“This was a larger underlying threat to the sovereignty of cities,” said Independence Mayor Chris Reinersman of a recent compromise on Kentucky Senate Bill 141.
The issue was a focal point at Saturday’s Kenton County Mayors Group meeting, where Kentucky Sen. Chris McDaniel (R-Ryland Heights) and Rep. Steve Doan (R-Erlanger) came to give some updates on recent legislation.
The bill had focused on the collection of unpaid property tax liens when it was first introduced at the beginning of the month, but as it shuttled through committee, it tacked on language that prohibited cities from annexing unincorporated county land until July 1, 2024.
“It was perceived as a first step to make cities subordinate to counties,” Reinersman said at the meeting. He went on say that “it’s not us and them. We’re not supposed to be subordinate. We’re just two different entities with two different roles.”
Annexation occurs when a city absorbs part of unincorporated county land on its borders into the official area of the city, often for the purpose of development. Cities can do this on their own or at the request of land owners who want to be included in the city’s political boundaries. Upon the annexation of a land parcel, the city takes responsibility for its infrastructure and services. Many cities in the Northern Kentucky region border unincorporated land.
Reinersman and other Kenton County leaders had come out in opposition against the moratorium, and both the mayors and the legislators characterized the bill as unhelpful squabbling between county and municipal governments.
“I’ll be honest, the whole reason that the annexation thing came about is disappointing because it’s about local governments feuding with one another,” McDaniel said.
McDaniel did not specify which regions of the state the tensions had sprung from, and he added that he didn’t understand “this level of animosity that local officials have in some parts of the state.”
The ability of cities to annex land from counties is an integral part of land development in the region and prohibiting it could have profound effects on both economies and infrastructure.
“It involves utilities, it involves county spending, it involves occupational taxes,… ballot initiatives,” McDaniel said.
The final version of the bill, which the General Assembly delivered to Gov. Andy Beshear’s desk on March 16, contains a set of compromises that would allow cities — in the local area, at least — to continue their annexation efforts, even though it doesn’t cancel the moratorium outright. Annexations may still continue if they meet one of the following criteria:
- They provide “substantial economic development” that could not occur without an annexation
- They facilitate an improved delivery of services that could not occur without an annexation
- If a contract let related to annexation that began before March 1 would be voided as a result of the moratorium
- A property owner with land on city’s border requests the annexation of their property and the county’s fiscal court approves the request
- The county’s fiscal court agrees to an annexation
- The annexation is necessary for providing services to a school
Annexations begun before March 1 would not be affected by the bill’s passage or the moratorium.
The bill compromise also sets up a state task force to investigate the current statutes related to annexation as well as the overall pros and cons for allowing cities to annex county land.
“We’ll come back in nine months and probably do something again on it,” Doan said, adding that the bill would give local governments leeway in defining what a “substantial economic development” is, which would ideally enable Kenton County cities to continue the development efforts they had begun before March 1.
Toward the end of the meeting, mayor Reinersman described how such a moratorium could have impacted his city’s economy.
“We’ve got a lot of unincorporated borders,” Reinersman said. Speaking about development efforts in the city, he referenced a project in the city’s near term that, if delayed due to legislation, could be close to a “million dollar revenue hit to the city.”
Doan and McDaniel expressed their gratitude at the Kenton County officials’ forthright attitudes about the legislation and their seeming willingness to work with all levels of government, in contrast to the adversarial spirit of the bill.
“A couple of us in the local government committee, we listened to you all,” Doan said. “So it does matter when you reach out to us, when you contact us, and you tell us what you want. We will listen.”
McDaniel added that he hoped to invite Jim Henderson, CEO of the Kentucky Association of Counties, and James Chaney, the CEO of the Kentucky League of Cities, to future meetings to the hear the concerns of group and discuss ways to work together in the future. No dates for such a meeting were set up on Saturday.
Although many at the meeting were pleased with the results of the compromise, Reinersman warned that the issue was unlikely to disappear.
“We have not won the war yet, so please pay attention to this issue,” Reinersman said, before concluding with “we all need to keep an eye on it.”
The next meeting of the Kenton County Mayors Group will take place on April 15 at 9 a.m. at the Edgewood Senior Center.