LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A group of residents from Louisville's West End filed a lawsuit to stop a large, controversial special taxing district in the West End.
The West End Tax Incremental Financing Legislation (WETIF Legislation) was passed in the final hours by the Kentucky General Assembly in 2021.
The legislation creates a new statutory tax increment funding (TIF) program across a 12-square-mile portion of Louisville's West End, including all nine of the neighborhoods -- Parkland, Shawnee, Park Duvalle, Russell, Portland, California, Chickasaw, Park Hill, and Algonquin.
The lawsuit was filed by people from seven of those neighborhoods.
The eight plaintiffs claim the TIF is unconstitutional because it targets a specific “individual, object, or locale”, takes money away from the public school system, creates a future debt obligation of the Commonwealth of Kentucky of more than $500,000 without approval by a majority of voters in a general election, and it violated the “three-readings rule” -- which requires every bill to be read at length on three different days in House and legislature.
The lawsuit is seeking expedited review of the TIF and asked the court to void the TIF.
Russell Neighborhood Association President Jackie Floyd has been part of the TIF conversations since the beginning, and she said she was not surprised to see a lawsuit filed.
"Most people have never heard of a TIF. If we had been educated, if our elected officials had been keeping us informed on that a TIF was what they were coming down to, and took the time to educate the community and be more forthcoming, honest…then that would make a difference in the reaction we're getting now from the TIF," Floyd said. "Who knows the neighborhood better than the people that live in the neighborhood."
Floyd said she wants to see economic development in west Louisville, like more sit-down restaurants and factories that are good for the environment, but wants everyone to be part of the conversations.
Through the TIF, the nonprofit West End Opportunity Partnership is responsible for revitalizing all nine of west Louisville's neighborhoods. The group has promised to reinvest 80% of tax dollars collected in the TIF.
In a statement to WHAS11, Amy Cubbage, the attorney for the West End Opportunity Partnership, said in part: "The complaint does not implicate any actions taken by the Partnership. It takes issue with the structure and passage of the original legislation creating the Partnership. Nevertheless, the Partnership will defend the legislation vigorously."
Cubbage goes on to call the litigation "frivolous and ill-founded."
The lawsuit lists the nonprofit as a defendant, as well as Louisville Metro Government and the Kentucky Department of Revenue.
The lawsuit was filed April 11, 2024 in the Jefferson Circuit Court.
Read the full statement from Cubbage below:
"The West End Opportunity Partnership is aware that a group of West Louisville residents filed a complaint seeking to invalidate the legislation creating the Partnership, claiming that the legislation violates state constitutional provisions regarding special legislation, funding of common schools, debt obligations, and the three readings rule. These claims all display a profound misunderstanding of how the legislation creating and governing the Partnership works, as well as a misunderstanding of how the cited constitutional provisions work.
The Partnership also notes that the complaint does not implicate any actions taken by the Partnership or allege the Partnership itself has acted improperly. Rather, the complaint takes issue with the structure and passage of the original legislation creating the Partnership. Nevertheless, the Partnership plans to defend the legislation vigorously. The Partnership is proud to serve its neighbors in West Louisville, and it will not be distracted from its important work by this frivolous and ill-founded litigation."
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