Request By:
Mr. Richard M. Rawdon, Jr.
Scott County Attorney
Courthouse
Georgetown, Kentucky 40324
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
Scott County and Georgetown established a joint tourist and convention commission pursuant to KRS 83.340(2). The local governing bodies have established a tax on motels in Scott County and in the City of Georgetown under KRS 83.350 in order to finance its statutory program.
You ask: Will the Supreme Court's decision in Jefferson County on Home Rule affect that commission?
The Supreme Court of Kentucky in Fiscal Court of Jefferson County v. City of Louisville (76-604) [decided September 16, 1977] ruled that a fiscal court has no legislative powers. However in past decisions the Court of Appeals of Kentucky has established the principle that the levying of a tax is a legislative function.
Commonwealth v. Kenneday, 118 Ky. 618, 82 S.W. 237 (1904) 238. Our answer is that we will simply have to await the final decision of the Supreme Court in the Home Rule case in order to know precisely the legal status of statutes relating to tax levying by a fiscal court.
On the delinquent taxes, we suggest you wait, pending the final outcome of the Home Rule case.
You ask whether the city may be itself form a tourist commission. The answer is "yes", under KRS 83.340(2). However, the absolute principle of no legislative authority laid down in the Home Rule case by the Supreme Court of Kentucky could possibly affect city governments. Here again we suggest that both the city and county governments wait for possible clarification by the court on these vital areas.