Baker, 051619 KYAGO, AGO OAG19-8

• Case Date: May 16, 2019
• Court: Kentucky

Jonathan Baker AGO OAG19-8 No. OAG19-008 Kentucky Attorney General Opinion Commonwealth of Kentucky Office of the Attorney General May 16, 2019          Subject: Whether the offices of Lincoln County Board of Education member and the Lincoln County Sanitation District board member are incompatible.          Requested by: Jonathan Baker          Written by: Taylor Payne, Assistant Attorney General          Syllabus: The offices of member of the Lincoln County Board of Education and member of the Lincoln County Sanitation District are incompatible.          Statutes construed: KRS 61.080; KRS 220.140; KRS 220.360           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...