As the General Assembly’s 2025 legislative session draws closer, the Kentucky Association of Counties (KACo) is focused on three issues that are critical to county governments: the shared responsibility of jails, protecting county revenue, and maintaining county road and bridge funding.
KACo leaders testified on these priority issues during the November meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Local Government.
KACo President and Harlan County Judge/Executive Dan Mosley; President-elect and Union County Judge/Executive Adam O’Nan; and Executive Director Jim Henderson represented counties at the committee table.
“Counties have been incredibly fortunate over the past several sessions,” Henderson said. “The legislature has been extremely good to counties, so we want to say thank you.”
Judge Mosley reminded committee members of KACo’s broad membership base, representing more than 1,500 officials serving in 10 elected county positions.
Jail funding, county revenue options and infrastructure were consistently identified as top issues during KACo’s membership listening tour, which was held this summer in every area development district of the state.
Mosley shared with committee members his own county’s financial struggles.
“When I first came into office, Harlan County was spending approximately $400,000 a year on our county jail. In fiscal year 2023, we transferred a record $977,830 into the jail fund, which made up 29% of our general fund,” Mosley said. “Over the past three fiscal years, our county has transferred more than $2.4 million dollars in general funds to our jail fund. For comparison, over the three years prior, only $849,000 had to be transferred, meaning, we are transferring triple the amount of money today than was required just 4 to 6 years ago.”
Mosley invited the legislature to work with counties to find solutions to the top issue facing most county budgets.
“Running the county jail is part of who we are. It’s built into the responsibilities of county government. We’re refocusing on how we can better work with the General Assembly to address these shared challenges.”
Judge O’Nan discussed the need to preserve the current revenue streams available to counties: property tax, occupational tax and insurance premium tax.
While the legislature is on track to continue decreasing the state income tax, some leaders have expressed a desire to do away with the occupational tax as a revenue option for local governments.
O’Nan noted that needs differ based on each county’s makeup. He pointed out that Union County’s occupational tax rate allows his fiscal court to maintain a low property tax rate, but some counties rely solely on property tax revenue.
“We have to be careful about discussions about any ‘one size fits all’ approach to county taxation. We believe elected county officials know which of these options works best in their counties.”
Lastly, Henderson discussed the need for legislators to maintain the current transportation funding model. Of the nearly 80,000 public road miles in Kentucky, counties own and maintain more than 40,000 of those miles, along with more than a third of all bridges in the state.
Henderson thanked legislators for the newly enacted County Priority Projects Program and the County-City Bridge Program in addition to existing County Road Aid funding from the motor fuels tax but noted that there’s still more work to be done as construction costs continue to rise.
“County Road Aid is vital, and quite frankly these dollars haven’t kept up over the years,” Henderson said. “When adjusted for inflation with the National Highway Construction Cost Index applied, we really have $144 million in less buying power than we did even 10 years ago.”
Henderson told committee members that this shortfall further validates efforts by the General Assembly to help find other ways to help fund county roads and bridges.
“Counties deeply appreciate the partnership we have with the state. We look forward to continued conversations about how we can better collaborate with our shared responsibilities,” Henderson said.
Click here to view KACo’s 2025 Legislative Priorities presentation slides.
Click here to watch the full committee meeting.
