The Fidelity and Columbia Trust Company, which had constructed and maintained the roads and lighting system free of charge as part of its investment in the community, continued to do so until 1939, when it liquidated its interests in the community. Louisville had just commissioned a study suggesting that all-residential communities such as Seneca Gardens cost more in services than they provided in revenue, and Mayor Scholtz declined to annex the community. Instead, they petitioned the Jefferson Circuit Court (action #261,927) to incorporate the community on September 26 and met to form the first government on October 2. (The Commonwealth of Kentucky's Land Office records the city as being incorporated in 1941.) The first city budget called for $1,600 in expenditures, requiring a property tax of 25¢ per $100 of assessed value.