Request By:
Mr. Jim Stakelin
District Sales Representative
Borg-Warner Acceptance Corporation
P.O. Box 8002
Lexington, Kentucky 40533
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
Your specific question concerns the proper county clerk's filing fee for continuation statements and for amendments.
KRS 355.9-403(5), relating to financing statements, provides that "The uniform fee for filing and indexing an original or a continuation statement shall be as provided for in KRS 64.012. This fee includes the fee for filing and indexing a termination statement and for sending or delivering the terminated instrument and financing statement. " KRS 64.012 provides in part that the fee for filing and indexing an original or continuation financing statement, and noting the security interest on the required receipt for one motor vehicle, is $6.00.
Since no specific fee is set forth filing an amendment to a financing statement, it falls into a general category under KRS 64.012, which provides that the fee for miscellaneous recordings for which no specific fee is set, provided the entire record does not exceed three pages, is $5.00, and $1.50 where the document exceeds three pages for each additional page. See OAG 81-33.
Thus the statutory law controlling the clerk's fees for a continuation statement and an amendment to a financing statement consists of KRS 355.9-403(5) and 64.012.
A continuation statement is one kind of document. An amendment to a financing statement is another. We have stated the proper fee for each document. The statutes cited obviously involve a law which must be uniformly applied to all county clerks in Kentucky.
The tax of one dollar ($1.00), provided in KRS 142.010(1)(b), applies only to an original financing statement, not to a continuation statement nor to an amendment of a financing statement.
It is possible that the clerks in the counties you mentioned may be confused about the fee of $8.00. In OAG 78-471 it is concluded that $6.00 is the fee for filing and indexing the original financing statement; that $1.00 is the fee for filing and noting a statement of release of collateral under the financing statement; and that $1.00 is the state tax on financing statements, pursuant to KRS 142.010(1)(b). Thus the clerk, for the three matters just covered, should charge a total fee of $8.00 upon the filing of the financing statement. However, those fees must not be confused with the fees for filing a continuation statement or an amended financing statement.