Friday, April 21, 2000
Speedway seeks divorce from town
BY Terry Flynn
The Cincinnati Enquirer
SPARTA, Ky. — Kentucky Speedway wants no part of this tiny city, and officials of the soon-to-open racetrack made that clear by filing a lawsuit Thursdayto force de-annexation from Sparta.
The action, filed in Gallatin Circuit Court at Warsaw, charges that the city of Sparta improperly annexed the speedway property and improperly collected more than $27,000 in taxes and fees since 1998.
“We're at wit's end,” speedway attorney Mark Guilfoyle said Thursday. “In recent months it's become painfully clear that Sparta is completely unable to provide anyone with even basic services. We're faced with a situation where we are paying taxes for nothing, and that's an untenable position to be in.”
The suit charges that the city violated sections of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and portions of the Kentucky Constitution by the manner in which the annexation ordinance was adopted.
“We've learned that Sparta is not being completely forthright,” Mr. Guilfoyle said. “(Sparta) officials said in the ordinance proceedings that everyone agreed to the annexation, and that's untrue. We specifically objected to the annexation, and we have letters from several other affected residents who were against the action.”
The Kentucky Revised Statutes call for a certified list of property owners to be made a part of the official record of annexation proceedings, and the suit claims that was not done during enactment of the ordinance.
Sparta Mayor Brenda Henry and City Attorney Meredith L. Lawrence were named in the suit. Attempts to reach them for comment were unsuccessful Thursday.
The suit states that the speedway has paid Sparta more than $27,000 in taxes and fees that, it claims, were illegally collected because the annexation was faulty.
“We've already paid four times their annual budget in taxes,” Mr. Guilfoyle said, pointing out that the city's annual budget is around $7,000. “That's pathetic. We're paying to operate the city of Sparta and getting nothing in return.”
The suit contains a copy of a letter from Mr. Lawrence to Kentucky Speedway president Mark Simendinger, asking for a donation to help fund the Sparta Police Department.
Another letter, dated Feb. 23, from Police Chief William Ping to state Rep. Jim Callahan, a Wilder Demo crat, asks for state assistance for a $1.9 million police budget that would include 21 officers for a city of about 150 people.
“They asked for 21 cops, which would be one officer for about every six or seven people,” Mr. Guilfoyle said. “Talk about a police state.”
The suit asks that the court find the annexation to be in violation of federal and state laws, and that Sparta illegally collected taxes and fees. It also asks that the court order reimbursement to the speedway of the taxes and fees paid the city, as well as all attorney fees.
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