Request By:
Ms. Yvonne S. Jones
Floyd County Judge/Executive
Prestonsburg, Kentucky 41653
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By William S. Riley, Assistant Attorney General
In your recent letter to the Attorney General it is pointed out that an opinion was issued to the Town of Wayland regarding taxes for utility lines serving customers within the corporate limits. These utility facilities are owned by Floyd County and were acquired in 1953 and purchased along with other facilities within the county by revenue bonds issued under Chapter 58 (Section 58.010 to 58.140 inclusive) of the Kentucky Revised Statutes. The facilities are under operating lease with Ohio-Kentucky Utilities, Inc., with the county for a fixed term that expires in 1984.
The question is whether the Town of Wayland can assess taxes against Floyd County.
We are advised by the public utility taxing section, State Assessment and Inheritance Tax Division Director of the Department of Revenue, that this corporation is owned by Floyd County. Ohio-Kentucky Utilities, Inc., is merely a paper corporation set up to run the system. The utility is not assessed under KRS 136.120. Since this is a publicly owned utility it would be exempt from taxes by the Town of Wayland. OAG 78-369 which states that Ohio-Kentucky Utilities, Inc. is liable to the payment of Public Service Corporation property taxes to the City of Wayland, Kentucky is hereby withdrawn.