Request By:
Mr. Louis G. Hesler, Sr.
Brandenburg Telephone Co.
Brandenburg, Kentucky 40108
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan
Your written question was as follows:
"I am writing for an opinion on whether or not it would be permissible for county officials to deposit county money in a bank other than the one in the county provided the bank is near the county line and a few miles from the courthouse."
The fiscal court has the authority under KRS 68.010, 68.020(1), and 67.080(6) to designate a depository for the county funds and to change the depository within its discretion. This is true since the fiscal court has the authority to regulate and control the fiscal affairs of the county [KRS 67.080(6)]; and the county treasurer is a ministerial officer appointed by fiscal court and who must hold county money subject to the orders of fiscal court [KRS 68.010 and 68.020]. The court held in
Edwards v. Logan County, 244 Ky. 296, 50 S.W.2d 83 (1932) that the selecting of a county treasurer in no way abrogates the power of fiscal court to choose a depository bank.
In answer to your specific question, there is no statute dictating the precise location of the depository bank. Thus the fiscal court, in the exercise of its discretion, can choose a bank located in another county.