July 11, 2024
OAG 24-07
Subjects:
(1) Whether KRS 424.330 and KRS 424.130 governs the
publication of delinquent occupational tax account holders.
(2) Whether the Georgetown-Scott County Revenue Commission
may publish a list of delinquent occupational tax account holders
on behalf the City of Georgetown, the Scott County Fiscal Court,
and the Scott County Board of Education.
Requested by:
Jessica Brown, General Counsel
Georgetown-Scott County Revenue Commission
Written by:
Jeremy J. Sylvester, Assistant Attorney General
Syllabus:
(1) KRS 424.330 and KRS 424.130 do not govern the publication
of delinquent occupational tax account holders.
(2) The Georgetown-Scott County Revenue Commission may
publish a list of delinquent occupational tax account holders on
behalf of the City of the Georgetown, the Scott County Fiscal
Court, and the Scott County Board of Education. However, that
list must not disclose the amount of taxed owed by any taxpayer.
Opinion of the Attorney General
In 1958, the General Assembly enacted KRS Chapter 424 to create uniform
statutory requirements for the publication of legal notices in newspapers. See Lyon v.
Warren Cnt’y, 325 S.W.2d 302, 304 (Ky. 1959) (discussing 1958 Ky. Acts Ch. 42). Some
of the notices required by Chapter 424 “are a form of constructive service of process
and unless the statutory form is strictly complied with the service is void.” City of
Jeffersontown v. City of Hurstbourne, 684 S.W.2d 23, 25 (Ky. Ct. App. 1984). For
example, a city seeking to enforce a property tax lien must provide constructive notice
to property owners by newspaper publication that complies with applicable provisions
of KRS Chapter 424. KRS 91.4883. If an agency takes an action for which publicationOpinion of the Attorney General 24–07
July 11, 2024
Page 2
2
is required and does not comply with Chapter 424, its action shall be voidable by a
court. KRS 424.380.
KRS 424.330 grants cities the discretion to publish a list of uncollected
delinquent taxes in a newspaper:
Cities may publish a list of uncollected delinquent taxes levied under
Section 181 of the Kentucky Constitution, showing the name of and the
amount due from each delinquent taxpayer, to be advertised by
newspaper publication. A fee equal to the prorated cost of publication
per taxpayer per publication may be added to the amount of each tax
claim published as publication costs.
KRS 424.130 governs the “times and periods of publications of advertisements
required by law to be made in a newspaper.”1 This statute provides the following
concerning notice of delinquent taxes:
When an advertisement is for the purpose of informing the public and
the advertisement is a notice of delinquent taxes, or notice of the sale of
tax claims, the advertisement shall be published either:
1. Once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks; or
2. One (1) time, preceded by a one-half (1/2) page notice of advertisement
the preceding week. The one-half (1/2) page advertisement shall include
notice that a list of uncollectible delinquent taxes is also available for
public inspection in accordance with KRS 424.330 during normal
business hours at the business address of the city or county and on an
identified Internet Web site. The advertisement shall include the
business address of the city or county and the Uniform Resource Locator
(URL) for the Internet Web site where the document can be viewed. The
Internet Web site shall be affiliated with the city or county and contain
other information about the city or county government. The delinquent
tax list shall be posted on the Internet Web site for a minimum of thirty
(30) days and shall be updated weekly.
KRS 424.130(c).
1 Cities are not required by law to publish a list of delinquent taxpayers in the newspaper under the
plain terms of KRS 424.330. However, the Legislative Research Commission states in an informational
bulletin that if a city elects to publish a list of delinquent taxpayers, the publication must contain the
name of each delinquent taxpayer and the amount owed and must comply with the provisions of KRS
424.130. Legis. Res. Commission, KY. MUN. STAT. LAW, Info. Bull. No. 145, p. 76 (Sept. 2023).Opinion of the Attorney General 24–07
July 11, 2024
Page 3
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The Georgetown-Scott County Revenue Commission (GSCRC) was formed
through an interlocal agreement between the City of Georgetown, the Scott County
Fiscal Court, and the Scott Count Board of Education. The GSCRC serves as a central
body to collect occupational and net profit license taxes imposed by the city, county,
and school board. This agency is considering publishing a list of persons or business
with delinquent taxes owed to these taxing authorities as a strategy to inform
consumers and boost compliance with tax laws.
