Guest Editorial
Billy Ray Huges Magistrate District 3
Why would the Kentucky legislature enact a bill (SB 141) that would put a one year pause on city annexations? It was such an important topic that the legislature wanted to do a deep dive on the issue.
Growing cities are a concern for counties and that is a concern for all Kentuckians. Not all Kentuckians live in a city, but all Kentuckians do live in a county. Kentucky’s 120 counties provide constitutionally mandated services to residents, workers and businesses within that county such as jails, maintaining roads and bridges, public safety, administering elections and much more. To provide these services counties need revenue.
Annexation is the process of extending a city boundary. Unfortunately, city annexation can, and has, threatened the ability of county governments to effectively serve all residents, including city residents.
For decades the law has allowed cities to annex property and grow their tax base at the expense of counties. This is often carried out without any input from the county fiscal court. One state representative described the situation in come counties as “islands of prosperity in seas of misery”.
Several counties and cities have interlocal agreements on economic development and quality of life improvements for residents. However, these local agreements are usually only as strong as the elected officials currently in office. With the exception of combined E911 services there are no significant economic development interlocal agreements currently in Madison County.
In general, counties have no voice in the annexation process or a mechanism to oppose annexation proposals.
Part of the legislation for the annexation pause (set to expire July 1, 2024) established a task force to review annexation regulations and make recommendations to the state legislature for the upcoming session.
As always, I welcome your comments or questions at wcrhughes@gmail.com
