Request By:
Mr. John D. Sims
Robertson County Attorney
Mt. Olivet, Kentucky 41064
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
As county attorney for Robertson County, you request an opinion concerning the annual financial report for the county under KRS 424.220.
The fiscal court has come under attack by the publisher of the Robertson County Review for alleged failure to publish the annual finanical report as directed by KRS 424.220. County Judge Executive Porter Henson informed you that the state auditors told him that, because of the financial burden imposed by placing the financial report in the newspaper, the publication of a notice placed in the newspaper to the effect that the annual report can be seen in the county clerk's office would suffice. You disagree.
KRS 424.220 requires that the annual financial statement of the county 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. However, only the totals of amounts paid to each individual as salary or commission and public utility bills need to be shown.
The statute further requires the officer publishing the financial statement to procure and include in or attach to the statement as a part thereof a certificate from the cashier or other proper officer of the banks in which the funds are or have been deposited during the past year, showing the balance, if any, of the funds to the credit of the officer making the statement.
The statute adds this:
". . . The officer shall, 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 to publish advertisements for the city, county or district, as the case may be. Promptly after the publication is made, the officer shall file a written or printed copy of the advertisement with proof of publication, in the office of the county clerk of the county. Within thirty (30) days after publication, the officer shall file with the auditor of public accounts a copy of the newspaper containing the statement."
Under the express terms of KRS 424.220, the officer responsible for the county financial statement must, within 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 to publish ads for the county (largest bona fide circulation etc.). After the publication is made, the officer must file a written or printed copy of the ad with proof of publication in the office of the county clerk.
With all due regard to the financial limitations of the county, the financial statement must be printed in the newspaper in full, except as indicated above. There is simply no way around this express general law. The courts have written that they are bound by plain meaning of language. H.O. Hurley Co. v. Martin, 267 Ky. 182, 101 S.W.2d 657 (1937).
The second question is whether the statement can be carried by a newspaper other than the one having the greatest bona fide circulation (the suggested alternate is distributed free). Unfortunately, the answer is "no". KRS 424.120 explicitly requires the ad to be carried by the newspaper having the greatest bona fide circulation. The cost of the newspaper, unhappily, is a non sequitur.
The county treasurer is the officer required to publish the county's financial statement; and the fiscal court is under a duty to make funds available to pay for the publication. In Shelby County Fiscal Court v. Cosine, 174 Ky. 504, 192 S.W. 626 (1917) 627, the court wrote that the statutory provisions relating to publishing a financial statement of the county are mandatory. "The publication must be made, whether it suits the convenience or the financial condition of the county or its fiscal agents, or not."