Request By:
Sgt. Robert Johnson
Mt. Sterling Police Department
Mt. Sterling, Kentucky 40353
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
Your question concerns the enforcement of the city ordinance vehicle tax stickers on parking lots used by the public but which are privately owned, such as shopping centers.
Cities have the authority under their police power to levy an automobile license tax, subject to the rule that the revenue derived therefrom cannot exceed the reasonable policing cost. Johnson v. City of Paducah, 285 Ky. 294, 147 S.W.2d 721 (1941). The heart of the police power is simply the authority of the city to regulate the streets and public ways in the interest of public safety. Dailey V. City of Owensboro, 257 Ky. 281, 77 S.W.2d 939 (1935) 940, 941.
However, we know of no statute permitting the enforcement of the car sticker ordinance on privately owned property, though the public drives cars onto such private properties, such as shopping centers. The cities' power of regulating traffic extends primarily to streets and public city ways. McQuillin, Municipal Corporations, Vol. 7, § 24.610. Mount Sterling is a 4th class city. KRS 81.010(4). Under KRS 94.360 the city legislative body of a 4th class city has exclusive control over city streets, public ways, and public grounds. A Texas court held in Royal Indemnity Co. v. Schwartz, Tex., 172 S.W. 581 (1915) 583, that a city ordinance purporting to regulate the operation of automobiles on streets and alleys, but including private property, was an invasion of the rights of citizens, since the city had no control over such private property. Since there is an absence of a statute authorizing the enforcement of the sticker tax on private property, the attempted enforcement on private property by Mt. Sterling policemen would constitute an invasion of the rights of such property owners.
In summary, the city police of Mt. Sterling have no statutory authority to enforce city ordinances, including the sticker tax ordinance, by going onto private property, although the public gathers there. A municipal corporation possesses no powers except those expressly granted or those necessarily implied powers essential to the accomplishment of its declared objectives and purposes. City of Bowling Green v. Gasoline Marketers, Ky., 539 S.W.2d 281 (1976) 284.