Request By:
Cecil Watkins
Rowan County Attorney
Opinion
Opinion By: ANDY BESHEAR,ATTORNEY GENERAL;Taylor Payne,Assistant Attorney General
Opinion of the Attorney General
Cecil Watkins, Rowan County Attorney, has requested an opinion from this office to address whether a local Cooperative Extension Office may levy a tax without approval of the local Fiscal Court. We advise that the board of a local Cooperative Extension Service District may levy a tax for the purpose of the district without approval of the local Fiscal Court.
An extension district for each county may be created by the local fiscal court and coexist with the boundaries of the county. KRS 164.620. Once created, it constitutes a governmental subdivision and a public body corporate. Id. The district's business may be conducted by the extension district board. KRS 164.655. The purpose of an extension district is to "aid in disseminating . . . useful and practical information on subjects relating to agriculture, home economics and rural and community life . . . through extension work to be carried on in cooperation with the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture and Home Economics, and the United States Department of Agriculture . . . ." KRS 164.610.
Our Constitution permits the creation of independent taxing districts to carry out some governmental purpose. KY. CONST. § 157; see also OAG 79-273. Under the Constitution, "[a] separate taxing district, like a county, is a separate taxing entity[.]" Id. This office previously recognized that because an extension district is characterized as a "'governmental subdivision of the Commonwealth', a public body corporate" under KRS 164.620, the legislature intended extension districts to be independent taxing districts that levy taxes "by authority of the state, as 'subdivisions of the state." Id. (quoting
Commonwealth v. Citizens Nat'l Bank, 80 S.W. 158, 161 (Ky. 1904)).
At one time, fiscal courts were authorized to levy a district tax for the purpose of establishing a budget to finance the statutory purposes of the cooperative extension district. See 1978 Ky. Acts Ch. 118, § 19 (repealing KRS 164.665). However, upon repeal of KRS 164.665, this Office advised that "[s]ince the authority for the fiscal court's levying the district tax has been repealed, the district board, by implication, has the authority to levy the tax." OAG 79-273 (internal citations omitted). In OAG 83-264, this Office similarly advised that "[o]nce the Extension Board is created, it has the authority to levy a district extension education tax for district purposes." Id. (citing KRS 164.670 and Section 157 of the Kentucky Constitution).
In conclusion, we advise that the board of a local Cooperative Extension Service District may levy a tax without the approval of the local Fiscal Court.