Request By:
Charles V. Boarman
Attorney at Law
P.O. Box 826
Richmond, Kentucky 40475
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By William S. Riley, Assistant Attorney General
In your recent letter to the Attorney General it is stated that you represent a corporation located in Lexington, Kentucky engaged in the business of purchasing City of Lexington delinquent tax bills as provided for in KRS 92.710.
Where the company has not been able to collect delinquent tax bills from the taxpayer, it is their intention to seek conveyances of the property to the company under the provisions of KRS 92.760.
Under the urban-county form of government, effective in Lexington-Fayette County since January, 1974, instead of a city treasurer attending to tax collection, there is now a Department of Delinquent Tax Collection, devoted only to the collection of pre-1974 City of Lexington taxes. A representative of that department has expressed his opinion that the relief provided in KRS 92.760 cannot now be afforded by the urban-county government for still delinquent pre-1974 delinquent tax bills.
KRS 67A.850 provides that urban-county governments may exercise property taxing powers to the limits authorized for the class of city to which the largest city in the county belonged on the day prior to the date the urban-county government became effective. The taxing powers must be exercised by the urban-county government consistent with the Kentucky Constitution Section 172A and KRS 132.010, 132.023, 132.027 and 68.245.
Under 67A.060 urban-county governments may exercise the constitutional and statutory rights, powers, privileges, immunities and responsibilities of counties and cities of the highest class in the county in effect on the date the urban-county government becomes effective; which may subsequently be authorized for or imposed on counties and cities of that class; and which may be authorized for or imposed upon urban counties. Rights, powers, privileges and immunities exercised by urban-county governments shall continue to be authorized for urban-county government notwithstanding repeal or amendment of the statutes upon which they are based unless expressly repealed or amended for urban-county governments.
It is pointed out that under KRS 67A.850 and 67A.060 the urban-county government should, in the post-1973 period, raise taxes and collect them in the same manner as did the City of Lexington, operating as a second class city.
Under KRS 134.140 the sheriff by virtue of his office, shall be the collector of all state, county and district taxes, unless the payment thereof is, by law, especially directed to be made to some other officer.
Under Section 6.06 of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government charter, there is created a division charged in the collection of all income, revenues and monies due the merged government. The county sheriff elected under the constitution and laws of Kentucky shall continue to collect all taxes levied by the merged government which are to be collected under law by county sheriffs. All taxes collected by the sheriff shall be filed with the Director of the Division of Tax Collection.
Four questions are asked as follows:
(1) Can the owner of a pre-1974 City of Lexington certificate of purchase of a delinquent city tax bill still avail itself of the relief provided for in KRS 92.760?
Answer: KRS 92.760 provides that a fee simple title to real property sold for taxes of a city of the second class, shall vest in the purchaser subject to state and county taxes and that the treasurer shall convey the property by executing a deed to the purchaser. KRS 67A.850 and 67A.060 seem to indicate that such delinquent tax bills should be handled as provided for prior to the coming into existence the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government. In the absence of specific machinery to comply with KRS 92.760, it would appear that it would not be possible for delinquent tax bills of the pre-1974 period to be processed as provided for in KRS 92.760(1).
(2) Do post-1973 urban-county delinquent tax bills have the same status as did pre-1974 City of Lexington delinquent tax bills?
Answer: All delinquent tax bills of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government are now processed as provided in Chapter 134 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes. See KRS 134.440, 134.450, 134.460 and 134.470.
(3) Should the urban-county government continue to sell real property for delinquent taxes as provided for in KRS 92.710?
Answer: No. See answer to Question No. (2).
(4) If the answers to Questions 2 and 3 are yes, then in what manner and by what urban-county officers would the conveyance provided for by KRS 92.760 be carried out by the urban-county government?
Answer: Since the answers to Questions (2) and (3) are no, see answer to Question No. (2) for the processing of delinquent tax bills in the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government.