Request By:
Mr. Donald L. Martin, Jr.
Superintendent
Southgate Public Schools
Southgate, Kentucky 41071
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Alex. W. Rose, Assistant Attorney General
In your letter to the Attorney General, you ask for our opinion concerning certain requirements of House Bill 44. You state that the Southgate Independent Board of Education will not receive its certified tax assessment in time to advertise and complete a hearing forty-five (45) days before the November 2, 1982, election. You wish to know the procedure for complying with KRS 160.470 and KRS 132.017, relating to the advertising, hearing and election requirements.
KRS 160.470 states that if a school district desires to levy a tax rate that exceeds the compensating rate, but is within the limits of Subsection 2 of the section (that is, does not exceed the maximum rate) , it must comply with the provisions of Subsection 10 of the section. This subsection requires the school district to advertise and hold a public hearing.
If a school district desires to levy a tax rate that exceeds the maximum rate, then Subsection 11 of KRS 160.470 requires that that portion of the rate that produces revenue of more than four percent (4%) over the amount of revenue produced by the compensating tax rate is subject to the recall provisions of KRS 132.017.
KRS 132.017 states that the portion of the rate subject to recall must become effective forty-five (45) days after the order, resolution, etc., was passed by the district board of education. If, during those forty-five (45) days, a petition is signed by at least ten percent (10%) of the registered and qualified voters, then the portion of the rate subject to recall is suspended until the board either reconsiders the order or holds an election.
KRS 132.017(2)(b) states that a school district which decides to hold an election on the tax rate may hold either a called common school election or may hold the election at the next regular election.
You state that, because of the delay in certifying the county assessment, the advertising and hearing requirements will not be completed forty-five (45) days before November 2, 1982, the date of the next regular election. In that situation, you would have the option of holding a called common school election, pursuant to the statute.
You ask specifically if the school district may waive the petition and place the question on the ballot of its own volition. This situation is not addressed by the statutes. The intent of the statute, however, is to allow the taxpayers the opportunity to vote on the increase, if they so desire. Waiving the petition and placing the question on the ballot would preserve the taxpayers' rights and would correct an ambiguity in the statute. A statute should be "liberally construed in respect of the purpose for which it was enacted, and, where there is a doubt as to the construction, the statute should be construed always in favor of the remedy". Nall v. Commonwealth, 299 Ky. 792, 187 S.W.2d 443, 445 (1945). Furthermore, statutes "enacted . . . for the purpose of imposing a general ad valorem tax will be construed . . . so as to carry out the intention of the Legislature as gathered from the terms of the statute itself . . ." Commonwealth v. Southern Railway Company, 193 Ky. 474, 237 S.W. 11, 15 (1921). Therefore, it is our opinion that the school district, of its own volition, may waive the petition and place the question on the ballot.
Please note KRS 132.017(3) which provides for the preparation of two sets of tax bills in the situation you describe.