Request By:
Mr. Reo Johns
Property Valuation Administrator
Pike County Courthouse
Pikeville, Kentucky 41501
Opinion
Opinion By: Frederic J. Cowan, Attorney General; Gerard R. Gerhard, Assistant Attorney General
By letter of March 13, 1989, Kimberly K. Greene, an attorney representing the Courier-Journal and Louisville Times Company, has appealed what is indicated as being your denial of Courier-Journal staff writer Richard Whitt's request to inspect a complete tax roll of Pike County, or records that would supply information called for upon such roll, regarding six named individuals or firms.
FINDINGS IN BRIEF
Open Records provisions do not empower Attorney General to order an agency to provide information or prepare records that contain information that perhaps should appear on records sought. Although inspection of certain records was permitted, copies of them were not provided upon request, and there was no response in keeping with Open Records provisions to the request to inspect other records. Accordingly, the Pike County Property Valuation Administrator did not act consistent with provisions of KRS 61.870 to 61.884.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
By letter to you of February 15, 1989, then Courier-Journal Staff Writer Richard Whitt explained that Opinion of the Attorney General (OAG) 89-12 had stated that tax rolls required to be kept in your office were public records.
Mr. Whitt's letter to you also indicated that records he had been shown by an assistant in your office did not contain all information required by KRS 132.530. As an example, Mr. Whitt indicated that the column labeled "property description" was blank, making it impossible to identify which property was being assessed, thereby, he said, "completely thus subverting the intent of the law."
Mr. Whitt asked that, if the certified tax roll doesn't contain all information required by KRS 132.530, you furnish documents that contain that information. He also asked to inspect records in your office regarding properties owned by six individuals or firms whose names were set forth in his letter.
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
KRS 61.880(2) provides in part for the Attorney General to, upon request of one denied inspection of public records, issue a written opinion stating whether an agency ". . . acted consistent with provisions of KRS 61.870 to 61.884."
The Property Valuation Administrator (and the office thereof) is a public agency within the meaning of KRS 61.870(1), and is thus subject to Open Records provisions.
By request dated February 15, 1989, Mr. Whitt asked, in substance, to inspect, regarding six named individuals or firms, the tax rolls maintained in the Property Valuation Administrator's office, and if such rolls did not reflect information such as the "property description" called for by the column labels upon such rolls, such records as did.
As understood from the appeal filed with the Attorney General's Office by Ms. Greene: (1) you permitted inspection of tax rolls in your office; (2) in your absence an assistant in your office refused to provide copies of documents that were inspected, and (3) the tax rolls shown Mr. Whitt contained no information in the column headed "Property Description/Property Identification.
You apparently did not respond in writing, as called for by KRS 61.880(1), to Mr. Whitt's February 15, 1989, request to inspect records.
This office has no copy of a statement of denial as called for by KRS 61.880(2), regarding Mr. Whitt's February 15, 1989 request (supra).
Pursuant to KRS 61.874(1), one who inspects public records shall have the right, upon inspection, to obtain copies of records inspected. As understood from the statement of appeal, an assistant in your office, in your absence, refused to permit copying of records Mr. Whitt had inspected.
You failed to act consistent with KRS 61.870 to 61.874 in not making a written response to Mr. Whitt, as called for by KRS 61.880(1), by failing to forward, in accordance with KRS 61.880(2), a copy of your statement of denial to the Attorney General's Office, and in refusing to provide, as called for by KRS 61.874, copies of public records to one requesting them upon inspection.
The statement of appeal asks that this office issue an opinion holding that you "improperly denied access to the complete tax roll of Pike County, showing the description of specified properties, the name and the address of the owners of those properties and the assessed valuation of those properties." The appeal also asks that we issue an opinion requiring you to provide access to a tax roll for Pike County that contains such information (description, ownership, assessed valuation) .
The Open Records statutes provide for inspection of public records not excepted from inspection in accordance with those statutes. Those statutes do not provide that records offered for inspection must show information that perhaps should be shown upon such records in accordance with yet other statutes, or that is called for by the terms of a particular record form. Accordingly, we do not believe you "improperly denied access to the complete tax roll of Pike County" where you permitted inspection of the entire tax roll, however completed. Stated another way, if you allowed inspection of the entire tax roll of the County, the fact that certain information called for by statute or other provision, was not contained upon such roll, would not constitute denial of inspection of the roll.
We also do not believe Open Records provisions empower this office to require you to provide access to a tax roll that contains certain information, even if that information is supposed to be present upon such roll. Open Records provisions address access to existing records, not access to specific "information."
Compliance with KRS 132.530, for example, cited in Ms. Greene's appeal, which requires a Property Valuation Administrator to, in part, "make additions to each column" of the tax rolls so that accuracy of calculations may be verified, is a matter not addressed by Open Records provisions.
Since issuance of OAG 89-12, in which we indicated that the tax rolls, to include each page and each column and all information shown thereon, were public records subject to inspection without a court order, we have conducted an extensive review regarding records held by the Property Valuation Administrator. In OAG 89-40 and OAG 89-50, we found, for reasons expressed therein, that property record and assessment cards were subject to inspection without a court order, subject to conditions we noted.
Mr. Whitt's request stated in part: "If the certified tax roll doesn't contain all information required by KRS 132.530 then I request that your furnish me those documents that contain that information." Property record and assessment cards, would appear to satisfy such request. If you have such cards that correspond to the individuals and firms listed in Mr. Whitt's February 15, 1989, request letter, then, subject to the conditions set forth in OAG 89-40, and OAG 89-50, you should make such cards promptly available for inspection.
While you allowed inspection of certain items, you failed to allow inspection of others, or to respond in writing in accordance with KRS 61.880(1) and (2), as to items you did not permit inspection of. To the extent you failed to respond in accordance with KRS 61.880 to Mr. Whitt's request to inspect records, you failed to act consistent with provisions of KRS 61.870 to 61.884.
Both you and the Courier-Journal and Louisville Times Company (or Richard Whitt), may have rights pursuant to KRS 61.880(5) to appeal the findings of this opinion.
As required by KRS 61.880(2), a copy of this opinion is being sent to Kimberly K. Greene, Esq., who requested it on behalf of the Courier-Journal and Louisville Times Company.