Request By:
Mr. Caleb McFadden
Police Judge, City of London
City Hall
London, Kentucky 40741
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Thomas R. Emerson, Assistant Attorney General
This is in reply to your letter raising a question concerning the fourth class city of London which operates under the councilmatic form of government and still pays city councilmen $25.00 per actual legislative day. Your specific question is as follows:
"If the present City Council does not set the salary for the Councilmen taking office in 1978 under the new law that places Councilmen under an annual salary basis not to exceed $3,000 per annum, would the new Council taking office in 1978 be permitted to set their salary within the above stated limits?"
In OAG 77-144, copy enclosed, we told you that KRS 86.053 was amended in 1974 to provide that councilmen be placed on an annual salary basis, not to exceed $3000 per annum, and that the provision providing for compensation of $25 per actual legislative day was removed. We also referred you to KRS 64.580 which provides in part as follows:
". . . In the case of city officers elected by popular vote, the annual compensation of the officer shall be fixed by the city legislative body not later than the first Monday in May in the year in which such officers are elected, and shall not be changed during the term. . . ."
In OAG 75-716, copy enclosed, we also dealt with the salary of councilmen in the City of London. We pointed out in that opinion that KRS 64.580 requires any change in the compensation of members of the legislative body to be made not later than the first Monday in May in the year in which they are elected. If it is not made at that time, the compensation received for the previous term remains effective as provided in KRS 64.730. We further stated in OAG 75-716:
"The only exception to the above would be where there was no compensation legally paid to the members of the legislature or where it was found that the compensation was not in a reasonable amount, in which case it can be fixed after the deadline prescribed in KRS 64.580. See Wells v. Roberts, 448 S.W.2d 658 (1969), and OAG 75-395, a copy of which we are enclosing. "
Thus, if the compensation of the city councilmen, to be elected this year, is to be changed pursuant to KRS 86.053 from what city councilmen now receive, it should be done by the present city council not later than the first Monday in May of 1977. Generally, the councilmen to be elected this year cannot set their own salaries after they take office and they will receive what councilmen now receive if the change is not made by the time set forth in the statute unless the General Assembly provides otherwise. The only situations where the councilmen to be elected can set their own salaries are when no salaries at all have been previously set for councilmen and the salaries previously set are considered inadequate with the burden being on the councilmen to show that the compensation is inadequate. We are also enclosing copies of OAG 75-395, 75-566 and 75-28, dealing with the subject matter of your inquiry.