Request By:
Honorable Foster L. Haunz
Attorney at Law
1603 Kentucky Home Life Bldg.
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
As City Attorney for the city of Windy Hills, you indicate that said city [as well as others] has enacted a parking ordinance by adopting the provisions of KRS 189.450 relating to illegal parking and at the same time adopted the minimum penalty of $10, which is the same as that provided for in KRS 189.990 applicable to any violation of KRS 189.450. The 1978 legislature, however, amended the penalty section to increase the $10 minimum to $25 under the terms of Ch. 101, Section 4 of the '78 Acts, which of course became effective June 17.
With reference to the above, you raise the following question:
"Does this now mean that the minimum fine for parking in a restricted area in Kentucky is $25 and that municipal ordinances must be updated accordingly if they are to remain enforeceable? Does this also mean that the minimum fine and court costs, if the District Court is involved, will now be $52.50 for a parking violation?"
Section 168 of the Constitution provides that no municipal ordinance shall fix a penalty for a violation thereof at less than that imposed by statute for the same offense. This provision of the Constitution has been interpreted in a number of instances to the effect that the city legislative body may fix a penalty at any sum provided that it is not less than the penalty set by a state statute for the same offense. City of Owensboro v. Sparks, 99 Ky. 351, 36 S.W. 4 (1896).
Under the circumstances, any ordinance presently providing for a minimum penalty of $10 for violating the provisions of KRS 189.450 would have to be amended to fix the minimum at $25. As to what the total cost, together with the new minimum fine for a parking violation, would be, we cannot answer.