NYCL AGO 95-9.

• Case Date: February 03, 1995
• Court: New York

New York Attorney General Opinions 1995. AGO 95-9. February 3, 1995Informal Opinion No. 95-9Cody B. Bartlett, Esq. Town Attorney Town of Savannah 50 East Main Street Wolcott, NY 14590REAL PROPERTY TAX LAW §§ 523(1), 525; TOWN LAW § 267.A person may serve simultaneously as a member of the zoning board of appeals and member of the board of assessment review of a town.Dear Mr. Bartlett: You have asked whether a person may hold simultaneously the positions of member of the zoning board of appeals and board of assessment review of a town. We have found no statutory prohibition on the holding of these two offices. See, Town Law § 267(1); Real Property Tax Law § 523(1). In the absence of a statutory prohibition, the question remains whether the offices are compatible under the common law rule of compatibility of office. In the absence of a constitutional or statutory prohibition against dual-officeholding, one person may hold two offices simultaneously unless they are incompatible. The leading case on compatibility of office is People ex rel. Ryan v Green, 58 NY 295 (1874). In that case the Court held that two offices are incompatible if one is subordinate to the other or if there is an inherent inconsistency between the two offices. The former can be characterized as "you cannot be your own boss", a status normally easy to see. The latter is not easily characterized, for one must analyze the duties of the two offices to ascertain whether there is an inconsistency. An obvious example is the inconsistency of holding both the office of auditor and the office of director of finance. There are two subsidiary...