Request By:
William S. Greenwell, Esq.
129 North Main
P.O. Box 361
Marion, Kentucky 42064
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Thomas R. Emerson, Assistant Attorney General
This is in response to your letter asking whether the sheriff and jailer are entitled to a fee for attending the fiscal court to be paid out of the county levy.
You state that prior to January 2, 1978, KRS 64.090 allowed a fee of $5.00 to the sheriff or his deputy for attending all terms of the county courts and quarterly courts. Recent amendments to the statute have deleted that provision.
You next refer to OAG 74-510, copy enclosed, concluding in part that the jailer should not be compensated for attending meetings of the fiscal court as the fees mentioned in KRS 64.150 for court attendance have no application to meetings of the fiscal court. KRS 64.150(3) states that the jailer shall receive the same fees paid to sheriffs for like services. In your opinion neither the sheriff nor the jailer is entitled to a fee for attending meetings of the fiscal court.
KRS 70.140 provides that, "The sheriff shall, by himself or deputy, attend and keep order in the fiscal court and any court of the Court of Justice and shall obey the orders of said courts." While the sheriff is, therefore, required to attend meetings of the fiscal court, no fee can be paid for such services unless authorized by statute. KRS 64.410(2) provides in part that no officer shall demand or receive for his services any fee for services rendered when the law has not fixed a compensation therefor.
We find no provision in KRS 64.090, dealing with the fees that sheriffs may charge and collect, nor do we find any provision in any other statute, authorizing sheriffs to charge and collect a fee for attending sessions of the fiscal court. Therefore, the sheriff cannot be compensated in connection with his attendance at meetings of the fiscal court.
KRS 64.150, dealing with jailers' fees, now provides that jailers shall be paid the sum of $6.00 per day for attending district or circuit court. The statute formerly provided that the jailer shall be paid out of the county treasury the maximum sum of $6.00 per day for attending county and quarterly court for each day the court is in session. In regard to attending meetings of the fiscal court, the statute contains no provision for jailers attending sessions of that court or receiving a fee for such attendance. See OAG 74-262, copy enclosed.
Therefore, in the absence of a statutory provision authorizing jailers to charge and collect a fee for attending sessions of the fiscal court, jailers are not entitled to a fee for attending sessions of the fiscal court.