Corbin annexing CSX

Corbin city leaders voted last week to begin the process of annexing all of the local CSX Transportation railway property, a move they say is the largest in recent history, and likely the most significant.
During a special called meeting of the Corbin City Commission Friday, commissioners voted 5-0 to start the annexation process. CSX officials had requested the move in a letter to the city following a year and a half of negotiations.
“The city of Corbin was founded by the CSX railroad. If there wasn’t a railroad here, there wouldn’t be a city here,” former Corbin mayor Amos Miller said. He presided over his last meeting of the commission.
“We are like a grandchild that the grandfather has never recognized as his.”
Miller said dialogue between CSX Regional Vice President David Hall and city leaders began last June after commissioners approved a resolution against use of automated whistles and switches used by the company.
“Since then, it’s been a very slow and methodical process,” Miller said. “I was very pleased at the fact that they knew how much work this commission had put into this that they wanted us to be the ones to approve it.”
The property, which encompasses hundreds of acres, stretches from the end of the Corbin Bypass to the Laurel County line. If annexed, the all the land will become incorporated into the city, but the roads will remain private and maintained by CSX.
Miller said both sides gain in the move: the city will get increased tax dollars from employees paying most of the occupational tax to the city now instead of the Whitley County Fiscal Court. The company will gain first response from the Corbin Police Department and Fire Department as well as lower rates on utility costs.
“Annexation is not always just about collecting taxes,” Miller said. “It’s also about services. We provide a lot of services for them. CSX gains and we gain too … It’s a pretty mutual thing.”
Incorporation of one of the area’s largest businesses could leave a big gap in an already strained Whitley County budget to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
CSX does not pay traditional property taxes, but instead has an annual franchise fee paid to the federal government, a portion of which trickles down to state and local government agencies.
Newly elected Whitley County Judge-Executive Pat White, Jr. said Tuesday morning he was unaware the company had requested the annexation and isn’t familiar enough with the issue yet to make a statement on it.
Former Corbin Commissioner Alan Onkst, who also sat on the board for his last meeting, said the request “broke down another barrier” between the city and the company. He hailed the move as likely to positively impact Corbin for decades to come.
The commission voted to give City Attorney Bob Hammons the authority to draft an ordinance regarding the annexation. Hammons said he’d have to find specific property boundaries and deed information before an ordinance is written.
Once passed on first reading, the city’s Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the issue, and then advise the commission how the property should be zoned. The commission then will vote on the measure again for final approval.
The process normally takes two to three months.