Request By:
Mr. Sam W. Arnold, III
Harrison County Attorney
16 East Pike Street
Cynthiana, Kentucky 41031
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Elizabeth E. Blackford, Assistant Attorney General
You have stated that the Harrison County Tax Assessment Appeals Board reviewed assessments of the members own properties and issues reductions for two of the members. You also stated that no letter or written petition required by KRS 133.120 was filed with the county clerk as to these properties. You have asked whether, in light of the absence of filing a request for appeal, the reduction assessments issued by the Tax Assessments Appeal Board are legal. It is the opinion of this office that they are not.
Like the Tax Commission, the Tax Assessment Appeals Board is merely an administrative agency.
Blue Diamond Coal Co. v. Cornett, 189 S.W.2d 963, 300 Ky. 647 (1945). It is a statutory creature created and empowered by KRS Chapter 133. Where boards created by statute are limited by the statute creating them, their acts, to be binding, must in every instance be authorized either expressly or by implication.
Reliance Mfg. Co. v. Board of Prison Com'rs., 170 S.W. 941, 161 Ky. 135 (1914). Where a board is authorized only to administer the law as written, it may neither add to nor subtract from the statute empowering it. "Powers not conferred are just as plainly prohibited as those which are expressly forbidden. Where powers are given to be performed in a specified manner, there is an implied restriction on the exercise of those powers in excess of the grant."
Johnson v. Correll, Ky., 332 S.W.2d 843, 845 (1960). Thus, a strong line of authority establishes the fact that the Tax Assessment Appeals Board may only act in the manner specified by the creating and empowering statutes.
KRS 133.120 [Amended Acts 1978; ch. 384 § 264] provides in part as follows:
"(1) Any taxpayer aggrieved by an assessment made by the property valuation administrator may appeal to the board of assessment appeals, however, no appeals shall be accepted by the board of assessment unless a letter or other written petition stating the reasons for appeal, identifying the property for which the appeal is filed and stating the taxpayer's opinion of the fair cash value of the property, shall be filed with the county clerk within the five-day period in which the inspection period is held. . . .
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"(4) The powers of the board of assessment appeals shall be limited to those specifically granted by this section. "
The version of KRS 133.120 which was effective until 1974 read in part as follows:
"(1) Any taxpayer aggrieved by an assessment made by the property valuation administrator may appeal to the board of supervisors. A letter or other written petition stating the reasons for appeal shall be filed with the county clerk between the date the inspection period begins and the date the board of supervisors convenes. . . ."
The change in language relating to the filing of a petition or letter stating the reasons for the appeal clearly demonstrates the legislative intent to make the filing of such a petition a prerequisite, in the nature of a jurisdiction generating event, to the Tax Assessment Board's consideration of an assessment for re-evaluation. Since the Board has no power to accept or consider an appeal where no petition has been filed, it certainly does not have the power to issue a reduction of an assessment if no petition has been filed.
It was decided as early as 1908 that an action taken by the Tax Assessment Board is void where the formal requisites of the statute were not followed.
Ward v. Wentz, 113 S.W. 892, 130 Ky. 705 (1908). Thus, it is the opinion of this office that the reduced assessments rendered by the Tax Assessment Appeals Board were void where no petition for appeal was filed with the county clerk.
This, however, does not mean that the members of the Tax Assessment Appeals Board may not have the assessments of their properties reviewed by the board. See OAG 67-217, copy enclosed. If the members wish to have their property assessments reviewed, they must abide by the requirements of Chapter 133, just as any citizen must. And, they must disqualify themselves from consideration of the assessment of their own property. See OAG 67-217, supra.