nearly $8 million

SMITHLAND, Ky. (KFVS) – On Monday, May 15, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear visited Livingston Central High School to present $7,968,505 in awards to support Livingston and Marshall Counties.

The awards will go towards supporting tourism, cleaner water, local nonprofits, renovations on the Livingston Central High School pool and renovations on the Marshall Co. Caring & Needline Food Pantry.

Livingston Co. Judge and Executive Garrett Gruber said the county is deeply grateful for the investment.

“These funded projects will assist the county in our goals of providing superior services for our residents in a multitude of areas,” Gruber said. “These projects will improve vocational education development in our school system, provide reliable water/sewer infrastructure and improve other important community services throughout the county.”

Marshall Co. Judge and Executive Kevin Spraggs also shared his enthusiasm.

“We are very excited to see this much-needed funding be awarded to Marshall Co. organizations,” Spraggs said. “The nonprofit sector and tourism industry both play a vital role in the success of Marshall Co. as a whole, and we thank Gov. Beshear for his commitment to seeing both succeed in the commonwealth.”

A release from the governor’s office breaks down the funding for each area of the awards.

Gov. Beshear awarded $1 million to the City of Benton and Marshall Co. Caring Needline to support the renovation of their food pantry. Renovation work will include a redesign of the warehouse to increase safety and efficiency and the installation of freezer space and storage. The renovations will allow Marshall County Caring Needline to better serve the over 282 families per month and the additional 325 seniors per month who rely on the facility for food.

The governor also awarded $5,687,000 to Livingston Central High School to support renovation costs for The Livingston Co. Career and Technical Center.

For tourism funding, Gov. Beshear awarded $95,000 to the Kentucky Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau to attract meetings and conventions as well as $47,455 to the Grand Rivers Tourism Commission to support travel marketing and promotion.

Additionally, $100,000 was awarded to the West Kentucky Disc Golf Project to support multi-county collaborative destination marketing. The project aims to create a regional disc golf experience by promoting courses located across participating jurisdictions.

A total of $275,899 in funding for cleaner water was awarded…