The GSCRC presented this Office with the following questions about KRS
Chapter 424 and the publication of delinquent occupational tax account holders:
(1) Does KRS 424.330 allow for the publication of delinquent
occupational tax account holders as it is a tax/fee set forth in the
Kentucky Constitution, Section 181?
It is the opinion of the Office that the General Assembly did not intend KRS
424.330 to apply to the publication of delinquent occupational tax account holders.
This conclusion is the based on historical context. Moreover, this interpretation is
necessary to harmonize KRS 424.330 with KRS 67.790(8)(a), which makes
confidential certain business information obtained by public officials in the collection
of business taxes.
Section 181 of the Kentucky Constitution states:
The General Assembly shall not impose taxes for the purposes of any
county, city, town or other municipal corporation, but may, by general
laws, confer on the proper authorities thereof, respectively, the power to
assess and collect such taxes. The General Assembly may, by general
laws only, provide for the payment of license fees on franchises, stock
used for breeding purposes, the various trades, occupations and
professions, or a special or excise tax; and may, by general laws, delegate
the power to counties, towns, cities and other municipal corporations, to
impose and collect license fees on stock used for breeding purposes, on
franchises, trades, occupations and professions. And the General
Assembly may, by general laws only, authorize cities or towns of any
class to provide for taxation for municipal purposes on personal
property, tangible and intangible, based on income, licenses or
franchises, in lieu of an ad valorem tax thereon: Provided, Cities of the
first class shall not be authorized to omit the imposition of an ad valorem
tax on such property of any steam railroad, street railway, ferry, bridge,
gas, water, heating, telephone, telegraph, electric light or electric power
company.Opinion of the Attorney General 24–07
July 11, 2024
Page 4
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Section 181 allows the General Assembly to enact general laws granting cities
and counties the power to assess and collect ad valorem property taxes and impose
specified license fees. Driver v. Sawyer, 392 S.W.2d 52, 53 (Ky. 1965). The General
Assembly has granted this authority to cities and counties. See KRS 91.260 (cities of
the first class shall raise revenue from ad valorem taxes and license fees); KRS 92.280
(proving similar grant for cities of home rule class and urban-county governments);
KRS 67.083 (granting broad taxing authority to county fiscal courts).
The occupational tax at issue here is authorized under Section 181’s provision
stating that the General Assembly may allow cities and counties to impose “license
fees on franchises, stock used for breeding purposes, the various trades, occupations
and professions.” An occupational tax, as it now commonly referred, is a
constitutional “license fee” under Section 181 of the Kentucky Constitution. City of
Louisville v. Sebree, 214 S.W.2d 248, 253–54 (Ky. 1948). Moreover, the General
Assembly, by statute, has granted cities and counties the authority to impose this
type of license fee. See KRS 91.200 (cities of the first class); KRS 92.281 (cities of the
home rule class); KRS 67.083 (counties). Even though Section 181 authorizes the
imposition of occupational taxes, the Office does not believe that the General
Assembly intended KRS 424.330 to apply to the publication of delinquent
occupational taxes.
The statutory provision granting cities the discretion to publish a list of
delinquent taxpayers and the amount they owe came into existence in 1992. 1992 Ky.
Acts ch. 73, § 1. In that year, the General Assembly enacted House Bill 339 adding
this subject provision to KRS 424.330. Before the enactment of this bill, KRS 424.330
only addressed publication of delinquent property taxes collected by a sheriff on
behalf of the fiscal court. Id. After enactment, KRS 424.330 stated:
(1) When the sheriff of any county files with the fiscal court a list of uncollectible
delinquent taxes, in accordance with KRS 134.360 and 134.370, the fiscal court
shall promptly cause a list, showing the name of and amount due from each
delinquent taxpayer, to be advertised by newspaper publication. A fee of three
dollars ($3) per name per publication shall be added to the amount of each tax
claim published as publication costs.
