Request By:
Mr. Benjamin Engel
Lexington Herald
239 West Short Street
Lexington, Kentucky 40507
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Carl Miller, Assistant Attorney General
You have appealed to the Attorney General regarding the denial of inspection of public records by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government. The records you wanted to inspect are the detailed reports by hotels and motels of their occupancy and gross revenues. You state: "These reports are filed with the Department of Finance of the Urban County Government by hotels and motels in Fayette County because their revenue is taxed."
The above described records are public records, but it is the opinion of the Attorney General that the records are made confidential by statute and therefore exempted from the provisions of the Open Records Law, KRS 61.870-61.884. The exemption which applies to this case is KRS 61.878(1)(j) which reads:
"Public records or information the disclosure of which is prohibited or restricted or otherwise made confidential by enactment of the General Assembly."
KRS 131.190 provides in part as follows:
"(1) No present or former commissioner or employe of the department of revenue, member of a county board of supervisors, property valuation administrator or employe thereof, or any other person, shall divulge any information acquired by him of the affairs of any person, or information regarding the tax schedules, returns or reports required to be filed with the department 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."
It is our opinion that the records you wish to inspect fall under the above statutory mandate of confidentiality.