Could Louisville fund management-district economic improvements by assessing benefited property owners?

Plain-English summary

Louisville’s law department asked whether economic improvements could be paid for through special assessments on benefited property in a management district. The Kentucky Attorney General said in 1992 that the statutes plainly contemplated that financing method. It also agreed that a special assessment was valid only if it conferred some benefit on the assessed property. The AG declined to approve Louisville’s particular assessment because the city had supplied no details about the specific economic benefits the district would create.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1992. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Historical summary

City officials considering a management district

The AG read KRS 91.750 to 91.762 as authorizing special assessments for economic improvements in a designated management district. It accepted the legislative finding that such improvements could benefit district property. That answered the general authority question, while leaving the benefit of any specific Louisville project unresolved.

Property owners facing an assessment

The cited Kentucky decision required some benefit to the property assessed. The opinion did not say whether the assessment in the city’s letter met that rule, because the proposed improvements and their benefits had not been described to the AG.

Common questions

Did Kentucky law allow a management district to charge owners for economic improvements?

The AG said yes under the statutes cited in the 1992 opinion, which contemplated assessments on benefited property for improvement costs.

Did every property in a district automatically qualify for an assessment?

The opinion identified benefit to the assessed property as the constitutional condition. It did not examine the benefit to any identified property in Louisville’s proposal.

Did the AG approve Louisville’s specific assessment?

No. The office lacked details about the benefits the proposed district improvements would produce and gave no opinion on that particular use of the city’s authority.

Background and statutory framework

The request cited KRS 91.750 and KRS 91.758. The opinion described KRS 91.750 to 91.762 as a scheme for financing economic improvements with management-district assessments. It cited Louisville Memorial Gardens v. Carpenter for the rule that an assessment must confer some benefit on the property charged. The particular Louisville assessment remained unanswered on the record presented.

Citations and references

• KRS 91.750 to 91.762: the statutory management-district assessment scheme identified by the AG.
• KRS 91.758: the assessment provision named in the request.
• Louisville Memorial Gardens v. Carpenter, Ky., 261 S.W.2d 627 (1953): the cited property-benefit rule.

Source

• Landing page: https://kdla.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_98a1a375-8271-43e7-83d3-54940ef96927/
• Original PDF: https://kdla.access.preservica.com/download/file/IO_98a1a375-8271-43e7-83d3-54940ef96927

Original opinion text

OAG 92-2
January 15, 1992
J. David Morris
Assistant Director of Law
Department of Law
City of Louisville
Room 200 City Hall
Louisville, Kentucky 40202-2771
Dear Mr. Morris:
You have presented the following question to the Attorney General: May economic improvements as defined in KRS 91.750 be financed through special assessments levied upon benefited property owners as provided in KRS 91.758? We are uncertain of the precise nature of your question. If you are asking whether the statutes permit the financing of economic improvements through special assessments, the answer is plainly yes since that is exactly what KRS 91.750 to 91.762 is intended to do (see for example KRS 91.750(4): “‘Management district’ means an area designated by a legislative body pursuant to KRS 91.752 to 91.762, that is to be benefited by economic improvements and subjected to the payment of special assessments for the costs of the economic improvements”). If you are asking whether the statutes authorizing these assessments are constitutional, then we concur with your position that the applicable law is set forth in Louisville Memorial Gardens v. Carpenter, Ky., 261 S.W.2d 627 (1953), in which the court held that special assessments are valid as long as they are used to confer some benefit to the property assessed. We see no reason to dispute the legislative finding that economic improvements can benefit properties in designated management districts. If you are asking whether the specific assessment mentioned in your letter represents a permissible use of the city’s authority, we can of course provide no opinion since we have not been given any of the

J. David Morris
Page 2
OAG 92-2
details regarding the specific economic benefits to be created for the management district. Sincerely, Chris Gorman Attorney General

Ross T. Carter
Assistant Attorney General
RTC/rtc