Request By:
Hon. J. Quentin Wesley
City Attorney
130 E. Main Street
Morganfield, Kentucky 42437
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Walter C. Herdman, Asst. Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of September 2, 1982 concerning the question of who would be entitled to vote on the issue of whether or not a section of the city of Morganfield will be stricken from the corporate limits of the city. You also enclose a copy of an ordinance which states that the question of de-annexation shall be submitted to the qualified voters of the area to be de-annexed.
Any city may reduce its boundaries pursuant to KRS 81A.430 and KRS 81A.440. The latter statute provides that the reduction of boundaries shall follow the procedure outlined in the former statute governing the annexation of all or part of another city.
KRS 81A.430 requires the question to "be submitted to the qualified voters of the city or portions thereof to be annexed at the regular election." (Emphasis added.) This statute clearly requires that where a portion of a city rather than the whole is to be annexed, only those qualified voters residing in that portion are authorized to vote on the question. Such would, of course, equally apply to any question concerning the reduction of the city's boundaries and the ordinance in which you enclose correctly so provides.