Request By:
Mr. William S. O'Daniel
Commissioner
Department for Local Government
909 Leawood Drive
Frankfort, Kentucky
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
House Bill 68 was enacted into law during the 1979 Extraordinary Session. Section 2 of the bill amends KRS 68.240 to provide that the county judge/executive shall submit the proposed budget and estimate of receipts to the County Budget Commission by May 24, of each year, instead of the former deadline of April 15. The section also provides that the County Budget Commission, at a meeting or meetings held not later than June 1 of each year [instead of the former May 1], shall classify all expenditures into budget units, etc., and approve the proposed budget and submit a copy to the fiscal court for comment and tentative approval. The County Budget Commission must amend the proposed budget according to the desires of fiscal court prior to the date when it is sent to the State Local Finance Officer pursuant to KRS 8.250.
Under existing law [KRS 68.250] the county judge/executive is required to submit the proposed county budget to the State Local Finance Officer, for approval as to form and classification, not less than twenty (20) days before the time for the adoption of the county budget by fiscal court.
The fiscal court is required to adopt the budget, after its approval by the State Local Finance Officer as to form and classification, not later than July 1 of each year or within ten (10) days after receipt of the certified assessment from the Department of Revenue, as provided in KRS 133.180. See KRS 68.260. The new legislation gives county government more time to sweat over the budget before it is forwarded to the State Local Finance Officer.
House Bill 68 contains no emergency provisions and establishes no special effective date. Therefore the effective date of ordinary legislation [90 days after adjournment] applies here. Section 55, Kentucky Constitution. The effective date of H.B. 68 is May 12, 1979.
Since the significant dates in the budget timetable are presently April 15 [county judge/executive submits budget to commission] and May 1 [commission approves budget] , and since there is nothing in the bill suggesting retroactive application, it is our opinion that the April 15 and May 1 dates must be observed this year. See KRS 446.080(3) and Taylor v. Asher, Ky., 317 S.W.2d 895 (1958).