USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume I > Part 70
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Section 151. The General Assembly shall pro-
vide suitable means for depriving of office any per- son who, to procure his nomination or election, has, in his canvass or election, been guilty of any un- lawful use of money, or other thing of value, or has been guilty of fraud, intimidation, bribery, or any other corrupt practice, and he shall be held re- sponsible for acts done by others with his authority, or ratified by him.
Section 152. Except as otherwise provided in this Constitution, vacancies in all elective offices shall be filled by election or appointment, as follows : If the unexpired term will end at the next succeeding annual election at which either city, town, county, district, or State officers are to be elected, the of- fice shall be filled by appointment for the remainder of the term. If the unexpired term will not end at the next succeeding annual election at which either city, town, county, district, or State officers are to be elected, and if three months intervene before said succeeding annual election at which either city, town, county, district, or State officers are to be elected, the office shall be filled by appointment until said election, and then said vacancy shall be filled by election for the remainder of the term. If three months do not intervene between the happening of said vacancy and the next succeeding election at which city, town, county, district or State officers are to be elected, the office shall be filled by appoint- ment until the second succeeding annual election at which city, town, county, district or State officers are to be elected; and then, if any part of the term remains unexpired, the office shall be filled by elec- tion until the regular time for the election of officers to fill said offices. Vacancies in all offices for the State at large, or for districts larger than a county, shall be filled by appointment of the Governor; all other appointments shall be made as may be pre- scribed by law. No person shall ever be appointed a member of the General Assembly, but vacancies therein may be filled at a special election, in such manner as may be provided by law.
Section 153. Except as otherwise herein ex- pressly provided, the General Assembly shall have power to provide by general law for the manner of voting, for ascertaining the result of elections and making due returns thereof, for issuing certificates or commissions to all persons entitled thereto, and for the trial of contested elections.
Section 154. The General Assembly shall pre- scribe such laws as may be necessary for the restric- tion or prohibition of the sale or gift of spirituous, vinous or malt liquors on election days.
Section 155. The provisions of sections one hun- dred and forty-five to one hundred and fifty-four,
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inclusive, shall not apply to the election of school trustees and other common school district elections. Said elections shall be regulated hy the General As- sembly, except as otherwise provided in this Cons- titution.
MUNICIPALITIES.
Section 156. The cities and towns of this Com- monwealth, for the purposes of their organization and government, shall be divided into six classes. The organization and powers of each class shall be defined and provided for hy general laws, so that all municipal corporations of the same class shall pos- sess the same powers and be subject to the same restrictions. To the first class shall belong cities with a population of one hundred thousand or more ; to the second class, cities with a population of twenty thousand or more, and less than one hundred thousand; to the third class, cities with a population of eight thousand or more, and less than twenty thousand; to the fourth class, cities and towns with a population of three thousand or more, and less than eight thousand; to the fifth class, cities and towns with a population of one thousand or more, and less than three thousand; to the sixth class, towns with a population of less than one thousand. The General Assembly shall assign the cities and towns of the Commonwealth to the classes to which they respectively belong, and change assignments made as the population of said cities and towns may increase or decrease, and in the absence of other satisfactory information as to their population, shall be governed by the last preceding Federal census in so doing ; but no city or town shall be transferred from one class to another, except in pursuance of a law previously enacted and providing therefor. The General Assembly, by a general law, shall provide how towns may be organized, and enact laws for the government of such towns until the same are as- signed to one or the other of the classes above named; but such assignment shall be made at the first session of the General Assembly after the organization of said town or city.
Section 157. The tax rate of cities, towns, coun- ties, taxing districts and other municipalities, for other than school purposes, shall not. at any time exceed the following rates upon the value of the taxable property therein, viz: For all towns or cities having a population of fifteen thousand or more. one dollar and fifty cents on the hundred dollars : for all towns or cities having less than fifteen thou- sand and not less than ten thousand, one dollar on the hundred dollars; for all towns or cities having less than ten thousand, seventy-five cents on the hundred dollars: and for counties and taxing dis-
tricts, fifty cents on the hundred dollars; unless it should be necessary to enable such city, town, county, or taxing district to pay the interest on, and provide a sinking fund for the extinction of, indebtedness contracted before the adoption of this Constitution. No county, city, town, taxing district, or other mu- nicipality, shall be authorized or permitted to be- come indebted, in any manner or for any purpose, to an amount exceeding, in any year, the income and revenue provided for such year, without the assent of two-thirds of the voters thereof, voting at an election to be held for that purpose : and any indebtedness contracted in violation of this section shall be void. Nor shall such contract be enforce- able by the person with whom made ; nor shall such municipality ever be authorized to assume the same.
