The Covington City Council approved the incentive pricing during its meeting Monday night for the new Holiday Inn Express being built on Paras Drive just off Exit 93 of I-20.

The hotel, owned by Navin Shah, who also owns the Hampton Inn on Paras Drive, will receive a flat rate of 6.1 cents per kilowatt hours exclusive of sales tax for three years and will receive no additional facilities charges to begin its electric service.

The lack of facilities charges totals a $32,000 benefit that the council approved earlier in the year as a standard incentive for new businesses. That package includes a 20 percent discount on gas services in the first year, 10 percent in the second and 5 percent in the third, building permit and land permit fees completely waved and a 20 percent reduction in water and sewage tap fees.

Airport funds application

An application of state assistance for the Covington Municipal Airport on three projects was granted by the Covington City Council Monday.

The application was broken up into three parts with the first for Phase 2 of construction of the southeast apron, consisting of paving and lighting for $1,350,000. The second request was for 28 approach lighting system’s for the runway, including CA/CI services totaling $581,500. The third request applied for by Covington was for a five-unit T-Hangar building for $160,000.

Covington recasts bid for trucks

After receiving information that the trucks the Covington City Council voted to purchase on Nov. 3 for the Environmental Compliance and Water Reclamation Departments were 8 speed and not 6 speed, the council voted to retract the bid acceptance from Ginn Motor Company Monday night.

With the additional information, the bid of Ginn at $25,395 each was no longer the lowest bid. The lowest bid was from Covington Ford for $25,958 per vehicle for a total of $51,916.