Request By:
Mr. John C. Vigor, Jr.
Attorney at Law
Price Building
Ashland, Kentucky 41101
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; BY: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
Your questions concern the audit of the Boyd County treasurer's funds for the year ending June 30, 1978.
Question No. 1:
"Do you construe KRS 43.090 and KRS 64.810 to require publication of the entire audit report or only the letter of transmittal accompanying the report?"
Of course fiscal court can authorize the employing of a C.P.A. firm to audit the county treasury account pursuant to KRS 67.080(1)(c) and (d).
The county treasurer is required to keep an accurate detailed account of all money received and disbursed by him for the county, and under any uniform system of accounting as prescribed by the Department for Local Government. Thus the county treasurer, after each fiscal year, is required to make a complete and sworn statement of such county receipts and disbursements. The statement shall show the amount of funds collected and received, from what sources received, the amount disbursed, the date of each disbursement, for what purpose expended, and to whom paid, except that only the totals of amounts paid to each individual as salary or commission and public utility bills need to be shown. KRS 68.020 and 424.220.
The county treasurer must, within sixty (60) days after the close of the fiscal year, cause the statement to be published in full in a newspaper qualified under KRS 424.120 [published in publication area by the paper having the largest bona fide circulation etc.] to publish advertisements for the county. Promptly after such publication, the county treasurer is required to file a written or printed copy of the newspaper ad with proof of publication in the office of the county clerk. Within thirty (30) days after publication, the county treasurer must file a copy of the newspaper containing the ad with the auditor of public accounts.
In answer to question no. 1, KRS 43.090 would require the auditor, or private C.P.A., as the case may be, to send a copy of the audit report, inter alia, to a newspaper of general circulation in the county examined, and the letter of transmittal accompanying the report shall be published in the newspaper under the conditions outlined in KRS Chapter 424. But only the letter of transmittal is required to be published. The county treasurer's responsibility in publishing the treasurer's statement of receipts and disbursements under KRS 424.220 is an entirely separate and distinct matter. Further, the publication of the C.P.A.'s letter of transmittal or even the auditor's report of audit in no way serves to cancel out the county treasurer's duty to publish his or her report under KRS 424.220. The other statute, KRS 64.810, appears to relate solely to audits of county fee officers.
Next, you ask: What is the "letter of transmittal" to be published by the auditing C.P.A? Chapter 43 does not define the term.
Since a copy of the C.P.A.'s audit goes to the fiscal court under KRS 43.090(2), it is our opinion that the letter of transmittal should merely serve the purpose of alerting the public to the fact that an audit of the county funds has been completed and that a copy is on file with the clerk of fiscal court. Usually, the letter of transmittal contains a paragraph to the effect that it is the opinion of the C.P.A. that the audit report presents fairly the receipts, disbursements, etc., for the accounting year.
Next, you ask whether the letter of transmittal published should contain notes accompanying the financial statement (audit) . Under our conclusion in connection with question no. 2, we do not think it necessary.
Your fourth question is whether the publishing of the C.P.A.'s letter of transmittal satisfies the obligation of the county treasurer to publish his statement under KRS 424.220? We have answered that under question no. 1, above. The county treasurer has a mandatory and positive duty to publish his financial statement. The failure to file such statement could result in a fine of $50 to $500. In addition, for each such failure the officer could be subject to a forfeiture of $50 to $500, in the discretion of the court, which may be recovered in a civil action brought by any citizen of the county for which the officer serves. KRS 424.990. See also