Section 158. The respective cities, towns, coun- ties, taxing districts, and municipalities shall not be authorized or permitted to incur indebtedness to an amount, including existing indebtedness, in the aggregate exceeding the following named maximum percentages on the value of the taxable property therein, to be estimated by the assessment next be- fore the last assessment previous to the incurring of the indebtedness, viz: Cities of the first and sec- ond classes, and of the third class having a popula- tion exceeding fifteen thousand, ten per centum; cities of the third class having a population of less than fifteen thousand, and cities and towns of the fourth class, five per centum; cities and towns of the fifth and sixth classes, three per centum; and counties, taxing districts and other municipalities, two per centum: Provided, Any city, town, county, taxing district or other municipality may contract an indebtedness in excess of such limitations when the same has been authorized under laws in force prior to the adoption of this Constitution, or when necessary for the completion of and payment for a public improvement undertaken and not completed and paid for at the time of the adoption of this Constitution : And provided further, If, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, the aggregate indebtedness, bonded or floating, of any city, town, county, taxing district or other municipality, includ- ing that which it has been or may be authorized to contract as herein provided, shall exceed the limit herein prescribed, then no such city or town shall be authorized or permitted to increase its indebted- ness in an amount exceeding two per centum, and no such county, taxing district or other municipality. in an amount exceeding one per centum, in the ag- gregate upon the value of the taxahle property therein, to be ascertained as herein provided, until the aggregate of its indebtedness shall have been re-
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duced below the limit herein fixed, and thereafter it shall not exceed the limit, unless in case of emer- gency, the public health or safety should so require. Nothing herein shall prevent the issue of renewal bonds, or bonds to fund the floating indebtedness of any city, town, county, taxing district or other municipality.
Section 159. Whenever any county, city, town, taxing district or other municipality is authorized to contract an indebtedness, it shall be required, at the same time, to provide for the collection of an annual tax sufficient to pay the interest on said in- debtedness, and to create a sinking fund for the payment of the principal thereof, within not more than forty years from the time of contracting the same.
Section 160. The Mayor or Chief Executive. Police Judges, members of legislative boards or councils of towns and cities shall be elected by the qualified voters thereof: Provided, The Mayor or Chief Executive and Police Judges of the towns of the fourth, fifth and sixth classes may be appointed or elected as provided by law. The terms of office of Mayors or Chief Executives and Police Judges shall be four years, and until their successors shall be qualified; and of members of legislative boards, two years. When any city of the first or second class is divided into wards or districts, members of legislative boards shall be elected at large by the qualified voters of said city, but so selected that an equal proportion thereof shall reside in each of the said wards or districts; but when in any city of the first, second or third class, there are two legislative boards, the less numerous shall be selected from and elected by the voters at large of said city; but other officers of towns or cities shall be elected by the qualified voters therein, or appointed by the local authorities thereof, as the General Assembly may, by a general law, provide; but when elected by the voters of a town or city, their terms of office shall be four years, and until their successors shall be qualified. No Mayor or Chief Executive or fiscal officer of any city of the first or second class, after the expiration of the term of office to which he has been elected under this Constitution, shall be eligible for the succeeding term. "Fiscal officer" shall not include an Auditor or Assessor, or any other officer whose chief duty is not the collection or holding of public moneys. The General Assembly shall prescribe the qualifications of all officers of towns and cities, the manner in and causes for which they may be removed from office, and how vacancies in such offices may be filled.
Section 161. The compensation of any city, Vol. 1-31.
county, town or municipal officer shall not be changed after his election or appointment, or during his term of office; nor shall the term of any such officer be extended beyond the period for which he may have been elected or appointed.
Section 162. No county, city, town or other municipality shall ever be authorized or permitted to pay any claim created against it, under any agree- ment or contract made without express authority of law, and all such unauthorized agreements or contracts shall be null and void.
Section 163. No street railway, gas, water, steam heating, telephone, or electric light company, within a city or town, shall be permitted or authorized to construct its tracks, lay its pipes or mains, or erect its poles, posts or other apparatus along, over, under or across the streets, alleys or public grounds of a city or town, without the consent of the proper leg- islative bodies or boards of such city or town being first obtained; but when charters have been hereto- fore granted conferring such rights, and work has in good faith been begun thereunder, the provisions of this section shall not apply.
Section 164. No county, city, town, taxing dis- trict or other municipality shall be authorized or permitted to grant any franchise or privilege, or make any contract in reference thereto, for a term exceeding twenty years. Before granting such fran- chise or privilege for a term of years, such munici- pality shall first, after due advertisement, receive bids therefor publicly, and award the same to the highest and best bidder; but it shall have the right to reject any or all bids. This section shall not apply to a trunk railway.
