Is a Kentucky school board's vote to raise the occupational license tax valid if the board didn't give the required public notice first?

Plain-English summary

On May 27, 2025, the day after Memorial Day, the Fayette County School Board voted 3-2 to raise the occupational license tax from 0.5% to 0.75%, the maximum allowed for counties with 300,000 or more residents. Board members were told about the proposal only the Friday before the holiday weekend, and at least one member said she did not learn of it until that Saturday. State Senator Amanda Mays Bledsoe asked the Attorney General whether the vote was lawful.

The Attorney General concluded it was not. Kentucky law (KRS 160.603) bars a school district from levying these taxes until it first publishes notice in a local newspaper and holds the vote no sooner than one week after that notice. There was no dispute that the board skipped the published notice. The district argued the notice rule did not apply because the tax also needs a fiscal court vote, but the opinion rejected that: the statute lists this exact tax as one the notice rule covers, and once the board certifies a rate, the fiscal court's role is "ministerial" (it "shall impose" the certified rate). Because the decision-making power sits with the board, the board is the body that must give notice. The opinion concluded the May 27 vote and resolution are "void and of no effect," and that the fiscal court should not act on the increase unless the board re-certifies it after proper notice.

What this means for you

School board members

The opinion frames KRS 160.603's notice requirement as a strict-compliance rule: a tax vote taken without the published one-week notice is void, not merely voidable. Under the opinion, to lawfully raise the occupational license tax the board would need to publish notice in a newspaper of general circulation and then hold the vote between one and two weeks later.

Fiscal court and county officials

The opinion describes the fiscal court's role as ministerial once the board certifies a rate. It states that the proposed increase is "not properly before" the fiscal court unless and until the board re-certifies it after proper notice, and that a fiscal court vote without a valid certification "would also be void."

Taxpayers in Fayette County

Under the opinion, the May 27 vote that would have raised the tax to 0.75% has no legal effect. Any increase would require the board to start over with the statutory notice process.

Common questions

Q: What notice does the law require before a school board raises this tax?
A: KRS 160.603 requires the district to publish, at least once, in a newspaper of general circulation, the fact that the levy is being proposed, and to hold the meeting no earlier than one week and no later than two weeks after that advertisement.

Q: The district said the tax is a "county-level tax" that the fiscal court has to approve. Didn't that excuse the notice?
A: No. The opinion explains that the statute specifically lists this occupational license tax as one to which the notice requirement applies, and that the taxing power is shared, with the school board holding the decision-making role and the fiscal court's role being ministerial. So the board still had to give notice.

Q: What happens to the May 27 vote now?
A: The opinion concludes the vote and resolution are void and of no effect, citing Pendleton County Board of Education v. Dickison, which held that KRS 160.603 requires strict compliance and that a vote without proper notice is void.

Q: Can the tax still be raised?
A: Under the opinion, yes, but only if the board re-certifies the rate at a meeting held after the publication and timing requirements of KRS 160.603 are met.

Background and statutory framework

Kentucky lets school districts in large counties levy an occupational license tax, with the rate capped by KRS 160.607 and the power shared between the school board and the fiscal court (KRS 160.482 to 160.488). KRS 160.603 conditions any such levy on advance published notice and a one-to-two-week waiting period before the vote. The opinion reads KRS 160.484(4), which says the fiscal court "shall impose" the rate the board certifies, as confirming that the substantive decision (and therefore the notice duty) belongs to the board. It relies on Pendleton County Board of Education v. Dickison, 1993 WL 13969247 (Ky. App. 1993), for the proposition that the notice statute demands strict compliance and that a non-compliant vote is void.

Citations and references

Statutes:
- KRS 160.603 (notice requirement before levying school taxes)
- KRS 160.607 (occupational license tax rate cap)
- KRS 160.482 to 160.488 (shared school board / fiscal court taxing power)
- KRS 160.484(4) (fiscal court shall impose the certified rate)

Cases:
- Pendleton Cnty. Bd. Educ. v. Dickison, 1993 WL 13969247 (Ky. App. 1993), strict compliance with the notice statute; a vote without notice is void

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.ky.gov/Opinions/Pages/default.aspx
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.ky.gov/Resources/Opinions/Opinions/OAG%2025-07.pdf

Original opinion text

The full opinion as issued by the Office of the Kentucky Attorney General:

