Request By:
Honorable W. G. McConnell
Mayor, City of Kuttawa
P.O. Box 398
Kuttawa, Kentucky 42055
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of July 19 in which you state that the city council of Kuttawa, Kentucky, has been considering a plan for resurfacing the streets in one section of the city. The council had a plan in connection with this project to assess each lot holder an equal amount to cover the cost of resurfacing. Under the circumstances, you raise the following questions:
"1. Can the City assess each lot holder equally?
"2. The number of years we might spread these payments over (5 to 10 years)?
"3. Would these payments be tax deductible? If not, is there any method we could use in order to make them tax deductible?
"4. Other options we might have to make these assessments fair to all."
The answer to your initial question would be in the negative. The resurfacing of a city street would constitute a public improvement and in order for the city to adopt a plan of this nature, it must follow exactly the statutory procedure. Cities of all classes are authorized to make public improvements such as resurfacing of a street pursuant to KRS 94.291 to KRS 94.325. Under KRS 94.302 the cost of a public improvement, to the extent that it is to be assessed against benefited property, must be assessed and apportioned equally according to the number of front or abutting feet. As a consequence, the city would be unauthorized to assess property owners on an equal basis regardless of the number of front or abutting feet along the street improvement.
With respect to your second question, the property assessment is required to be paid to the city treasury thirty (30) days after the date of the publication of the ordinance of apportionment and levy, subject to deferment when the installment payment plan is adopted and accepted as provided in KRS 94.316. See KRS 94.313. KRS 94.316 provides that in the original improvement ordinance, the city shall have the alternative of providing that the improvement tax, at the option of the property owner subject to the tax, be payable in installments as provided in KRS 94.317. KRS 94.317 permits the property owner to pay his assessment in ten (10) equal installments on an annual basis in the manner provided in this statute.
In answer to your third question, we know of no authority whereby a city could declare the street assessments deductible from local property taxes.
In response to your fourth question, the city could, as an alternative, make its street improvements under the terms of Chapter 107. This act permits an assessment ratio based on the assessed value of each lot or parcel of land in the manner prescribed in KRS 107.130.
Because of the technical nature of your question involving street improvements, you should consult your city attorney for more detailed assistance.