Request By:
Kendall Robinson, Esq.
Owsley County Attorney
Booneville, Kentucky 41314
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Thomas R. Emerson, Assistant Attorney General
This is in reply to your letter, the first paragraph of which concerns the bond of the tax collector. The questions raised in the second paragraph of your letter have been dealt with in OAG 77-556, previously sent to you. In connection with the tax collector's bond and the payment of the premiums on that bond you present the following fact situation and question:
"Recently the Bond of the Tax Collector was increased by a considerable amount and the premium for that Bond is being paid by the Fiscal Court and is several hundred dollars. Since the Board of Education and all other taxing districts receive a portion of the funds from the collection of the Sheriff and/or Special Tax Collector, the Fiscal Court requested that I write and ask for an opinion as to whether or not all other taxing districts are to share proportionately in paying the Bond premium for the Sheriff and/or a Special Tax Collector. Please advise me as to whether or not the Fiscal Court can bill each of the other taxing districts for a proportionate share of the Bond premium. "
KRS 134.140(1), concerning the collection of taxes, provides:
"The sheriff, by virtue of his office, shall be collector of all state, county and district taxes, unless the payment thereof is, by law, especially directed to be made to some other officer. Where provision is not otherwise made for the collection of taxes, the assessment or proportion thereof allocable to a local taxing district shall be certified to the clerk of the court of the county which constitutes or in which such taxing district is located, for collection as provided by law."
A sheriff is required to execute three bonds: a faithful performance bond pursuant to KRS 70.020, approved by the county judge, with the premium to be paid by the state under the conditions set forth in KRS 62.155; a general revenue bond, as revenue collector, pursuant to KRS 134.230, approved by the county judge, except where a corporate surety is involved the county judge with approval of the Department of Revenue shall determine the sufficiency of the bond, with the premium to be paid by the state under the conditions set forth in KRS 62.155; and a county levy bond pursuant to KRS 134.250, approved by the county judge, with the premium to be paid by the county under the conditions set forth in KRS 62.156. See OAG's 76-715 and 76-224, copies enclosed.
KRS 62.156, concerning payment of the premium on the sheriff's county levy bond by the county, states:
"Each sheriff who is required by law to furnish at his own expense a bond for the collection of county revenue shall have a claim against the county for the amount paid for the premium on his county revenue bond when the bond has been executed by an incorporated surety company authorized to do a surety business in Kentucky, and when the claim is verified by his affidavit."
While your letter mentions taxing districts you do not state the specific taxing districts with which you are concerned. You do, however, mention school districts and in connection therewith note the provisions of KRS 160.500(1) reading in part as follows:
"School taxes shall be collected by the sheriff for county school districts and by the regular tax collector of the city or special tax collector for the independent school districts at the same time and in the same manner as other local taxes are collected, except as provided in this section and in KRS 160.510. The bond of the regular or special tax collector shall be made to cover his duties as tax collector of the school district or districts for which he collects taxes. . . ." (Emphasis supplied.)
We again direct your attention to OAG 76-715, at page two, where we said:
"The court, in
Land v. Fayette County, 269 Ky. 543, 108 S.W.2d 429 (1937), established the principle that an express statute is required to charge the cost of a county officer's official bond to a county. This principle logically extends to charging any governmental unit with such cost."
We have set forth the statutes indicating the bonds required of the sheriff in connection with his general duties and his specific duties as a tax collector, who pays the premiums on the bonds, and the conditions under which those premiums will be paid. We have found no statutory provisions authorizing the county to apportion the bond premiums on the sheriff's bond which it is supposed to pay among school districts or taxing districts on whose behalf the sheriff may collect taxes. In absence of any specific statutory authority to do so, such an apportionment by the county would not be proper.