County denies city's request to annex

GREENUP The Greenup County Fiscal Court denied a request from one of its cities to annex county property during Tuesday's monthly meeting.

The City of Greenup — the county seat — was seeking to annex the state right-of-way and state roads on which its water lines run. According to the request, "no property will be annexed besides property owned by the state unless specifically requested, and with the permission of, a private landowner."

Judge-Executive Bobby Hall made a motion to deny the request. Commissioners Lee Wireman, Derrick Bradley and Earnie Duty voted unanimously in agreement.

"With annexation comes the responsibility of protecting the county's tax base," Hall said during Tuesday's meeting. "We were elected to oversee and approve the budgets and finances in this building and the detention center. I do not believe that any city in this county wants to absorb the responsibility and the cost of the Greenup County Jail.

"Under the new KRS regarding annexation," he continued, "we the fiscal court now have the authority to allow or not allow annexation of land in the county — outside of the city boundaries. With this said I will make a motion to not allow the annexation request by Mayor (Lundie) Meadows and his legal team to annex the water lines and right-of-ways that we authorized the money for to take water to 85 homes in Siloam last year."

Meadows was not present for Tuesday's meeting. He said in a phone interview with The Daily Independent that the city has annexed certain portions of land to where it had extended water lines in the past.

The mayor said the annexation was not taking in any property or businesses, that it was simply as the Sept. 9 letter indicated, pertaining to state right-of-way and state roads on which its water lines run.

Hall told The Daily Independent the new KRS creates a situation "where (cities) can't go out and cherry-pick anymore."

Greenup County does not have a payroll tax or insurance tax. However, Hall said, if it did have a payroll tax, annexation would throw budgets off-kilter.

"We use taxpayer dollars to run water," Hall said. "If we allow the cities to annex that, what will they annex next? ... With the new KRS, we have to work together."

During the meeting, Hall closed out his judge-executive report with this statement: "When Mayor Meadows decides to work with this court, our tourism committee, our jailer and our sheriff's office, then we will be glad to work with him.

"We are doing our part to communicate, be transparent and work with everyone," he continued. "We are paying water and sewer bills monthly on several buildings in this city and we are also paying a ridiculous (city) payroll tax that we get absolutely nothing for in return — better known as taxation without representation."

In an interview with The Daily Independent after the meeting, Hall elaborated on those remarks, pointing to a restaurant tax the City of Greenup implemented recently.

Greenup's city council voted unanimously to approve its restaurant tax ordinance over the summer. It took effect on Nov. 1.

Hall learned about it, he said, after seeing it on a receipt from a restaurant in Greenup. However, it was listed as "Greenup County," he said. "Greenup County's not the one that put that on there," Hall said, referring to the City of Greenup's decision.

"The Greenup County Fiscal Court is paying for a tourism director to help promote tourism in all eight cities and Greenbo," Hall said. "But then when Greenup comes in and puts on a restaurant tax ... Greenup's going to collect this tax yet I'm (the fiscal court) going to pay the bill. There's gotta be some balance."

Meadows said the City of Greenup "has been a team player and will remain to be a team player."

Meadows cited Russell's restaurant tax, inferring it's not unprecedented.

Hall's concern with the City of Greenup, he said, is the county foots the bill for many money-driving events in the county seat.

"(The county) is responsible for the jail, the sheriff's office, the clerk's office, responsible for all these budgets yet the city is going to put on these taxes and not share the money," Hall said regarding his concern.

Meadows reiterated to the newspaper that his city is a "team player and will remain to be a team player."