Bye bye, Blackey? And Vicco? And Keene? Bill would dissolve defunct Kentucky cities
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Kentucky’s dissolving towns
The potential dissolution of some Kentucky cities is the result of a measure approved in the 2022 legislative session, Senate Bill 106, which was in part a response to an issue that arose over money destined for cities under federal coronavirus relief packages.
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Do you know the Kentucky cities with the highest and lowest populations? Take a look.
Bye bye, Blackey? And Vicco? And Keene? Bill would dissolve defunct Kentucky cities
Vicco, population 327, made national headlines in 2013 when the Eastern Kentucky hamlet became one of the smallest cities in the nation to ban gender and sexual orientation discrimination.
The New York Times ran a feature on Vicco’s adoption of the fairness ordinance, calling it a “coal smudge of a place” that subverted Appalachian stereotypes. Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report immortalized the town in a satirical news piece that highlighted its residents open attitude towards gay people like its former mayor Johnny Cummings.
By next year, though, Vicco and a handful of other small Kentucky communities may no longer be incorporated cities. That is, if Senate Bill 106 gets enacted.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Robby Mills, R-Henderson, was voted unanimously out of the Senate State and Local Government committee last week. The Kentucky League of Cities (KLC) touted it as a “good government” bill, as cities like Vicco no longer have the resources to administrate as they once did.
The bill’s process for dissolution would start with cities that don’t file responses to a simple questionnaire from the Department for Local Government. Those non-responders would need to meet some criteria for dissolution to move forward.
Per the bill, cities “maintaining a city government by both the election or appointment of officers, and the levying and collection of necessary taxes,” cannot be dissolved.
KLC Executive Director J.D. Chaney said that 416 cities are currently on the list. The bill, he guessed, could bring that number down to around 407.
Chaney and KLC’s Director of Public Affairs Bryanna Carroll said that the issue first came up when rounds of coronavirus-related government assistance from the The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) were allocated to those cities. No administrators in nearly a dozen claimed the money, Carroll said.
The cities potentially affected are located across the state. Blandville in Ballard County hasn’t elected anyone in two decades, Carroll said. She also mentioned Keene in Jessamine County, Blackey in Letcher County, Blaine in Lawrence County and Columbus in Western Kentucky’s Hickman County as some cities that “have no one elected.”
The Letcher County Fiscal Court has formally requested that the state dissolve Blackey, according to a report from the Mountain Eagle. The community held two public meetings in 2021 on the question of whether they should ask Gov. Andy Beshear to appoint a mayor and council; that didn’t receive enough support.
As of last November, Blackey had about $130,000 in tax money with no one to spend it. The residents there want the money to go somewhere so that the city-owned streets can be repaired, according to the Mountain Eagle.
Not having a city government is also causing some problems for places like Vicco, which still collects taxes but has nobody to administer those taxes.
“The insurance agents are collecting insurance premium tax there,” Carroll said. “The citizens are paying for it and there’s nowhere to send it.”
Less than a decade after rising to national prominence, Vicco has only one mayor and no staff or other elected officials according to Perry County Judge-Executive Scott Alexander. Vicco Mayor Ernest Back defeated Cummings in 2018, but with only two commissioners running for office in 2020 – not enough to fill out the elected body – he’s now all the town’s got.
Alexander told the Herald-Leader that Vicco’s decline makes him sad. Four generations of his family have lived there, including his brother who’s still a resident.
But allowing the county to administer its roads and provide upkeep for its park, the Rose and Evan Playground that hugs Carr Creek, is likely a necessary move. He said that county staff is already assisting with the park.
“Anything we can do to still keep that heartbeat in Vicco, we’re going to do,” Alexander said.
As of today, functionally defunct cities can only be dissolved if a citizen sues their city of residence in circuit court. Carroll said that the current dissolution option is not efficient, as it’s too costly and time-consuming for most residents.
The bill states that a city’s debt would be satisfied on a pro rata basis, and that the county take over its assets.
Cities have until Jan. 1 of next year to satisfy requirements to avoid dissolution. A citizen, resident, or creditor of any city could protest a dissolution in a public hearing setting.
Carroll emphasized in committee that the process set forth by Senate Bill 106 would only be effective on a one-time basis.
Senate Bill 106 was posted on the orders of the day for the Senate to take up on Monday at 4:00 p.m.
This story was originally published February 7, 2022 at 3:08 PM with the headline "Bye bye, Blackey? And Vicco? And Keene? Bill would dissolve defunct Kentucky cities."
