Opinion 93-12
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This
opinion represents the views of the Office of the State
Comptroller at the time it was rendered. The opinion may no
longer represent those views if, among other things, there have
been subsequent court cases or statutory amendments that bear on
the issues discussed in the opinion. |
MUNICIPAL FUNDS -- Appropriations and Expenditures (travel
expenses - where spouse accompanies school board member)
PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES -- Reimbursement for Expenses
(travel expenses - spouse of school board member attending
conference)
GENERAL MUNICIPAL LAW, §77-b: A school district may not
authorize the incurrence and payment of travel and lodging
expenses of the spouse of a member of the board of education
who accompanies the board member in attending a conference,
even if board member has provided advance payment to school
district.
You ask whether a school district may authorize the
incurrence and payment of the travel and lodging expenses of
the spouse of a member of the board of education who
accompanies the board member in attending a conference. You
state that the board member would pay to the district, prior to
the incurrence of the expense, the amount of the spouse's
expenses. You also state that the purpose of such arrangement
is to obtain preferable travel and lodging rates.
Section 77-b of the General Municipal Law provides that the
governing board of a "municipality", including a school
district, may authorize any of its members or any officer or
employee to attend a conference conducted for the betterment of
the municipality. Authorization must be by resolution adopted
prior to attendance, or the governing board may delegate the
power to authorize attendance to any executive officer or
administrative board (General Municipal Law, §77-b[2]).
Section 77-b provides for the payment by the municipality of
all actual and necessary registration fees, all actual and
necessary expenses of travel, meals and lodging, and all
necessary tuition fees incurred in connection with attendance
at a conference. Claims for these expenses are audited,
allowed and paid in the same manner as other claims against the
municipality (General Municipal Law, §77-b[3]).
By its express terms, section 77-b authorizes a
municipality to authorize only its officers and employees, and
not the spouses of its officers and employees, to attend a
conference. Thus, we have previously stated that section 77-b
authorizes a municipality to pay the actual and necessary
expenses only of its authorized personnel and not those of the
spouses of such individuals (see 1979 Opns St Comp No. 79-358,
unreported; 32 Opns St Comp, 1976, p 156; cf. 1976 Opns St Comp
No. 76-811, unreported, and 29 Opns St Comp, 1973, p 38, in
which we concluded that the lodging expenses of a board member
sharing a room with his or her spouse may be reimbursed by the
municipality at the usual rate of a singleoccupancy room).
Since the spouse of a member of a school district's board of
education is not a person who the board may authorize to attend
a conference pursuant to General Municipal Law, §77-b, the
school district may not authorize the incurrence and payment of
the spouse's lodging expenses, even if the board member has
provided advance payment to the school district.
March 12, 1993
David S. Shaw, Esq., Attorney
Poughkeepsie City School District
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