Published: November 10, 2009 11:23 pm      

Greenup County, conservation district suit settled

Greenup — Greenup County will pay the county’s soil and water conservation service $40,000 to settle a lawsuit.

The fiscal court agreed to the settlement Tuesday.

The money represents funding the district believed it had coming from the county after the fiscal court refused to impose a millage tax in 2006, county attorney Mike Wilson said.

The court nixed the tax because commissioners wouldn’t have any control over rates once it was enacted, Judge-Executive Bobby Carpenter said.

“This is a good step forward for them,” said Greg Monge, the conservation district’s attorney. “They’ve finally gotten the funding allocated to resume programs they haven’t been able to do in the past.”

The rift between the district and the county began after the state consolidated the Greenup and Carter county districts and cut funding, Wilson said. The county had been allocating $10,000 per year to the district in its annual budget. The district wanted the county to impose a tax to generate $60,000 per year.

The county offered to increase funding to $15,000 per year and kick in another $5,000 of in-kind services. But the district sued, claiming the county’s offer didn’t meet its requirement under state law to provide adequate funding.

The two sides negotiated the settlement this fall.

Commissioner Tony Quillen voted against the settlement, saying he didn’t believe the district had proven its need for the funding.

Quillen also questioned the effectiveness of the district.

“This request for additional funding should not be a priority for our county at this time,” he said.

The district had offered to take the settlement amount in installments but the fiscal court decided to pay a lump sum.

The settlement doesn’t address any future county obligations to fund the district, Wilson said. In fact, the current fiscal court can’t bind a future group of commissioners, he said.

Wilson signaled, however, that commissioners in the future are likely to use the settlement as a guideline. “They don’t need to recreate the process,” he said.

MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2652.