Section 165. No person shall, at the same time, be a State officer or a deputy officer, or member of the General Assembly, and an officer of any county, city, town, or other municipality, or an employe thereof; and no person shall, at the same time, fill two municipal offices, either in the same or different municipaliities, except as may be otherwise provided in this Constitution; but a Notary Public, or an officer of the Militia, shall not be ineligible to hold any other office mentioned in this section.
Section 166. All acts of incorporation of cities and towns heretofore granted, and all amendments thereto, except as provided in section one hundred and sixty-seven, shall continue in force under this Constitution, and all City and Police Courts estab- lished in any city or town shall remain, with their present powers and jurisdictions, until such time as the General Assembly shall provide by general laws for the government of towns and cities, and the officers and courts thereof; but not longer than four
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years from and after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one, within which time the General Assembly shall provide by general laws for the government of towns and cities, and the officers and courts thereof, as provided in this Constitution.
Section 167. All city and town officers in this State shall be elected or appointed as provided in the charter of each respective town and city, until the general election in November, 1893, and until their successors shall be elected and qualified, at which time the terms of all such officers shall expire; and at that election, and thereafter as their terms of office may expire, all officers required to be elected in cities and towns by this Constitution or by general laws enacted in conformity to its provisions, shall be elected at the general elections in November, but only in the odd years, except members of munici- pal legislative boards, who may be elected either in the even or odd years, or part in the even and part in the odd years: Provided, That the terms of office of Police Judges, who were elected for four years at the August election, eighteen hundred and ninety, shall expire August thirty-first, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, and the terms of Police Judges elected in November, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, shall begin September first, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, and continue until the November elec- tion, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, and until their successors are elected and qualified.
Section 168. No municipal ordinance shall fix a penalty for a violation thereof at less than that imposed by statute for the same offense. A con- viction or acquittal under either shall constitute a bar to another prosecution for the same offense.
REVENUE AND TAXATION.
Section 169. The fiscal year shall commence on the first day of July in each year, unless otherwise provided by law.
Section 170. There shall be exempt from taxa- tion public property used for public purposes ; places actually used for religious worship, with the grounds attached thereto and used and appurtenant to the house of worship, not exceeding one-half acre in cities or towns, and not exceeding two acres in the country ; places of burial not held for private or corporate profits, institutions of purely public charity, and institutions of education not used or employed for gain by any person or corporation, and the income of which is devoted solely to the cause of education ; public libraries, their endowments, and the income of such property as is used exclusively for their maintenance; all parsonages or residences
owned by any religious society, and occupied as a home, and for no other purpose, by the minister of any religion, with not exceeding one-half acre of ground in towns and cities and two acres of ground in the country appurtenant thereto; household goods and other personal property of a person with a fam- ily, not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars in value; crops grown in the year in which the as- sessment is made, and in the hands of the producer ; and all laws exempting or commuting property from taxation other than the property above mentioned shall be void. The General Assembly may authorize any incorporated city or town to exempt manufactur- ing establishments from municipal taxation, for a period not exceeding five years, as an inducement to their location.
Section 171. The General Assembly shall pro- vide by law an annual tax, which, with other re- sources, shall be sufficient to defray the estimated expenses of the Commonwealth for each fiscal year. Taxes shall be levied and collected for public pur- poses only. They shall be uniform upon all property subject to taxation within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax; and all taxes shall be levied and collected by general laws.
Section 172. All property, not exempted from taxation by this Constitution, shall be assessed for taxation at its fair cash value, estimated at the price it would bring at a fair voluntary sale; and any officer or other person authorized to assess values for taxation, who shall commit any willful error in the performance of his duty, shall be deemed guilty of misfeasance, and upon conviction thereof shall forfeit his office, and be otherwise punished as may be provided by law.
Section 173. The receiving, directly or indirectly, by any officer of the Commonwealth, or of any county, city or town, or member or officer of the General Assembly, of any interest, profit or per- quisites arising from the use or loan of public funds in his hands, or moneys to be raised through his agency for State, city, town, district or county pur- poses shall be deemed a felony. Said offense shall be punished as may be prescribed by law, a part of which punishment shall be disqualification to hold office.
Section 174. All property, whether owned by natural persons or corporations, shall be taxed in proportion to its value, unless exempted by this Constitution ; and all corporate property shall pay the same rate of taxation paid by individual property. Nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to prevent the General Assembly from providing for taxation based on income, licenses or franchises.
