Request By:
Dennis M. Clare, Esq.
The Hart Block Building
Fifth Floor
730 West Main Street
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Thomas R. Emerson, Assistant Attorney General
This is in reply to your letter concerning fire protection districts and the publication of audits and financial statements pursuant to KRS 424.220 and KRS 65.070.
You state that the 1980 session of the Kentucky General Assembly enacted KRS 65.070 "which would appear to alleviate a fire protection district, as a special district, from complying with the burdensome publication procedures of KRS 424.220 . . . ." The latter statute requires in part the publication of an annual financial statement indicating the funds collected, received, held or disbursed as well as the amount of funds collected and received, from what sources received, the amount disbursed, the date of each disbursement, for what purpose expended, and to whom paid.
Your specific question is whether it is proper for a fire protection district to comply merely with KRS 65.070(1)(c) in view of the provisions of KRS 424.220.
While your specific question to this office, which cites KRS 424.220 and 65.070(1)(c), deals with the publication of the required financial statement, your letter at one point also refers to audits. Audits and financial statements are not synonymous and while financial statements are dealt with in KRS 424.220 and 65.070(1)(c), audits, as they relate to fire protection districts, are covered by KRS 65.065(2) and KRS 75.255.
KRS 65.060 defines "district" and the statute provides in part that as used in KRS 65.065 and 65.070, the term "district" shall mean and the provisions of KRS 65.065 and 65.070 shall apply to any board, commission or special district created pursuant to KRS 75.010 to 75.260. Since fire protection districts are created under and exist pursuant to KRS 75.010 to 75.260, they are districts for the purposes of KRS 65.070.
KRS 65.070(1)(c), effective July 15, 1980, provides that at least once every twelve months, a district shall:
"Publish, in lieu of the provisions of KRS 424.220, but in conformity with other applicable provisions of KRS Chapter 424, the names and addresses of the members of its governing body and chief executive officer, and either a summary financial statement which includes the location of supporting documents, or the location of district financial records which may be examined by the public."
KRS 65.070(2) states that the Department for Local Government shall prepare and furnish to county clerks standard reporting forms which districts may use to comply with the provisions of this statute.
After examining the provisions of KRS 65.070(1)(c), it is our opinion that the statute constitutes an exception to what were formerly the mandatory requirements of KRS 424.220 concerning the publication of an annual financial statement by fire protection districts. A fire protection district now is required to publish an annual financial statement consistent with the requirements of KRS 65.070(1)(c) in place of the annual financial statement formerly required by KRS 424.220.