(2) Cities may publish a list of uncollected taxes levied under Section 181 of the
Kentucky Constitution, showing the name of and the amount due from each
delinquent taxpayer, to be advertised by newspaper publication. A fee of three
dollars ($3) per name per publication may be added to the amount of each tax
claim published as publication costs.
Id. The General Assembly later repealed the first subsection relating to collection of
county ad valorem property taxes in 2009, and, in doing so, erased necessary contextOpinion of the Attorney General 24–07
July 11, 2024
Page 5
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for the statutory provision that remains. 2009 Ky. Acts. ch. 10, § 69.2 Nonetheless,
this historic statutory context and other factors lead this Office to believe that the
General Assembly only meant KRS 424.330 to apply to the publication of delinquent
ad valorem property taxes.
First, KRS 424.330 uses the phrase “taxes levied under Section 181” when
describing the type of tax delinquencies that a city may publish. Section 181 uses the
word “tax” when referring to ad valorem property taxes. Section 181’s grant of
authority for what is colloquially referred to as an occupational “tax,” does not use
the word tax at all. Rather, Section 181 refers to this revenue raising mechanism as
a “license fee. Sebree, 214 S.W.2d at 253–54. Thus, by using the phrase “taxes levied
under Section 181,” and omitting the term “license fees,” the General Assembly
expressed an intent to limit KRS 424.330’s applicability to ad valorem property taxes
levied by a city. See Univ. of Louisville v. Rothstein, 532 S.W.3d 644, 648 (Ky. 2017)
(holding courts “must look first the plain language of a statute” and assume that the
General Assembly “meant exactly what it said, and said exactly what it meant”)
(citations omitted); see also Palmer v. Commonwealth, 3 S.W.3d 763, 764 (Ky. App.
1999) (“[A]n enumeration of a particular thing demonstrates that the omission of
another thing is an intentional exclusion.”).
Second, the 1992 version of KRS 424.330 lends context to the subject provision
concerning cities. When read in this context, the subject statutory provision appears
to relate to delinquent ad valorem property taxes that a city may impose. See
Jefferson Cnty. Bd. of Ed. v. Fell, 391 S.W.3d 713, 719 (Ky. 2012) (“The particular
word, sentence or subsection under review must also be viewed in context rather than
in a vacuum; other relevant parts of the legislative act must be considered in
determining the legislative intent.”); Lewis v. Jackson Energy Co-op. Corp., 189
S.W.3d 87, 92 (Ky. 2005) (“The statute must be read as a whole and in context with
other parts of the law.”). Before 1992, KRS 424.330 only related to the publication of
delinquent ad valorem property taxes for which the sheriff is charged to collect under
KRS Chapter 134. In fact, the statute cross-referenced two now-repealed provisions
of that chapter dealing with the sheriff’s collection of ad valorem property taxes.3 A
city, however, may contract with the sheriff to collect its property tax under the
procedures stated in Chapter 134 or it may collect those taxes on its own in
2 House Bill 262 also made numerous changes to KRS Chapter 134, including how certificates of
delinquency for unpaid property taxes are sold. 2009 Ky. Acts. ch. 10. One such change required the
county clerk to advertise the purchase of certificates of delinquency under Chapter 424. Id. at § 10
(codified into KRS 134.128). This change obviated the need for the provision in KRS 424.330 requiring
the fiscal court to publish of a list of delinquent taxpayers provided by the sheriff.
3 Moreover, this subsection used the term “tax claim,” which is defined under KRS 134.010 as the
“tax due on a tax bill, the penalties, costs, fees, interests, commission, the lien provided in KRS 134.420
and any other expenses that have become or are by reason of the delinquent tax bills proper legal
charges.” KRS 134.010(15). The lien mentioned is placed on property for unpaid property tax. KRS
134.420.Opinion of the Attorney General 24–07
July 11, 2024
Page 6
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accordance with procedures set forth in a duly enacted ordinance. KRS 91A.070. It is
the opinion of the Office that the text added to KRS 424.330 in 1992 was meant to
apply to cities electing to collect their own property taxes, giving them the explicit
authority to publish a list of taxpayers who were delinquent on paying their city ad
valorem taxes just like the fiscal court was required to do for delinquent county
taxpayers.4
Last, our Office believes that KRS 424.330 conflicts with another statute if it
was interpreted to permit the publication of the amount of occupational tax owed by
taxpayer. In 2003, the General Assembly enacted KRS 67.790. 2003 Ky. Acts Ch. 117,
§ 17. KRS 67.790(8)(a) states:
No present or former employee of any tax district shall intentionally and
without authorization inspect or divulge any information acquired by
him or her of the affairs of any person, or information regarding the tax
schedules, returns, or reports required to be filed with the tax district or
other proper officer, or any information produced by a hearing or
investigation, insofar as the information may have to do with the affairs
of the person's business.
