Request By:
Mr. W. S. Greenwell
Crittenden County Attorney
129 North Main Street
P.O. Box 361
Marion, Kentucky 42064
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
You request our opinion relative to the compensation of a deputy coroner.
Question No. 1:
"Is a county required to compensate a deputy coroner? "
As we noted in OAG 80-609, which you mentioned, KRS 72.010 provides in part: "Every coroner shall have the authority to appoint deputy coroners. " In that opinion we concluded that any coroner may appoint any reasonable number of deputies necessary for the coroner to carry out his statutory duties. Blue Board Cafeteria Co. v. Hackett, 312 Ky. 288, 227 S.W.2d 199 (1950) 201.
KRS 64.185 contains a monthly minimum compensation payable to "coroners" . Subsection (3) of that statute provides that "In the event a deputy coroner assumes the office of "coroner" after receiving the training stipulated in subsections (1) and (2) of this section, the deputy coroner shall be compensated in accordance with the compensation schedule set forth in subsection (1) of this section." We believe the reference to the deputy coroner in subsection (3), though awkwardly stated, refers to the former deputy coroner.
KRS 72.415(1) provides in part:
" The fiscal court or urban-county government shall pay all reasonable expenses incurred by the coroner in carrying out his responsibilities under the provisions of KRS 72.410 to 72.470." (Emphasis added).
Expenses incurred in performing services is distinct and separate from fees or salary allowed for rendering such services. Fees paid to an officer or salary paid to an officer are recompense for his services, while expenses allowed him are designed to indemnify or reimburse him for funds expended in performing his duties. Judge Dietzman, in Harlan County v. Blair, 243 Ky. 777, 49 S.W.2d 1028 (1932), for the court, wrote that "In the absence of an express provision of law to that effect, the county is not required or permitted to pay for the services of its officers." Elsewhere in that opinion the court observed that ". . . the rule is firmly established that a county is not permitted to pay for the services of officers, unless expressly authorized to do so by statute." See City of Fulton v. Shanklin, 275 Ky. 722, 122 S.W.2d 733 (1938), holding that where no compensation is fixed by statute for services rendered by an officer, the county is not liable for such.
KRS 64.530(1) provides in part that "Except as provided in subsections (5) and (6) of this section, the fiscal court of each county shall fix the compensation of every county officer and employe except the officers named in KRS 64.535 and the county attorney and jailer." (Emphasis added). The exceptions do not apply to coroners or deputy coroners. KRS 64.530(2) provides in part that ". . . and deputies or assistants of county officers shall be deemed to be county employes . . ." (Emphasis added).
Subsection (4) of KRS 64.530 provides in part that in the case of county officers elected by popular vote, the monthly compensation of the officer and of his deputies shall be fixed by the fiscal court not later than the first Monday in May in the year in which the officers are elected.
It is our opinion that the fiscal court is required to set a salary for deputy coroners, payable out of the county treasury as a properly budgeted item.
Question No. 2:
"May a county, if they so desire, compensate a deputy coroner after the coroner's compensation has been set for his term of office."
The fiscal court should, under KRS 64.530, set the salary for the coroner and salaries of the coroner's deputies, as mentioned in subsection (4) of the statute. See also KRS 64.720. Where the salaries for coroner deputies were not fixed for the preceding term, the fiscal court may fix the coroner's deputies salaries even after the coroner has assumed his office. See KRS 64.730. Where the deputies' salaries were fixed for the preceding term, that salary will govern, until changed during the present term. Such nonconstitutional officers (deputy coroners) are not subject to § 161 or § 235 of the Kentucky Constitution, which prohibit a change in salary during a term.