Request By:
Honorable Thomas E. Carroll
Wayne County Attorney
Courthouse - N. Main Street
Monticello, Kentucky 42633
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of February 13 in which you seek an opinion concerning the following:
"A resolution was passed by the Wayne County Fiscal Court on February 7, 1978 to contribute $500.00 toward the Bronston-Quinton Volunteer Fire Department, Inc., a non-stock, non-profit corporation. This corporation will maintain its headquarters in Pulaski County but will service a large part of Wayne County. Under their charter, they are required to respond to calls within a specified boundary which included portions of Wayne County. The Wayne County Fiscal Court felt that this service would be most beneficial to the citizens of our county.
"Question: Can the Fiscal Court legally expend sums for this purpose."
Our response to your question would be in the negative. The fiscal court of any county is authorized to contract with a volunteer fire department for fire prevention services pursuant to KRS 75.050; however, there is no authority for the county to simply donate public funds to a private corporation.
In the recent case of
Jefferson County v. City of Louisville, 559 S.W.2d 478, wherein the Supreme Court declared the County Home Rule Act invalid (KRS 67.083), the Court pointed out that county government in Kentucky is based on the premise that all power exercised by the fiscal court must be expressly delegated to it by statute, and there is, of course, no express or implied authority for the county to make a donation or contribution of this nature.
Aside from the above, such a donation would in all probability be declared invalid under § 179 of the Constitution which prohibits the General Assembly from authorizing a county to lend its credit or appropriate money to any corporation, cable in this instance. See
Board of Education v. City of Corbin, 301 Ky. 686, 192 S.W.2d 95 (1946).
As a consequence, we must conclude that the proposed $500 contribution by the fiscal court to Bronston-Quinton Volunteer Fire Department, Inc., a nonstock, nonprofit corporation would be invalid.