Judges: Phill Kline, Attorney General of Kansas
Filed Date: 9/29/2003
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
Steven W. Hirsch Decatur County Attorney P.O. Box 296 Oberlin, Kansas 67749
Dear Mr. Hirsch:
You have requested that our office provide you with an opinion regarding whether the publication of the Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal (CAMA) number from the County Appraiser's Office without including a description or an address of real property satisfies the publication requirement of K.S.A.
As to your first question, K.S.A.
"It is a fundamental rule of statutory construction, to which all other rules are subordinate, that the intent of the legislature governs if that intent can be ascertained. The legislature is presumed to have expressed its intent through the language of the statutory scheme it enacted. When a statute is plain and unambiguous, the court must give effect to the intention of the legislature as expressed, rather than determine what the law should or should not be. Stated another way, when a statute is plain and unambiguous, the appellate courts will not speculate as to the legislative intent behind it and will not read such a statute so as to add something not readily found in it."
Even if we assume that the "description" required by statute may include something other than the legal description, the CAMA number alone does not suffice. While a CAMA number may lead one to a description or parcel, it is not, in and of itself, a description.
As to your second question, we believe that once the delinquency is paid in full, a formerly delinquent taxpayer's name may be, but is not required to be, removed from subsequent publication. K.S.A.
"The notice and list shall be submitted to the newspaper on or before August 1 of each year and shall be published once each week for three consecutive weeks immediately prior to the week when the day of sale will occur."2
Once a delinquent taxpayer is no longer delinquent, no sale of that taxpayer's property will occur. Because there will be no sale of that taxpayer's property, there is no publication requirement from that point forward of that taxpayer's name.
In conclusion, the publication requirement of K.S.A.
Sincerely,
PHILL KLINE Attorney General of Kansas
Ralph J. De Zago Assistant Attorney General
PK:JLM:RJD:jm