LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Elected and high-ranking government officials in Louisville would have to provide more information about their personal and family finances under an ethics ordinance filed Monday at Metro Council.
Councilmember Bill Hollander’s measure also would apply to candidates for public office, including the eight Democrats and four Republicans who have formally entered the race to succeed outgoing Mayor Greg Fischer.
Hollander, a Democrat who is not seeking reelection, said after reviewing the financial disclosures required by other cities in Kentucky and elsewhere, Louisville’s standards are “woefully inadequate.”
For example, Hollander said, Louisville’s policy demands that officials reveal actual conflicts of interest, such as owning property in a zoning case or interest in companies that do business with Metro government. But he contends it lacks reporting that “shows a real potential for conflict.”
“Many suburban cities within Jefferson County require more than this,” Hollander said. “To be a city commissioner in many, many very small cities, you're required to report more information than you are to be the mayor of Louisville. And that just makes no sense to me.”
The ordinance will get its first reading at Thursday’s council meeting and has been assigned to the government oversight and audit committee.
Among other things, it widens the scope of what must be reported and what relationships to an officeholder or candidate are covered. Hollander said the legislation is based on the Kentucky League of Cities’ model ordinance, which “has been picked up by the vast majority of cities and counties in the entire state, including here in Jefferson County.”
Under his measure, candidates or office holders would have to detail who gave them or their immediate family members “gifts or honoraria” with a fair market value of at least $200 during the prior year, with the exception of family gifts.
Anyone who is owed more than $10,000 by an official, candidate or their immediate family members also would have to be listed. Mortgage debt wouldn’t have to be disclosed, nor would debt on goods used for personal or household purposes.
The city’s current ethics ordinance requires an official to list the occupation of his or her spouse. That still would be the case under Hollander’s ordinance, but it adds domestic partners as well.
The measure also expands the disclosure of business connections between officials, their family members and city government. Businesses must now be identified on disclosure forms if an official or candidate or a family member has a 5% ownership stake, or $10,000 interest, or received more than $5,000 during the previous calendar year — and those businesses work with the city.
Hollander’s ordinance calls for three years of information for anyone for whom those dollar amounts apply, as well as a list of firms that meet those qualifications and are “anticipated to engage in business” with the city.
In one of the biggest changes, it requires a breakdown of each source of income above $5,000 that the official and their immediate family members received during the previous calendar year. And it asks for a list of all businesses in Kentucky that the official or a close family member had at least a 5 percent ownership stake in during that time.
Candidates and office holders would have to list any property in Jefferson County — besides their main residence — that they or an immediate family member had at least a $10,000 stake in during the prior year.
The ordinance requires ethics forms to be submitted by April 30, including for candidates for Metro government office this year. That would include anyone running for offices such as mayor, Metro Council, Jefferson County Attorney and Jefferson County Sheriff.
The primary is scheduled for May 17.
“It's written so that there would be a requirement that candidates would be reporting before voters make decisions this year,” Hollander said.
Candidates for public office in Louisville are required to submit ethics disclosures now, but Hollander said he’s concerned that some aren’t filing them because the existing ordinance doesn’t mention it.
Did Hollander himself know that when he was running for office in 2014?
“I did not file when I was a candidate,” he said. “I didn’t know I needed to.”
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