Request By:
Jack Sheehan
3005 Larkspur Lane
Prospect, Kentucky 40059
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of November 2nd in which you request an opinion as to whether or not a city of the fifth class can annex a subdivision in an adjoining county.
Our response to your question would be in the negative. Referring to the case of
Town of Elsmere v. Tanner, 245 Ky. 376, 53 S.W.2d 522 (1932), we find the Court holding that a municipality lying wholly in one county may not extend its boundaries into an adjacent county without express statutory authority and in the case of
Smeltzer v. Messer, 311 Ky. 692, 225 S.W.2d 96 (1949), the Court of Appeals said and we quote:
"In
Town of Elsmere v. Tanner, 245 Ky. 376, 53 S.W.2d 522, it was held that a sixth class municipality did not have power to annex territory lying in another county. The statute there under consideration is very similar to the one providing for annexation by cities of the fourth class. KRS 81.210. In the face of this limitation, we are confronted with a situation where a city has attempted to control the use and development of land located in a territory which it is not authorized to annex. The future growth of the city cannot invade this particular surrounding territory. The city cannot be developed over the county line in that direction. The adjoining area, under our present laws, cannot become a part of the civic design."
During the 1978 Legislative Session, House Bill 309 was introduced which permitted any city to annex territory in an adjoining county. However, this bill failed to pass. As a consequence, until the State Legislature specifically authorizes counties to annex territory in adjoining counties, such cannot be done.