Request By:
Ms. Avalene K. Carlberg
City Clerk
City of Muldraugh
P.O. Box 395
Muldraugh, Kentucky 40155
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of August 16 in which you present the following question:
"In September, 1977, the City Council voted to establish a salary for the Mayor and Councilmen, effective January 1, 1978. (No salary was previously in effect.) The present Council has voted to abolish this salary.
"Is this action legal? If not, does any other action need to be taken to reverse the motion to abolish, or is it just void?"
The last regular city election in the city of Muldraugh was held in November, 1977. KRS 64.580 provides, in effect, that the salaries of all elected city officers must be fixed not later than the first Monday in May in the year in which they are elected and cannot be changed thereafter during their term. Of course, if the compensation is not fixed at the time specified, the salary fixed for the previous term becomes effective pursuant to KRS 64.730. However, under the facts presented, no compensation had apparently ever been previously set for the officers in question, in which case the Court of Appeals has held in the case of Wells v. Roberts, 448 S.W.2d 658 (1970), that it could be fixed after the May deadline or at any time during the term of the elected officials.
In view of the decision in the Wells case, the fixing of the salary of the mayor and councilmen in September, 1977, to be effective January 1, 1978, the beginning of the regular term, would be legally effective [having never previously been fixed] and cannot subsequently be changed during the regular term without violating not only the provisions of KRS 64.580 but also § 161 of the Constitution, also prohibiting any change in the compensation of constitutionally named officers. See Bd. of Education of Graves Co. v. DeWeese, Ky., 343 S.W.2d 598 (1960).
Under the circumstances, the action of the present council to abolish the salary fixed in September, 1977 would be illegal and in violation of the statute and constitution referred to previously. Further action on the motion to abolish the salaries would not appear necessary, since the motion itself has no legal significance or effect on the ordinance fixing the compensation.