Request By:
Mr. William R. Layton
Garrard County Clerk
Lancaster, Kentucky 40444
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
You have a problem concerning making up the tax bills for 1980. Your letter, in that regard, reads:
"It is my duty under Kentucky Revised Statutes to make up the tax bills. A difference of opinions seems to prevail in light of the amendment of KRS 132.017 as amended by the 1980 Legislature. Subsections (3), (4) and (5) are confusing me when it refers to 'A final tax rate as of Sept. 15th.' The local library board has not set a rate as of this time, and has advertised for a public hearing to set the date on September 25th.
"May I go ahead and prepare the tax bills immediately after the 15th. of September and tell the library board that they will have to make up their own tax bills and get them into the hands of the taxpayers. The final assessment of Garrard County property was approved by the Department of Revenue on August 21, 1980."
The Department of Revenue certified to you the county assessment, pursuant to KRS 133.180, on August 21, 1980. After the certification, tax rates should have been fixed. See KRS 133.185.
KRS 133.220(2) reads:
"(2) After receiving the forms the county clerk shall make out for the use of the sheriff or collector a correct tax bill for each taxpayer in the county whose property has been assessed and whose valuation is included in the certification provided in KRS 133.180. If the bills are bound, the cost of binding shall be paid out of the county levy. Each tax bill shall show the rate of tax upon each one hundred dollars ($100) worth of property for state, county, and school purposes; the name of the taxpayer and his mailing address; the number of acres of farm land and its value; the number of lots and their value; the amount and value of notes and money; the value of mixed personal property; the county poll; the school poll; the school tax; and the total amount of taxes due the state, county, school fund, and other levies. Provision shall be made for the sheriff to have a stub, duplicate, or other proper evidence of receipt of payment of each tax bill."
Subsection (3) of KRS 133.220 provides in part that tax bills prepared by the county clerk in accordance with the certification of the Department of Revenue shall be delivered to the sheriff or collector by the county clerk before September 15 of each year.
KRS 132.017(3) and (4) reads:
"(3) Notwithstanding any statutory provision to the contrary, in the event that a city, county, school district or other taxing district has not established a final tax rate as of September 15, due to the recall provisions of KRS 68.245, 132.017, 132.027 or 160.470, regular tax bills shall be prepared as required in KRS 133.220 for all districts having a tax rate established by such date; and a second set of bills shall be prepared and collected in the regular manner, according to the provisions of KRS Chapter 132, upon establishment of final tax rates by the remaining districts.
"(4) In the event a second billing is necessary, the collection period shall be extended to conform with the second billing date."
It is our opinion that under the literal language of KRS 133.220, when read together with KRS 132.017(3)(4) and (5), you are not required to wait until the library board establishes a final tax rate in order to get out your tax bills in the regular way envisioned by KRS 133.220. Thus you should make up your tax bills, based upon the already established tax rates relating to the state, county, school and other taxing districts, and place the bills with the sheriff as soon as possible. September 15th is the normal deadline for your delivering the tax bills to the sheriff.
In connection with the library district tax levy, which has not been established because of the recall provisions of KRS 132.017, a second set of bills must be prepared in the regular manner by you, according to the provisions of KRS Chapter 132, upon the establishment of the final tax rate by any remaining districts. All costs associated with the second billing must be paid by the taxing district or districts requiring the second billing.
Our construction of the above statutes is based upon the plain meaning as evidenced by the literal wording of the statutes.