HAZARD – The budget for the City of Hazard and several legal matters were discussed during the City Commission meeting at City Hall on Monday, June 7.

The new fiscal year for the city begins on July 1, 2010 and will bring with it a budget of over $17 million after the commission approved the amount unanimously. This amount is over $7 million less than what the city was allotted during the last fiscal year.

The money will be divvied up and given to projects that need it the most, including the fire department equipment fund, which will be receiving 180,000 dollars from this amount.

City police will also be receiving money in the amount of 250,000, which may be the most they have ever received from a city budget.

Also getting money from the city budget are the Forum, the Pavilion and water, gas, garbage and sewer funds. With all this money spread around, $5 million will be left in the city’s general fund.

There will be a second reading of the budget on June 14 in the City Commission chambers at 9:30am.

The Commission also voted to approve the extension of the McDonald’s corporation’s lease agreement with the city that allows the company to lease the parking lot across from the new park and next to the East Main McDonald’s.

McDonald’s currently pays $300 a month to lease the property, which City Attorney Paul Collins said may not seem like a lot, but is very helpful to the city.

“It is a small sum of money,” Collins said. “But it is a consistent sum of money.”

The lease for the property will be extended until February of 2018.

In order to continue receiving money from the federal government through grants, the city must adopt certain policies from time to time, according to Collins.

He said this meant that the city has to adopt Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which states that local governments are supposed to require availability of services to people with limited English proficiency.

Limited English proficiency refers to those who have a limited ability to read, write, speak or understand English. The commission approved this adoption of policy unanimously.

Hazard Fire Department chief Sam Stacy reported that the department responded to a total of 64 calls during the month of May, 42 of which were responded to by Station 1, and 22 responded to by Station 2.

He said over 200,000 gallons of water were used by the department through May and that 1,704 hours of trained had been completed by Hazard firefighters.

The Commission also approved the hiring of Lee Brian Moore as a firefighter.

The Hazard Police Department worked a total of 43 criminal cases, 24 felonies, 19 misdemeanors, 55 non-injury accidents and 12 accidents with injury during the month of May, Chief Ronnie Bryant said.

He also said over $12,000 in stolen property was reported and that the department was able to recover just over $8,000 of that property.

Bryant said federal officials were in town on Tuesday, June 8 to investigate further into last month’s vote buying case.

Ending the meeting was City Manager Carlos Combs with a report of an oil spill on Line Fork on the Perry County Letcher County border.

The spill occurred at 8 a.m. on Monday morning, and Fire Chief Sam Stacy was notified of the spill at 3:30 that same day.

Combs said 1,600 gallons had spilled so far, at the time of the Commission meeting, and that they had been watching the river to make sure the oil hadn’t reached it. The City of Hazard’s water treatment plant, which supplies the City’s customers with water, is located downstream on the North Fork of the Kentucky River.

At the time of the meeting, no oil had been reported in the river from the spill, but officials are still watching to make sure it doesn’t reach the water.

“It (the oil spill) is a concern,” Combs said.