Request By:
Robert W. Riley, Esq.
Handmaker, Weber, Meyer and Rose
2300 Citizens Plaza
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Thomas R. Emerson, Assistant Attorney General
This is in reply to your letter raising a question concerning a hospital district and its board of trustees. The hospital district was organized pursuant to the provisions of KRS 216.310 through 216.360.
Your question concerns the applicability of KRS 424.220, pertaining to the publication of financial statements, to a hospital taxing district. You state that a literal reading of the statute would, on first impression, appear to indicate that a hospital district is subject to the requirements of the statute concerning the preparation and publication of an annual financial statement. You further state, however, that KRS 216.333 provides that a hospital taxing district is a "body corporate" and the statute appears to be a special statute conferring corporate status on a hospital district. You maintain that if a hospital district is a body corporate it would be exempt from the requirements of KRS 424.220.
Your specific question is whether the hospital district and its board of trustees are subject to the requirements of KRS 424.220 and must they prepare and publish a financial statement at the conclusion of each fiscal year.
We direct your attention to KRS 65.060 and 65.070, two statutes which were not cited in your letter, but which are relevant to the question you have presented. KRS 65.060 defines the word "district" and it means in part for purposes of KRS 65.065 and 65.070 any board, commission or special district created pursuant to KRS 216.310 to 216.360. Thus a hospital district organized pursuant to KRS 216.310 to 216.360 is a district for purposes of KRS 65.070.
KRS 65.070 sets forth several requirements which a district must satisfy and included therein, in KRS 65.070(1)(c), is the following:
"At least once every twelve (12) months, a district shall:
Publish, in lieu of the provisions of KRS 424.220, but in compliance 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(1)(b) requires the district, at least once every twelve months, to file a copy of the district budget, financial statement if prepared, and audit when performed, with the county judge/executive of each county with territory in the district.
Thus, a hospital district organized and functioning pursuant to the terms and provisions of KRS 216.310 to 216.360 is required to publish an annual statement consistent with the requirements of KRS 65.070(1)(c) in lieu of the annual financial statement required by KRS 424.220. See OAG 80-627 and OAG 80-325, copies of which are enclosed.