182 million reasons to pull the plug on KentuckyWired boondoggle

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For immediate release: Friday, March 9, 2018

(FRANKFORT, Ky) -- Along with the surprising – and absolutely unacceptable – tax increases contained in House Bill 200, the recent budget bill passed by a 76-15 vote in the Kentucky House of Representatives, is a wasteful spending proposal dumping $72 million into the Kentucky Communications Network Authority and its Kentucky Wired program.

The Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions is working with the Taxpayers Protection Alliance to expose and stop this public-private boondoggle, which has continued to lose Kentucky taxpayer dollars since its costly inception during Gov. Steve Beshear’s administration.

While the letter we link to here is addressed to the House appropriations committee, we urge all legislators – especially those who will consider this bill in the Senate appropriations committee – to ponder how outrageous and irresponsible it is to force continuing and expanding this failing venture on already-overburdened Kentucky taxpayers while adding $110 million in additional debt to fund it sought Sen. Rick Girdler, R-Somerset, in his Senate Bill 223.“KentuckyWired is well on its way to becoming the costliest such project in the history of the commonwealth,” Bluegrass Institute president and CEO Jim Waters said. “It’s unfathomable considering the tough decisions that have been – and remain to be – made regarding the nation’s worst pension crisis and deep spending cuts affecting education, public safety and healthcare.”

Waters recently called on the General Assembly to pull the plug on the Kentucky Wired project in his weekly statewide syndicated Bluegrass Beacon column.

For comment or more information, contact the Bluegrass Institute at 859.444.5630 or jwaters@freedomkentucky.com.