Request By:
Sam W. Arnold, III, Esq.
P.O. Box 126
Cynthiana, Kentucky 41031
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Thomas R. Emerson, Assistant Attorney General
This is in reply to your letter stating that Harrison County owns a farm located in the county. For several years the county has entered into annual contracts with individuals for the rental of the farm. Advertisements are placed in local newspapers and after discussing the matter with the applicants a rental contract is entered into between the acceptable applicant and the fiscal court for rental of the farm. The contract corresponds to the regular farming agreements between landowners and tenants in your locality and sets forth such matters as the division of sales proceeds and expenses between the county and its tenant.
You ask whether a contract of this nature is legal and enforceable by and between the parties and, if problems exist with the rental contract, what the county should avoid in connection with a rental or leasing contract involving the county farm.
KRS 67.080(2) states in part that the fiscal court may sell and convey any real estate belonging to the county. KRS 65.010 provides in part that any city or county may sell and convey any real estate owned by it upon a determination by the legislative body of such governmental unit that said real estate is no longer needed to carry on governmental functions. In
Abernathy v. City of Irvine, Ky., 355 S.W.2d 159 (1962), the Court noted the broad powers of counties and cities to sell real estate and sasid that it is an established principle that the power to sell includes the power to lease.
In
Burns v. Moore, 307 Ky. 167, 209 S.W.2d 735 (1948), the Court said, "The power to sell includes the power to lease. " In that case the Court approved a lease of county land to an individual for private purposes. See OAG 69-599, copy enclosed, where we said the fiscal court could lease a room in a building owned by the county to the Farm Bureau, as well as OAG 71-374, copy enclosed, where we concluded that the county could lease a portion of its land to a Kiwanis Club for use as a fair grounds. Leasing by the county of property it owns is also discussed in OAG 73-446, copy enclosed.
Therefore, in our opinion, the county may, in its sound discretion, lease land it owns to private persons for agricultural purposes pursuant to the statutory provisions and judicial decisions set forth above.