Section 175. The power to tax property shall
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not be surrendered or suspended by any contract or grant to which the Commonwealth shall be a party.
Section 176. The Commonwealth shall not as- sume the debt of any county. municipal corporation or political subdivision of the State, unless such debt shall have been contracted to defend itself in time of war, to repel invasion or to suppress insurrection.
Section 177. The credit of the Commonwealth shall not be given, pledged or loaned to any individ- ual, company, corporation or association, municipality, or political subdivision of the State; nor shall the Commonwealth become an owner or stockholder in, nor make donation to, any company, association or corporation; nor shall the Commonwealth construct a railroad or other highway.
Section 178. All laws authorizing the borrowing of money by and on behalf of the Commonwealth. county or other political subdivision of the State, shall specify the purpose for which the money is to be used, and the money so borrowed shall be used for no other purpose.
Section 179. The General Assembly shall not authorize any county or subdivision thereof, city, town, or incorporated district, to become a stock- holder in any company, association or corporation, or to obtain or appropriate money for, or to loan its credit to, any corporation, association or individ- ual, except for the purpose of constructing or main- taining bridges, turnpike roads, or gravel roads : Provided. If any municipal corporation shall offer to the Commonwealth any property or money for locating or building a Capitol, and the Common- wealth accepts such offer, the corporation may com- ply with the offer.
Section 180. The General Assembly may au- thorize the counties, cities or towns to levy a poll- tax not exceeding one dollar and fifty cents per head. Every act enacted by the General Assembly, and every ordinance and resolution passed by any county, city, town, or municipal board or local legislative body, levying a tax, shall specify distinctly the pur- pose for which said tax is levied, and no tax levied and collected for one purpose shall ever be devoted to another purpose.
Section 181. The General Assembly shall not impose taxes for the purposes of any county, city, town or other municipal corporation. but may, by general laws, confer on the proper authorities there- of, respectively, the power to assess and collect such taxes. The General Assembly may, by general laws only, provide for the payment of license fees on franchises, stock used for breeding purposes, the various trades, occupations and professions, or a
special or excise tax; and may, by general laws, delegate the power to counties, towns, cities, and other municipal corporations, to impose and collect license fees on stock used for breeding purposes, on franchises. trades, occupations and professions.
Section 182. Nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to prevent the General Assembly from providing by law how railroads and railroad prop- erty shall be assessed and how taxes thereon shall be collected. And until otherwise provided, the present law on said subject shall remain in force.
EDUCATION.
Section 185. The General Assembly shall make propriate legislation, provide for an efficient system of common schools throughout the State.
Section 184. The bond of the Commonwealth issued in favor of the Board of Education for the sum of one million three hundred and twenty-seven thousand dollars shall constitute one bond of the Commonwealth in favor of the Board of Education, and this bond and the seventy-three thousand five hundred dollars of the stock in the Bank of Ken- tucky, held by the Board of Education, and its pro- ceeds, shall be held inviolate for the purpose of sus- taining the system of common schools. The interest and dividends of said fund, together with any sum which may be produced by taxation or otherwise for purposes of common school education, shall be appropriated to the common schools, and to no other purpose. No sum shall be raised or collected for education other than in common schools until the question of taxation is submitted to the legal voters, and the majority of the votes cast at said election shall be in favor of such taxation: Provided, The tax now imposed for educational purposes. and for the endowment and maintenance of the Agricul- tural and Mechanical College, shall remain until changed by law.
Section 185. The General Assembly shall make provision, by law, for the payment of the interest of said school fund, and may provide for the sale of the stock in the Bank of Kentucky; and in case of a sale of all or any part of said stock, the proceeds of sale shall be invested by the Sinking Fund Com- missioners in other good interest-bearing stocks or bonds, which shall be subject to sale and reinvest- ment, from time to time, in like manner, and with the same restrictions, as provided with reference to the sale of the said stock in the Bank of Kentucky.
Section 186. Each county in the Commonwealth shall be entitled to its proportion of the school fund on its census of pupil children for each school year; and if the pro rata share of any school dis-
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trict be not called for after the second school year, it shall be covered into the treasury and be placed to the credit of the school fund for general ap- portionment the following school year. The surplus now due the several counties shall remain a perpetual obligation against the Commonwealth for the bene- fit of said respective counties, for which the Com- monwealth shall execute its bond, bearing interest at the rate of six per centum per annum, payable annually to the counties respectively entitled to the same, and in the proportion to which they are en- titled, to be used exclusively in aid of common schools.
Section 187. In distributing the school fund no distinction shall be made on account of race or color, and separate schools for white and colored children shall be maintained.
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