Governor's Office of Agricultural Policy
Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund Receives $9.1 Million

FRANKFORT, Ky. Governor Ernie Fletcher today announced that the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund received an additional $9.1 million from Kentucky’s share of the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) for the current fiscal year.

Forecasters predicted that Kentucky’s Master Settlement Agreement revenue would be lower in 2007 due to multiple legal challenges and disputes by tobacco companies over their contributions.

However, when the receipts came in this week, Kentucky received $107.0 million, representing $18.2 million more than originally budgeted. Reasons for the unexpected income include companies fulfilling their commitment to make their payment when previously they indicated they would withhold part of their 2007 payment. Additionally, there were settlement payments from nationwide lawsuits and estimates for decreases in cigarette consumption nationwide were conservative.

Half of Kentucky’s share goes into the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund. The other 50 percent is also dedicated and is divided equally between early childhood development programs and heath care improvement programs.

Agricultural Development Funds are distributed to 118 of 120 Kentucky counties.  The 2007 amount budgeted for counties was $15.5 million. With an additional $3.1 million, they are now going to receive a total of $18.6 million. Additionally, the 2007 MSA funds set aside for state level projects was budgeted $ 2.0 million. The additional funds provide a total of $7 .9 million for investment in new and innovative diversification projects.

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