Request By:
Mr. Joseph L. Moore
County Fee Systems
Executive Department for
Finance and Administration
Capitol Annex
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
At the June 2, 1977, meeting the Prosecutors Advisory Council voted to allow reimbursement for an assistant commonwealth's attorney and a district detective in the 55th judicial circuit (Bullitt) and for an assistant commonwealth's attorney in the 18th judicial circuit (Harrison, Nicholas, Pendleton and Robertson). The salaries were to be retroactive and cover the period January 1, 1977, through June 30, 1977. The council also voted to use the remaining balance of their discretionary funds to provide a retroactive pay increase for all other district detectives. Again, the period covered is January 1, 1977, through June 30, 1977. You request our view as to the legality of such retroactive pay. You also ask whether the 18th and 55th districts qualify for assistant commonwealth's attorneys and district detectives.
Assistant commonwealth's attorneys are presently authorized for counties of 200,000 population or more [KRS 69.070] and in any judicial district of only one county containing a second class city and have a population of less than 200,000 [KRS 69.095]. The commonwealth's attorney in any judicial circuit with more than one judge [except Jefferson County] may with approval of fiscal court appoint one additional assistant commonweath's attorney and one additional circuit detective. KRS 69.097.
However, KRS 15.760(1)(2) and (4) [effective January 1, 1977], when read together authorize each commonwealth's attorney in Kentucky, including the 18th and 55th districts, to have at least the same number of assistant commonwealth's attorneys and detectives and same salary level as was in effect on December 1, 1976, and additional such personnel and salary increases where deemed needed by the Prosecutors Advisory Council. Though such personnel (assistant and detective) were not authorized for the 18th and 55th districts as of December 1, 1976, the P.A.C. had authority under KRS 15.760(2) to authorize such personnel for those districts as well as for any others. From the plain wording of KRS 15.760(1), and (2), and (4), there is expressed a clear legislative intent to place the money and personnel in whatever judicial district which needs it, as determined with the advice and consent of P.A.C. We believe the courts would accord to the words of these subsections their literal meaning,
Department of Revenue v. Greyhound Corp., Ky., 321 S.W.2d 60 (1959), especially since this construction makes sense.
We see no problem with making this compensation action retroactive to January 1, 1977, through June 30, 1977, for the action is not strictly retroactive since the action was taken in 1977 to apply only to a 1977 period of time. See KRS 446.080(3). See also 1976 Acts (Extra Sess.), Ch. 27, Part I General Fund Item 10, County Costs and discretionary funds [State Budget]. It is there stated that allocation decisions concerning discretionary funds will be made by the Prosecutors Advisory Council. These salaries are really annual salaries under the statute in a practical and legal sense.