By Richard Burkard


October 15, 2019 - He doesn't work in coal mining these days, but Hopkins County, Kentucky Judge-Executive Jack Whitfield Jr. still has plenty of contact with it.

"There are days when I really need a hardhat in the office," Whitfield said at a recent state legislative hearing on coal severance money.

Hopkins County, Kentucky Judge-Executive Jack Whitfield Jr.

He was joined by judge-executives from other counties which belong to the “Coal and Mineral County Coalition.” Some of the counties have active coal mines. Others, such as Webster County, have lost their mines completely.

The Interim Joint Committee on Appropriation and Revenue is studying budget requests, preparing for the 2020 legislative session. Whitfield's main concern is that Kentucky counties continue to receive the coal severance money they've collected.

“There are expenses we incur that others don't,” Whitfield said during an Oct. 1 hearing shown on KET and posted online.

But the amount of coal severance money has been declining. The peak came in fiscal 2012, at $298 million. For fiscal 2020, the projected amount is $65 million. Hopkins County's share of that money for this fiscal year already stands at more than $700,000.

Whitfield told the hearing that many county services depend on that money. After reviewing budgets over the past decade, "We've given about $500,000 to our volunteer fire departments. They can't make it and operate efficiently without some of that coal severance money."

Whitfield added coal severance money also has paid for about $4 million in Hopkins County roads in this decade. He said that if that source of income keeps declining, counties will need more money from the state gasoline tax to pay for road work.

Whitfield's best “friend of coal” in the state legislature may be Rep. Myron Dossett, R-Pembroke. The Republican whose district includes Hopkins and Christian counties said industries are relocating to Kentucky because the price of coal is low.

Kentucky Rep. Myron Dossett, R-Pembroke

“We're in contact three to four times a month,” Dossett said at the hearing.

But the chairman of the Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee expressed concern that the suggestions from Whitfield's coalition might force Kentucky to end scholarships in other places which include coal severance funding.

“You guys as coal judges need to make that decision among yourself and bring it to us with specificity,” said Sen. Christian McDaniel, R-Taylor Mill.