Request By:
Mr. George M. McClure, III
Boyle County Attorney
Courthouse
Danville, Kentucky 40422
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By Alex W. Rose, Assistant Attorney General
This is in response to your recent letter concerning the effective collection of delinquent property taxes. The administrative procedure set forth in KRS 131.500 through KRS 131.540 provides the Department of Revenue with an additional tool to be utilized in the collection of delinquent taxes. This administrative collection procedure, however, is limited to the department's use.
KRS 131.500 provides in part:
"In addition to any other remedy provided by the laws of the Commonwealth, if any person has been assessed for a tax the collection of which is administered by the department of revenue as provided by the laws of the Commonwealth. . ." (Emphasis Added.)
County and local property taxes are not administered by the Department of Revenue except for responsibility for the certification of local assessments.
The sheriff is the property tax collector pursuant to the provisions of KRS 134.140 and the General Assembly has given the sheriff powers similar to those in KRS 131.500, et seq. KRS 134.430 allows the sheriff to distrain and sell personal property of any taxpayer failing to pay property taxes.
If the sheriff is unable or fails to collect delinquent property taxes pursuant to the provisions of KRS Chapter 134, the County Attorney then becomes the delinquent tax collector. The procedure by which the County Attorney collects delinquent taxes is set forth in KRS 134.500 and other provisions in that chapter. It is only at this stage that the Department of Revenue is involved in the collection of local taxes. Subsection (4) provides that the department supervise collection suits.
KRS 134.500(2) provides that the "county attorney shall prosecute the remedy or remedies provided in this chapter that are most likely to effect collection of the amount due on the certificate of delinquency." Thus, the remedies provides in Chapter 134 appear to be the exclusive method for collecting delinquent property taxes.
There is the further requirement in KRS 134.150 that agents of the Department of Revenue, including accountants, attorneys and field agents, must have specific written authority from the Commissioner of Revenue before collecting any money due the state, county, school or other taxing district. County attorneys have specific authority from the department only to collect delinquent property taxes by suit.
Therefore, it is our opinion that the new administrative collection procedure set forth in KRS 131.500 et seq. is not available to the County Attorney for the collection of delinquent property taxes.