Request By:
Margaret A. Miller, Esq.
Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs
Lexington Financial Center
Lexington, Kentucky 40507
Opinion
Opinion By: Frederic J. Cowan, Attorney General; Thomas R. Emerson, Assistant Attorney General
Mr. Curtis Meadors has appealed to the Attorney General pursuant to KRS 61.880 your handling of his request to inspect various records and documents in the possession of the Whitley County Board of Education. You and your law firm are legal counsel for that Board.
In a letter to the Board of Education's School Business Administrator/Treasurer, dated January 14, 1988, Mr. Meadors said in part that your letter of December 23, 1987, is not in accord with OAG 87-76. He further stated that he intended to appear at the School Board's Offices on Monday, January 18, 1988, to inspect all salary records for each payroll period requested and all the documentation supporting the paychecks issued to those persons.
Your letter of December 23, 1987, to Mr. Meadors referred to his request to inspect records relating to the salaries of the officers and employees of the Board of Education for a five month period in 1987. You advised that the salaries of the officers and most of the Board's employees are on an annual basis while some of the support personnel are paid on an hourly basis. You provided him with a document listing the name, rank, teaching experience and gross salary for each officer and salaried employee and similar information concerning each hourly employee which you maintained satisfied the requirements set forth in OAG 87-76.
You replied to Mr. Meadors' letter, dated January 14, 1988, in a letter to him dated January 15, 1988. You stated that a public agency has three working days within which to respond to a request to inspect documents and you would give him a specific answer on or before Wednesday, January 20, 1988.
In a letter dated January 19, 1988, you responded to Mr. Meadors' earlier letter. You said you had previously provided the salary and hourly wage figures of all employees and officers for the 1986-1987 school year. That, in your opinion, should have satisfied his request concerning salary records for all officers and employees of the Board for the payroll periods in question.
In addition, you maintained that any other information relative to payroll and financial data can be excluded from public inspection under the privacy exemption set forth in KRS 61.878(1)(a). Also, you said that the request to inspect "payroll files" and "documentation supporting the pay checks" is not specific enough for the School Board to determine exactly which documents come within the scope of the request. Such personal information as amounts withheld for taxes, insurance, retirement and savings and social security numbers and home addresses may be excluded from public inspection.
In his letter of appeal to this office Mr. Meadors again refers to OAG 87-76 and his right to inspect and copy records concerning the salaries of officers and employees of the Board of Education. He maintains that the summary records you sent him containing names, rank, teaching experiences and gross salaries of the officers and employees of the school board are inaccurate as they contain salaries of teachers for the entire year who are now deceased or who did not begin to work until after the start of the school year. He apparently is insisting that he be permitted to inspect the actual payroll records of the school board.
The undersigned Assistant Attorney General talked with you by telephone on February 11, 1988. You advised that while the school board has a personnel file pertaining to each teacher, there is no such thing as a payroll file. There is payroll information in the personnel file of each teacher. In addition, those persons preparing the payroll for the school system's officers and employees work from a list similar to the one furnished to Mr. Meadors.
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
In OAG 87-76, copy enclosed, this office concluded that, ". . . a proper request for information pertaining to only the salaries of officers and employees of a public agency should be honored as that information is available in some format and within the range of material in which the public has a legitimate interest." This office has stated on numerous occasions that the salaries of officers and employees of public agencies are matters in which the public has an interest and are subject to public disclosure.
It was also noted in OAG 87-76, at page two, that information such as employees' social security numbers may be withheld from public inspection. In addition, information on payroll vouchers and check stubs such as amounts withheld for taxes, insurance, retirement, credit union deposits, saving bonds, charitable contributions and annuities may be withheld from public inspection.
Counsel for the public agency maintains that the requesting party has been provided with the material to which he is entitled under the Open Records Act and to the extent that she understands what he is requesting. There are no such documents as "payroll files." The public agency has separated the material which is subject to inspection from that which is not and presented the requesting party with a document containing those items which he has the right to view.
Obviously a public agency cannot furnish for public inspection those documents which it does not have or which do not exist. Furthermore, the requesting party has the responsibility to describe with some degree of clarity and accuracy those records and documents he desires to inspect. In OAG 84-342, copy enclosed, at page two, we said that if a person cannot describe the records he seeks to inspect with specificity there is no requirement that records be made available to him. Thus, the school board cannot furnish "payroll files" which do not exist and it has made a good faith attempt to comply with a request that is not specific in content.
To the extent that the request to inspect documents relates to an inspection of financial data the public agency has followed the provisions of KRS 61.878(4) which provide:
If any public record contains material which is not excepted under this section, the public agency shall separate the excepted and make the non-excepted material available for examination.
Where the above quoted statute is applicable the public agency may permit the requesting party to view the actual document with the excepted material covered over or blotted out or the public agency may prepare a list containing that information which is subject to public inspection. See OAG 86-11, copy enclosed, at page four, and OAG 82-506, copy enclosed, at page four.
The requesting party has been furnished with a list setting forth the financial data subject to public inspection - the annual salaries and the hourly wage figures for all officers and employees of the school district for the 1986-1987 school year. Other payroll and financial data pertaining to the officers and employees of the school district may be withheld pursuant to KRS 61.878(1)(a). That statute provides that among the records and documents which may be excluded from public inspection in the absence of a court order authorizing inspection are "public records containing information of a personal nature where the public disclosure thereof would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. " Materials setting forth information about amounts withheld from pay checks of public employees such as taxes, insurance, retirement and savings are within the privacy exception to public inspection. See OAG 82-233, copy enclosed.
It is, therefore, the opinion of the Attorney General that the public agency's response to a request for materials pertaining to payroll and financial data concerning the officers and employees of a school district was sufficient and proper as the public agency furnished the requesting party with a list containing the annual salaries and hourly wage figures of those officers and employees.
As required by statute a copy of this opinion is being sent to the requesting party, Mr. Curtis Meadors, who has the right to challenge it in the appropriate circuit court pursuant to KRS 61.880(5) and KRS 61.882.