A final determination from the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet Office of Employment Training is that the Barren River Area Development District owes the state $91,442.74 in improperly spent federal workforce funds.

In a letter Jan. 27 to BRADD Interim Director Gene Becker and Ron Sowell, chairman of the South Central Workforce Development Board, Rick Jordan, executive director of the OET, said the state wants reimbursement from “non-federal funds” submitted to the OET by Feb. 13.

Becker said he will have to go over the state’s responses to information BRADD submitted following a Dec. 22 compliance monitoring report.

“I don’t have any comment,” Becker said. He said he might comment once he had a chance to review the state’s final determination.

While BRADD has financial exposure through its previous workforce responsibilities, the federal law specifically notes that the local elected officials, the 10 judge-executives in Allen, Barren, Butler, Edmonson, Hart, Logan, Monroe, Metcalfe, Simpson and Warren counties, are ultimately responsible for paying back the funds – about $9,100 per county.

That equal responsibility, rather than legal exposure through percentage of population – another option the federal law provides for – is reinforced in the interlocal agreement signed by all 10 county judge-executives in the spring of 2015, and amended last year.

Several judge-executives recently told the Daily News they were aware of their county’s fiscal responsibility for the workforce money.

But Metcalfe County Judge-Executive Greg Wilson, who chairs the BRADD board, said he wasn’t aware that responsibility was broken down equally county by county.

Edmonson County Judge-Executive Wil Cannon expressed concern that the responsibility was not by percentage of population and could impact his small population.

Judge-executives in Allen, Butler, Logan, Simpson and Warren counties said they understood the equal responsibility. Warren County Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon recently said the county judges had the opportunity to set up the financial responsibility by a percentage of population in the region and passed on that option.

A local official said it’s not the money as much as the dearth of world-class workforce service delivery in the region.

“While the $9,100 might be substantial for a county, my concern is the services that the people didn’t get,” said Ron Bunch, president and chief executive officer of the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce. “The citizens have been jerked around by the prior service provider.”

Bunch said there is a current huge need to fill open jobs in the region and all the counties need to be on board with that effort. At the last workforce board meeting Barren County Judge-Executive Micheal Hale, the only county judge-executive in attendance, urged the other judges “to get off their butts” and join the effort. His stance had previously been voiced prior in the week at a judges meeting in Warren County where nine of the 10 attended.

Hale said he’s seen how workforce efforts can help, citing a high school student job awareness program in his county that has “touched every student” as they explore options prior to high school graduation.

Whoever pays the money, the state OET audit and the demand for payment appears to close a long, contentious debate about workforce services, the funds and the fiscal responsibilities that has stretched for about five years in the region.

BRADD was put in a similar position by a state agency when the state Department of Aging and Independent Living demanded repayment of $82,976.14 that BRADD had used to pay salary bonuses to staff from 2009 to 2014. The state said the payments were illegal. 

BRADD eventually paid the money and former BRADD Executive Director Rodney Kirtley, who had continually insisted that BRADD did nothing wrong, chose to step down and retire, elevating Becker to his current interim executive director post. The BRADD executive council is now taking steps to hire a full-time executive director.

BRADD previously served as direct-service provider and fiscal agent for the 10-county regional workforce board. ResCare Workforce Services, under the banner of the Kentucky Career Center, is now the direct-service provider and the city of Bowling Green is the fiscal agent.

— Follow business reporter Charles A. Mason on Twitter @BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.