Request By:
Mr. Kenneth S. Baker
Perry County Attorney
P.O. Box 1096
Hazard, Kentucky 41701
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
You raise two questions concerning the fiscal court.
Question No. 1:
"Can the Fiscal Court of a county accept a bid in an amount that exceeds the amount appropriated in the budget for that fiscal year? "
Any appropriation or claim allowed in excess of any budget fund, and any warrant or contract not within the budget appropriation, is considered void. KRS 68.300. No member of the fiscal court shall vote for any such illegal appropriation or claim. The county treasurer would be liable on his official bond for the amount of any county warrant wilfully or negligently signed by him in excess of the budget fund out of which the warrant is payable. Thus the fiscal court cannot accept a bid if it involves a contract amount that cannot be covered by appropriations in the budget for that fiscal year.
Question No. 2:
"Can a Fiscal Court accept a bid for a two (2) year contract where there has been no appropriation or could not be until the next budget in the fiscal court?"
Where the fiscal court purchases something for the county, the purchase must be effected in the context of appropriations under proper budgetary procedure [KRS Chapter 68]. Further, Section 157 of the Kentucky Constitution provides that no debt which exceeds in any year the income and revenue provided for such year shall be contracted for, without the assent of 2/3 of the voters voting at an election to be held for that purpose. Thus in contracting an indebtedness, the fiscal court must first measure it against the restrictions of Section 157 of the Constitution to determine whether it can be contracted for without a vote of the people. If the proposed debt meets the restrictions of Section 157, then the purchase must be covered by an appropriate appropriation. Also see § 158, Constitution, for maximum indebtedness of counties.
Of course our response is couched in general terms, since your questions are general. If you have any further question about this, let us know.