Request By:
Jonathan Baker
Opinion
Opinion By: ANDY BESHEAR,ATTORNEY GENERAL;Taylor Payne,Assistant Attorney General
Opinion of the Attorney General
Jonathan Baker, counsel to the Lincoln County Board of Education and the Lincoln County Sanitation District, has requested an opinion of this office as to whether the offices of Lincoln County Board of Education member and Lincoln County Sanitation District board member are incompatible. We advise that the offices are incompatible pursuant to KRS 61.080(6).
Kentucky Revised Statute 61.080(6) states that:
No person shall, at the same time, fill any state office and an appointed office of a special purpose governmental entity that has the authority to levy taxes, unless a state statute specifically requires a person holding a state office to serve in an appointed office of a special purpose governmental entity that has the authority to levy taxes.
Kentucky courts have long held that membership on a local school board constitutes a state office. Board of Ed. of Louisville v. Soc'y of Alumni of Louisville Male High School, 239 S.W.2d 931, 933 (Ky. 1951). A sanitation district is a special purpose governmental entity. Cop-page Constr. Co., Inc. v. Sanitation Dist. No. 1, 459 S.W.3d 855, 860-61 (Ky. 2015).
A sanitation district formed in one county is governed by a board of directors consisting of three members appointed by the county judge/executive. KRS 220.140. The board "may levy one (1), two (2), or three (3) annual taxes . . . to be used for the purpose of paying the expenses of organization, surveys and plans, and for other incidental expenses that may be necessary up to the time money is received from the sale of bonds." KRS 220.360. 1
Therefore, because a sanitation district is a special purpose governmental entity that is governed by appointed board members and has authority to levy taxes, membership on its board is incompatible with any state office pursuant to KRS 61.080(6). Accordingly, membership on the board of the Lincoln County Sanitation District is incompatible with membership on the Lincoln County Board of Education.
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