Request By:
David A. Sunn, Assistant Chief
McLean County Volunteer Fire Department
Calhoun, Kentucky 42327
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
The McLean County Volunteer Fire Department is partially financed by McLean County, but at least 75% of its funds are derrived from donations from residents who reside within its operational area.
Your question: Would purchases, paid for out of both sources of funding of the Volunteer Fire Department, come under the Kentucky Model Procurement Act?
We assume you refer to a volunteer fire department district created under KRS 75.010 to 75.080. Such a fire protection district is a type of municipal corporation and thus a political subdivision of the state.
Kelley v. Dailey, Kyc. 366 S.W.2d 181, 183 (1963).
KRS 45A.345(8) defines "a local public agency" which is subject to the various purchasing and bidding provisions of KRS 45A.345 to 45A.460:
"As used in KRS 45A.345 to 45A.460, unless the context indicates otherwise:
(8) 'Local public agency' shall mean a city, county, urban-county, school district, special district, or an agency formed by a combination of such agencies under KRS Chapter 79, or any department, board, commission, authority, office or other sub-unit of a political subdivision which shall include the offices of the county clerk, county sheriff, county attorney, coroner and jailer."
Under the definition above, a fire protection district is a "special district" and thus comes under the above sections of the Kentucky Model Procurement Code. It is further our opinion that all purchases of the district come under applicable provisions in that group of statutes, regardless of the source of the funding and the donations of the district. The key element here is simply that the district is a "local public agency." The source of funding is not a determinative factor.