Tagged: Auditor Adam Edelen

FRANKFORT — Efforts to reform Kentucky's laws for more than 1,000 special taxing districts—such as library boards, fire districts and sewer districts— are quickly moving this week  in the General Assembly.

The reforms were filed Tuesday as House Bill 1—which typically denotes a top priority for legislative leaders— and would create an online registry to list the special districts and their required financial paperwork. It stems from a partnership between  between state Auditor Adam Edelen and House Speaker Greg Stumbo.

Earlier this year, Auditor Adam Edelen released a report critical of the record-keeping of charitable funds in Jefferson County Clerk Bobbie Holsclaw's office, among other issues. Holsclaw later questioned whether the report was politically motivated.

Ashley Judd is the most discussed potential Democratic candidate to challenge U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell' for his seat in 2014, but not all Kentucky Democratic statewide officers are supporting the idea.

Auditor Adam Edelen said he'll be encouraging and supporting Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Kentucky secretary of state, for the 2014 senate race -- because of Grimes' focus on state, not national, issues.

Taken together, Kentucky's special taxing districts spend more money than the state spends on Medicaid and infrastructure -- and nearly half of those districts are not following rules on filing budgets or submitting audits, said a report from State Auditor Adam Edelen released Wednesday. 

A special taxing district is a quasi-governmental agency that collects fees or taxes, such as library boards, soil districts and health districts.