Request By:
Mr. Sheryl G. Snyder
Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs
Citizens Plaza
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of May 24 in which you, as city attorney for the City of Douglass Hills, a city of the fourth class, raise the following question:
"The specific question is this. Where a city council has enacted a budget ordinance appropriating a certain sum of money to the general category such as 'drainage, ' and during the course of the fiscal year encompassed by that budget the mayor determines specific drainage projects on which to expend the appropriated funds, must or may the mayor obtain approval of the specific drainage projects from the city council by resolution?"
In response to the above question, the mere authorization of funds in the budget for "drainage" is simply setting aside sufficient funds for the general purpose of drainage and we do not believe that it can be considered as an authorization by the legislative body to the mayor to determine where and what drainage projects are to be carried out. As a matter of fact, this is a purely legislative matter. Referring to McQuillin, Municipal Corporations, Vol. 5, Section 15.04, you will find the rule being that ordinances have been adjudged essential in accomplishing certain legislative purposes, among them being to authorize the construction of public works such as sewers and surface drainage improvements. This being the case, we believe that the legislative body must specify by ordinance the individual drainage projects for which the funds allotted for such purpose are found in the budget act, and as a consequence the mayor would have no authority to designate or select the particular projects for which the allotted funds may be authorized.