Property owners find themselves in new counties after statewide map change
Lawmakers are working through who gets taxes and where kids go to school after map switch
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Hundreds of people living along the Jefferson County line are learning their properties are in the wrong county after the implementation of a new state map.
Lawmakers are trying to figure out what happens when a property has to switch borders, including which governments get the taxes and where children go to school.
Louisville Public Media first discovered problems in Jefferson County with voters assigned to the wrong precinct. A state audit flagged 2,100 addresses with problems. The entire state has problems after lawmakers mandated the state election board use one map across the board.
Property owners in an Oldham County neighborhood learned recently that they are actually Jefferson County residents after the county implemented the new state map.
“The clerks are following the law. We’re making sure people are notified what county they’re in, but we’re going to see how that affects where they pay taxes at,” Jefferson County Clerk David Yates said.
Yates said 290 properties from Oldham County are coming into Jefferson County. Another 36 properties along the Bullitt County line are moving there, a result of decades of map making and handshake agreements.
“This has been through history, just by an agreement, that determination. You won’t see that written in code,” Yates said.
His office is taking these moves to court to give property owners, property valuation offices, and other governments a chance to make their case before a judge to try to resolve problems including who gets the taxes and who represents these people.
“I have constituents who live in Oldham County, who pay Oldham County taxes, kids go to Oldham County schools, and now they’re represented by someone who doesn’t live in that district,” State Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, R-Smithfield, said.
Tichenor lives along a county border herself. She worries she will get moved out of her own district.
“What happens when they look at my district and I get thrown into another county?” Tichenor asked.
Franklin County Clerk Jeff Hancock pleaded with lawmakers to provide more money to upgrade the state’s voter registration system so it can match the maps in real time.
“This (is) something that has been going on for decades and now we get the opportunity to start correcting them,” Hancock said.
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