Sen. Amanda Mays Bledsoe sponsors bill to lower costs, reduce red tape for small cities

STATE SENATOR AMANDA MAY BLEDSOE, center, presents SB 192 to the Senate’s State Government Committee. She is joined by Shelly Compton from the Kentucky Association of Certified Public Accountants, left, and J.D. Chaney, the CEO of the Kentucky League of Cities. (Photo courtesy of the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission)

The Kentucky Senate has passed a bill that aims to modernize financial reporting requirements for Kentucky’s smaller cities while strengthening transparency and accountability. This is one of the legislative priorities for the Kentucky League of Cities (KLC), of which Midway and Versailles belong, according to its CEO, J.D. Chaney.

Senate Bill 192, sponsored by Sen. Amanda Mays Bledsoe, R-Lexington, passed out of the Senate on Monday, March 2 on a 37-0 vote. It now resides in the House for consideration.

Under current law, many smaller cities are subject to complex audit requirements designed for much larger governments. In February, Mays Bledsoe told the Senate State & Local Government Committee that the existing approach has become increasingly costly, particularly as the number of certified public accountants available to perform municipal audit work has declined in recent years.

SB 192 allows cities receiving or expending less than $15 million annually from all sources to complete an agreed-upon procedures engagement in certain circumstances, performed by a certified public accountant or the Auditor of Public Accounts. To qualify, a city must not have been subject to a special examination in the prior fiscal year or the year to be audited and must not be required by state or federal law to undergo a more stringent audit.

“By allowing agreed-upon procedures engagements for qualifying cities, SB 192 offers a practical solution that reduces administrative burdens and rising costs while ensuring taxpayer dollars are used responsibly and strong financial oversight remains in place,” KLC said on an Instagram post.

Like traditional audits, agreed-upon procedures engagements must be completed and presented to the city’s legislative body by March 1, submitted to the Department for Local Government by April 1 and published publicly. The measure also requires cities to publish a budget-to-actual comparison for the general fund and submit reports to the Auditor of Public Accounts.

As the Senate budget vice chair and a former member of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council, Mays Bledsoe understands the pressure state mandates place on small communities.

“Taxpayers expect accountability, but they also expect common sense,” Mays Bledsoe said in a news release. “When small cities divert limited resources to comply with rules designed for much larger governments, that money comes straight out of essential services. This bill protects transparency while giving local officials the flexibility to meet standards in a way that fits the size of their community and respects taxpayer resources.”

Bledsoe added that the bill enacts sufficient safeguards and guardrails that will protect taxpayer funds.

“This is a proposal that makes practical sense, and I’m happy for the stakeholder engagement in moving this proposal forward. We must always aim for the highest standards of accountability,” she said. “We should also, at times, give proper consideration to whether one size fits all. In this case, taxpayer dollars in smaller cities could be better used elsewhere. I appreciate the support for SB 192, and I hope for further success in the House.”