Request By:
Mr. Ralph E. McClanahan
Estill County Judge/Executive
Courthouse
Irvine, Kentucky 40336
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; BY: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
You ask whether the county may contribute to the funding of the County Extension Service and the Soil Conservation District.
We said in OAG 79-273, copy enclosed, that all or a portion of the Cooperative Extension Service District budget may be financed through the district tax and/or contributions from other sources. See KRS 164.620, 164.655, and 164.670. The District Extension Board has, by implication, the authority to prepare its budget and levy the district tax. The Extension District is a separate taxing district under Section 157, Kentucky Constitution.
Under the conditions outlined in KRS 247.300(1), relating to the county farm bureau, the fiscal court is required, subject to the monetary limitations of subsection (2), to appropriate for county cooperative extension work out of the general fund of the county to aid in carrying on extension work in that county in agriculture and home economics and in connection with the University of Kentucky, a sum equal to twice the amount of the extension fund in the hands of the bureau. Under KRS 247.300(3), a fiscal court may appropriate additional funds in support of agricultural extension work, as suggested in KRS 247.080. All appropriations from fiscal courts shall be used in the payment of salaries and expenses of duly appointed extension service employes of the College of Agriculture and Home Economics of the University of Kentucky, serving in the county making the appropriation, or to pay for supplies or equipment for these employees. KRS 247.310. See also KRS 67.083(3)(q).
As relates to the Soil Conservation District, the basic operative funding is covered in KRS 262.200(4) as follows:
"(4) The board may request annual operating funds from the fiscal court. To support the request, the board shall present to the fiscal court a report of the previous year's operation, a long range plan for natural resource development and an annual plan of work. Should a fiscal court fail to approve a requested budget, it shall present a specific list of objections and suggested corrections to the board in writing and within a reasonable time. If a budget request is not approved, the board may submit a revised budget request. Funds for an approved budget shall be supplied either from general funds or from the levy of a millage tax on all real property within the boundaries of the county, the total amount not to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) in any one (1) fiscal year. The tax shall be collected in the same manner as other county taxes, and shall be credited to the board. The funds so collected shall be expended by the board for the employment of soil conservation aids, and for other purposes directly associated with the program, including promotional activities, prize moneys, office equipment and supplies, and incidentals deemed necessary."
Thus, under KRS 262.200(4), funds for an approved budget prepared by the Soil Conservation District Board shall be supplied either from general funds of the county or from the levy of a millage tax on all real property within the county, the total amount not to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) in any one fiscal year. The tax shall be collected in the same manner as other county taxes, and shall be credited to the board. Of course the tax must come within the county's ad valorem tax rate limitations under the constitution and statutes.