Request By:
Mr. Thomas E. Carroll
Wayne County Attorney
Courthouse
North Main Street
Monticello, Kentucky 42633
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Asst. Deputy Attorney General
You present questions concerning a paving contract in Wayne County.
On October 18, 1980, the Wayne County Fiscal Court accepted a bid for $79,265.43 from a paving contractor to supply a definite quantity of paving material and to resurface certain roads with that material. The bid set forth the quantity of material to be used and the yards of each road to be paved. The bid had a clause which read:
"The County reserves the right to add additional roads or delete roads from the resurfacing project and pay for the deletion or be credited with the deletion at the same unit prices as bid in this invitation. The County shall not add or delete roads that would increase or decrease the overall quantities and total monies more than 20% without the contractor's approval."
Neither the fiscal court nor the county judge/executive authorized any increase in the quantity. The contractor paved .5 miles of road in one magisterial district in addition to the approximately .6 miles of road that had been set out in the bid for that district. This brought the overall bill to $8800 above the bid price. Apparently, the contractor advised the magistrate that he could run extra miles under the contract and the magistrate agreed. However, it was never considered at a fiscal court meeting.
Question No. 1 reads:
"Is the county legally obligated to pay the additional $8800 which the contractor has billed the county?"
The answer is "no." Only the fiscal court acting as a body could have properly authorized the extra work. See KRS 67.080 and 67.083. The single justice of the peace had no authority to purchase the extra work. In
Holbrook v. Letcher County, 223 Ky. 597, 4 S.W.2d 382 (1928), the court ruled that a county cannot contract, except through its fiscal court, which must act as a body, and speak through its records.
Question No. 2 reads:
"If the county is not legally obligated, can it legally pay the bill if a magistrate of the fiscal court desires to do so?"
The fiscal court may ratify the extra paving, under the circumstances. In