Id. KRS 67.790 applies to cities, counties, urban county governments, school districts,
and any other statutorily created entity authorized to impose occupational taxes.
KRS 67.750(10) (defining tax district). The Office has consistently held in its open
records decisions that the amount of occupational tax owed by a taxpayer is
confidential under KRS 67.790 and another analogous statute, KRS 131.190, and
may not be disclosed to the public. See 22-ORD-179 (KRS 131.190(1) prohibits a local
government from disclosing the amount of occupational tax paid or owed by a
business); 10-ORD-183, p. 4 (the public is entitled to know whether a taxpayer is
delinquent, but the amount of delinquent occupational tax owed is confidential under
KRS 67.790(8)(a)); 08-ORD-143, p. 4 (concluding the same because the amount taxes
owed reveals the private details of the taxpayer’s business). In our Office’s view, KRS
424.300 should not be interpreted in way that authorizes cities, and only cities, to
publish confidential tax information in a newspaper notwithstanding KRS
67.790(8)(a). See Williams v. Commonwealth, 829 S.W.2d 942, 944 (Ky. Ct. App. 1992)
(when statutes conflict the one enacted later generally applies, but a court should also
“harmonize the interpretation” to give effect to both).
4 This position is consistent with the Legislative Research Commission’s informational bulletin
discussing statutory municipal statutory law, which only mentions KRS 424.330 in connection with
its discussion of the collection of city property tax. KY. MUN. STAT. LAW, at 76. There is no direct
reference to KRS 424.330 under the section of the information bulletin addressing city occupational
taxes. Id. at 78–80.Opinion of the Attorney General 24–07
July 11, 2024
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In sum, it is the opinion of the Office that KRS 424.330 does not apply to
occupational taxes levied by a city. That statute is only intended to allow cities to
publish delinquent city ad valorem property taxes in newspapers.
(2) Is there an equivalent statute or precedent to KRS 424.330 that
would allow the Scott County Fiscal Court and the Scott County
Board of Education to publish the list of non-compliant taxpayers
for each respective jurisdiction?
The Office cannot identify any statute governing the publication of
occupational tax delinquencies in newspapers. This Office has held in its open records
decisions, however, that the Kentucky Open Records Act requires local governments
to make records available for inspection that disclose names of business or individuals
who are delinquent on their payment of city occupational taxes, so long the amount
owed by each business or person is withheld or redacted. 22-ORD-179; 10-ORD-183,
p. 4; 08-ORD-143, p. 4. The amount a taxpayer owes for occupational tax is
confidential under KRS 67.790(8)(a) and may not be disclosed. In the opinion of the
Office, a public agency or local government may voluntarily publish or disclose any
record subject to public inspection under the Kentucky Open Records Act, including
a list of the names of persons or businesses with delinquent occupational taxes.
(3) If publication is permitted under Kentucky law, is KRS 424.130
the applicable guide for publication?
KRS 424.130 governs the publication of delinquent taxes and other matters
required by law to be published in a newspaper. As stated above, the Office does not
believe that KRS 424.330 applies to occupational taxes. Thus, the publication
requirements of KRS 424.130 are also inapplicable to any plan by the GSCRC, the
City of Georgetown, the Scott County Fiscal Court, or the Scott County Board of
Education to publish a list of delinquent occupational taxpayers. The Office reiterates
that the amount occupational tax owed by each taxpayer is confidential and may not
be disclosed or published.
Russell Coleman
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Jeremy J. Sylvester