned. Of the state’s largest communities, only Henderson and Ashland did not have a payroll tax. Ashland, however, had an insurance premium tax of 16 percent – the state’s highest.
How was Henderson able to maintain that surplus level? This city, unlike most Kentucky cities, owns its electric, gas, and water-sewer systems, and they subsidize the General Fund. In fact, those payments from the utilities – totaling more than $3 million in 1998 – were the city’s second-largest revenue source. The insurance tax, at $3.1 million, came in first. Property taxes were third at $2.5 million.
The bulk of those utility payments to the city came from Henderson Municipal Power & Light as of 1998: $1.65 million.
What’s astonishing about that number is that at the same time HMP&L ranked 77th of the cheapest rates among the country’s 2,996 electric utilities.
HMP&L faced problems, however, and the city’s demands for cash were growing. That prompted the utility to raise rates in 1995 for the first time since 1980, although it cost the average residential customer about $13 annually.
As of the late 1990s the federal government was cracking down on emissions of nitrogen oxide, forcing HMP&L to install expensive scrubbers at the Station Two power plant. The Station One plant was still intermittently operating on the riverfront, and utility officials had no idea how long that would be allowed to continue. (The Station One plant was mothballed in 2008 and razed in 2014; the Station Two plant was shut down in early 2019.)
The Henderson Water Utility also faced huge problems. As early as 1985 a consultant studied the age-old problems associated with flooding and combined sanitary-stormwater sewers; it concluded that fixing 11 flood-prone areas of the city would cost an estimated $23.5 million. The city also was under pressure from federal authorities to stop raw sewage from running into Canoe Creek during heavy rainfalls.
That huge price tag made local officials leery about doing anything for more than a decade. In the fall of 1996, the Henderson City Commission suggested the Water and Sewer Commission retain $200,000 annually out of the money that otherwise would have gone to the General Fund. That money was to be earmarked for stormwater improvements.
The water and sewer commission authorized an in-house update of the 1985 study and wound up focusing on four priority areas. The main feature of the first big project was building a large retention basin near the old Union Station depot. The purpose was to hold water from the Center-Julia street area and allow it to slowly enter Canoe Creek.
The problems were so big and the prices so high it wasn’t until the spring of 2009 that the Water and Sewer Commission voted to accept a $33 million plan to separate sanitary and stormwater sewers. Paving of downtown streets – the last step in separating sewers there – was completed in the fall of 2012.
100 YEARS AGO
The auto ferry at what is now Ellis Park had an accident with a couple of aspects, according to The Gleaner of Dec. 14 and Dec. 18, 1923.
The first story related how the ferry lost power and drifted with the river, which prompted a rescue by the sailors of the U.S.S. Kankakee. The Henderson passengers didn’t get home until after midnight.
The second said the ferry had lost power and drifted until it hit the cradle where the ferry docked after each crossing, which put it out of commission for several hours.
75 YEARS AGO
Fire gutted the second story and attic of the Silver Dollar Bar at 236 Second St., according to The Gleaner of Dec. 16, 1948.
Fire Chief Letcher Martin estimated damage at $40,000. He also speculated that the fire had been caused by a prowler because a cash box, which had been placed in the safe with about $200 was found about 40 feet from the safe. It no longer contained the money.
50 YEARS AGO
Henderson – like the rest of the country – was beginning to feel the shortages brought about by the first oil embargo imposed by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, better known as OPEC, according to The Gleaner of Dec. 19, 1973.
“Shortages exist in everything from tractors to drinking straws to rock ‘n’ roll records,” according to the headline.
The lack of basic construction materials such as plastic, steel, and lumber had hit the construction business hard, according to Bobby Glover, president of Glover Construction.
“The situation is every bit as bad as you’re heard it is,” he said. “Manufacturers have simply stopped producing items that don’t make a big profit. Things like fabricated steel items, brick, tile, and other clay related products are next to impossible to get.”
Readers of The Gleaner can reach Frank Boyett at YesNews42@yahoo.com.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Series helped chronicle progress in Henderson in 1990s
