AGO 1993-039.

• Case Date: November 16, 1993
• Court: Ohio

Ohio Attorney General Opinions 1993. AGO 1993-039. November 16, 1993OPINION NO. 1993-039The Honorable Stephen M. Stern Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Suite 1200 Bank One Building Steubenville, Ohio 43952 Dear Prosecutor Stern: You have asked whether a board of township trustees may purchase a building and land for use as a township hall and police district facility(fn1) when there are not sufficient funds in the general fund to cover the purchase price, without first submitting the question of such purchase to the electorate. The trustees have been leasing the property in question for these purposes for eleven years. The owner now plans to sell the property, and the trustees have an opportunity to purchase it for what they consider a reasonable price. Because the general fund does not have sufficient funds to purchase the property outright, the trustees wish to borrow money from local financial institutions and to repay this loan from township revenues in coming years. The anticipated revenues are such that the trustees do not contemplate issuing bonds or levying additional taxes for the purpose of paying for the land and building. The trustees wish to know whether it is necessary first to conduct a popular vote in order to purchase the property in this manner.

Authority of a Board of Township Trustees is Limited to that Conferred by Statute

A board of township trustees "can exercise only those powers conferred by statute, or such others as are necessarily to be implied from those granted, in order to enable them to perform the duties imposed upon them." Trustees of New London Township v. Miner, 26 Ohio St. 452, 456 (1875). The power to borrow money or to incur debt is not necessarily to be implied from the authority conferred upon a board of township trustees to expend funds for particular purposes. See generally 1973 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 73-100 (distinguishing between vote required on question of constructing a town hall and vote required for issuance of bonds for construction); accord 1990 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 90-010. In order to answer your question, therefore, it is first necessary to determine whether a board of township trustees has statutory authority to purchase, without a vote of the electorate, a building and land for use as a township hall and police department facility. If so, it is then necessary to determine whether the board has the power to incur debt for that purpose without a vote of the electorate.

Pursuant to R.C. 505.26 and R.C. 505.50, a Board of Township Trustees May Purchase a Building and Site for Use as a Township Hall and Police District Facility Without Submitting the Question of the Purchase to the Electorate

R.C. 505.26 and R.C. 505.50 respectively address the authority of a board of township trustees to purchase or otherwise acquire a township hall or other properties for particular township purposes, and to purchase or otherwise acquire a building and its site for the operations of the township police district. R.C. 505.26 reads, in pertinent part, as follows

The board of township trustees may purchase, appropriate, construct, enlarge, improve, rebuild, repair, furnish, and equip a township hall, a township park, public library buildings, and bridges and viaducts over streets, streams, railroads, or other places where an overhead roadway or footway is necessary, and such board may acquire sites by lease or otherwise for any of such improvements, including lands and buildings for recreational purposes. (Emphasis added.)

In the case of facilities and equipment for a township police district, R.C. 505.50 states, in pertinent part, as follows:

The township trustees may purchase or otherwise acquire any police apparatus, equipment, including a public communications system, or materials that the township police district requires and may build, purchase, or lease any building or buildings and site of the building or buildings that are necessary for the operations of the district. (Emphasis added.)

R.C. 505.26 thus empowers a board of township trustees to purchase a township hall and acquire a site for a township hall. R.C. 505.50 similarly empowers a board of township trustees to purchase any building or buildings and the site thereof that are necessary for the operations of a township police district. Nothing in the language of either R.C. 505.26 or R.C. 505.50 expressly requires or necessarily implies that voter approval be obtained before those purchases may be made by a board of township trustees.(fn2) Accordingly, it follows that a board of township trustees, acting pursuant to R.C. 505.26 and R.C. 505.50, may purchase a building and site for use as a township hall and police district facility without submitting to a vote of the township's electors the question of whether that purchase should be undertaken. As noted previously, however, this does not end the inquiry. The next question is whether the trustees also have authority to incur unvoted debt for purposes of making such a purchase.

As a General Rule, a Board of Township Trustees Has No Authority to Incur Debt Without a

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