Request By:
Mr. Justin Verst
City of Silver Grove
Silver Grove, Kentucky 41085
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of March 5 in which you as legal advisor of the city of Silver Grove seek an interpretation of KRS 96.540 as it applies to the following:
"K.R.S. 96.540 (1) provides that: 'No city . . . that owns a water works system . . . shall sell, convey, lease or encumber the system or the income therefrom without the assent of a majority of the total number of legal voters of the city voting at an election held for that purpose.' The City of Silver Grove owns all water and sewer lines within the city limits, but does not own the facilities that produce and purify the water used in the city. The city purchases all of its water under contract from the C & O Railroad at a local railroad yard which is adjacent to the city limits."
Your initial question as to whether the city's ownership of the water and sewer lines within the city would constitute ownership of a "water works system" within the terms of KRS 96.540 requiring an election before the city water and sewer lines can be sold to the Campbell County Water District.
Our response to the above question would be in the negative. The term "water works system" is not defined in the statute, however, with respect to any city electing to operate a water works system under KRS 96.350, you will note that the term refers to the purchase, establishment, erection, maintenance and operation of a water works, together with extensions and necessary appurtenances thereto which would of course include structures necessary to pepare and store the water to be distributed through the water lines. In other words, a "water works system" as referred to in KRS 96.540 means not only the water lines but the grounds and structures necessary to prepare the water for domestic use. See also Words and Phrases, Vol. 44A, and the case of People v. Hamilton, 238 NYS 81, 227 App.Div. 356.
Thus, under the circumstances, we are of the opinion that the sale of the city's water and sewer lines through which it obtains its water from a private source would not constitute a "water works system" within the meaning of KRS 96.540 and therefore no prior election would be required to approve the sale.
The above response makes your additional questions involving an election, moot.