Request By:
Honorable C. Allen Muncy
Leslie County Judge
Courthouse
Hyden, Kentucky 41749
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
Your question was written as follows:
"Kentucky Revised Statutes Chapter 109 authorizes the creation of a County Garbage and Refuse District and authorizes a 10 mill tax on 'real property' to be used to operate the district.
"What does 'real property' mean as far as tax collection is concerned; does it include both tangible and intangible property? "
KRS 109.180(1) reads:
"(1) The district may levy an annual tax of not to exceed ten cents (10 ) on each one hundred dollars ($100) of assessed valuation of real property within the district subject to taxation for county purposes. The proceeds of such tax shall be used for expenses of the district and for redemption of any bonds issued by the district pursuant to KRS 109.170."
Under the express wording of the statute the tax is to be levied on "real property" [not to exceed 10 on each $100 of assessed valuation thereof] in the garbage district subject to taxation for county purposes.
KRS 132.010(3) defines "real property" as including all lands within this state and improvements thereon. Under KRS 132.010(4) "personal property" includes every species and character of property, tangible and intangible, other than real property. The definition covers the term "real property" as used in KRS Chapter 132, relating to the levy and assessment of property taxes. See
Commonwealth v. Elkhorn-Piney Coal Min. Co., 241 Ky. 245, 43 S.W.2d 684 (1931) 684, 685, which mentions the subject definition of "real property" as contained in an earlier statute Carroll's Kentucky Statutes, § 4022 [the definition is identical with KRS 132.010(3)]. The court held that a long term coal lease conferring upon the lessee the right to remove and dispose of the coal, perhaps to exhaustion, constitutes real estate for the purposes of taxation.
Thus by express statutory definition the subject garbage district tax is to be imposed on real property in the district, and "real property" means all lands and improvements thereon lying within the garbage district. The term "real property" does not include tangible and intangible property. See also KRS 446.010(17), defining generally the term "land" or "real estate" to include lands, tenements and hereditaments and all rights thereto and interest therein, other than a chattel interest.