June 4, 2025
OAG 25-07
Subject: Whether the Fayette County School Board’s vote to increase the
occupational license tax without sufficient notice was lawful.
Requested by: Amanda Mays Bledsoe,
State Senator
Written by: Christopher Thacker,
General Counsel
Syllabus: The School Board’s failure to provide the statutorily-required
notice makes the vote unlawful and void.
Opinion of the Attorney General
On the day after Memorial Day, May 27, 2025, the Fayette County School
Board voted 3-2 to certify a .25% increase of the occupational license tax. This
increased the tax from 0.5% to the maximum allowed for cities having 300,000 or
more inhabitants, 0.75%. KRS 160.607. For authority to impose this increase, the
School Board cited KRS 68.185, 160.482 to 160.488, and 160.607(2).1 Board members
were first told that the tax increase would be considered at the May 27 meeting on
the Friday before the Memorial Day weekend, and at least one board member stated
that she did not learn of the proposal until Saturday, May 24.2 State Senator Amanda
Mays Bledsoe has asked this Office to opine on whether the vote was lawful.
By law, school districts cannot levy any of the taxes authorized by KRS 160.601
to 160.633 until after complying with the statutory notice requirements. KRS
160.603. Specifically:
1 Resolution No. 01-2025 (“This Board hereby certifies to the Fiscal Court its request for: (a) the
levy of an OLTS effective for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, under authority of
KRS 68.185, KRS 160 to 160.488 and KRS 160.607(2).”).
2 May 27, 2025, meeting video, available at
https://www.youtube.com/live/vRLSzTCCruk?si=fCj5JxGRYSja5txf. The discussion of the tax
increase begins at 1:05:20.
[N]otice shall be given by causing to be published, at least one (1) time
in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county . . . the
fact that such levy is being proposed. The advertisement shall state that
the district board of education will meet at a place and on a day fixed in
the advertisement, not earlier than one (1) week and not later than two
(2) weeks from the date of the advertisement.” Id.
There appears be no dispute that the Board failed to publish an advertisement,
or otherwise provide the minimum 1-week public notice that is required under KRS
160.603.
The Fayette County School District, however, has issued a statement to the
media asserting that the notice requirements of KRS 160.603 do not apply to its May
27 vote because the occupational license tax is a “county-level tax” that the Fayette
County Fiscal Court must also vote to impose.3
This position is not supported by the relevant statutory language. The statute
allowing the additional .25% tax for cities with 300,000 or more inhabitants is
explicitly identified in KRS 160.603 as a statute to which the notice requirements
apply. Moreover, KRS 160.482 expressly recognizes that levying an occupational
license tax is a power shared jointly by the School Board and the Fiscal Court. KRS
160.482 (“To help provide for an efficient system of common schools in any county
having three hundred thousand (300,000) or more inhabitants, the General Assembly
delegates to the fiscal courts and boards of education of any such county the powers
and duties set forth in KRS 160.482 to 160.488.” (emphasis added)).
The Fiscal Court could not vote to “impose” the tax unless the Board first
“certified” the new rate. Indeed, KRS 160.484(4) says that once the Board certifies a
new rate, the Fiscal Court “shall impose the license fee at the higher rate.” (emphasis
added). Accordingly, when the School Board properly certifies a new rate, the Fiscal
Court’s role is ministerial; the discretion and decision-making power lies with the
School Board—which is why it is the body that must give public notice prior to voting
on whether to impose the additional tax. Therefore, it is the opinion of this Office that
the Fayette County School Board’s May 27 vote to increase the occupational license
tax was unlawful.
As a result, the vote and resolution passed at the May 27 meeting is void and
of no effect. See Pendleton Cnty. Bd. Educ. v. Dickison, 1993 WL 13969247, at *3 (Ky.
App., 1993) (holding that “KRS 160.603 requires strict compliance,” and affirming
circuit court judgment declaring vote without proper notice void). The proposed
3 See Samantha Valentino, Questions raised over legality of FCPS tax vote, WKYT,
https://www.wkyt.com/2025/05/28/questions-raised-over-legality-fcps-tax-vote/.
increase of the occupational license tax is, therefore, not properly before the Fayette
County Fiscal Court at this time, and the Fiscal Court should not consider any change
to the rate unless the change is certified by the School Board at a meeting held after
the notice required by KRS 160.603. Any vote on an increase of the occupational
license tax by the Fiscal Court without proper certification from the School Board
would also be void.
Russell Coleman
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Christopher L. Thacker
General Counsel
cc: Angela C. Evans, Fayette County Attorney
Shelley Chatfield, Chief Legal Officer, Fayette County School District