Can a town assessor privately represent a property owner who also owns property in his own town?

Subject

Town assessor - representation of client that owns property in town where he is assessor

Plain-English summary

The assessor for the Town of Webb in Herkimer County also worked privately as an assessor of real property in the neighboring Town of Ohio. In his private capacity, he was representing a property owner who was challenging an assessment in the Town of Ohio. That same property owner also owned property in the Town of Webb, where the assessor had public assessment authority.

The county attorney asked whether this combination created a conflict of interest.

The AG concluded it did. Public officials have to exercise their duties solely in the public interest, and they have to avoid even the appearance of impropriety to maintain public confidence in government. Here, the public could reasonably wonder whether the assessor's official valuation of the property owner's Webb property would be influenced by his private financial association with that same owner in the Ohio matter.

The AG offered two ways out. If feasible, the assessor should recuse himself from assessing the property owner's holdings in the Town of Webb. If recusal was not feasible, he should stop the private representation in the Town of Ohio. The opinion also reminded the county attorney that General Municipal Law § 806(1) requires municipalities to adopt codes of ethics defining when private employment conflicts with official duties, and suggested checking the local code for specific standards.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1995. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Was the conflict about money or about appearances?

Both, but the AG framed it primarily as appearance of impropriety. The opinion does not say the assessor was being paid by the owner in a way that influenced his Webb assessment, only that the public could reasonably question impartiality given the parallel private work. The appearance test is broader than an actual quid-pro-quo finding.

What if the assessor's private representation work was unpaid?

The opinion does not turn on whether the private work was compensated. The conflict came from acting professionally for the same person both publicly and privately on property tax matters. Even unpaid representation creates the same association concern.

Could the assessor have continued representing the owner if the owner didn't own anything in Webb?

That looks like a closer case. The AG opinion specifically flagged the overlap (same owner with property in both towns) as the trigger. If the owner had no Webb holdings, the appearance concern would be much weaker, though local ethics codes can sweep more broadly.

What does General Municipal Law § 806 actually require?

It requires every county, city, town, village, school district, and fire district to adopt a code of ethics. The code must include standards on disclosure of interests, gifts, and outside employment that conflicts with official duties. The AG was nudging the county to use its own code as the primary tool for analyzing situations like this.

Statutory framework

General Municipal Law § 806(1) requires municipalities to adopt codes of ethics. The statute provides a floor: the code must address conflicts arising from private employment that interferes with the officer's official duties, and from interests held by the officer or family members in matters before the municipality. Local codes commonly include outside-employment disclosure requirements, recusal procedures, and prohibitions on representing parties before the officer's own agency.

The AG opinion treats the General Municipal Law standards as the codified floor; the appearance-of-impropriety analysis the AG applies sits on top of and reinforces that floor.

Source

• Landing page: https://ag.ny.gov/libraries-documents/opinions/opinions-year
• Original PDF: https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/opinions/I_95-7_pw.pdf

Original opinion text

GENERAL MUNICIPAL LAW § 806(1).
It is a conflict of interests for an assessor to represent in his or her private capacity a taxpayer in another town where that taxpayer also owns property within the assessor's jurisdiction.

February 3, 1995

James F. Collins, Esq.
County Attorney
County of Herkimer
P. O. Box 471
Herkimer, NY 13350

Informal Opinion
No. 95-7

Dear Mr. Collins:
You have transmitted to us an inquiry raised by the Herkimer County Director of Real Property Tax Services concerning the assessment of real property in the Towns of Webb and Ohio in the County of Herkimer. You have explained that the assessor of the Town of Webb works privately as an assessor of real property in the Town of Ohio. In the Town of Ohio, the assessor is representing a real property owner in a proceeding to challenge that property owner's assessment. The property owner also owns property in the Town of Webb. You question whether this creates a conflict of interests for the assessor of the Town of Webb. Public officials must exercise their duties solely in the public interest and must avoid situations where the public trust would be violated. Even the appearance of impropriety must be avoided in order to maintain public confidence in government. In our view, the circumstances described above create at least an appearance of impropriety. There would exist a reasonable question in the eyes of the public as to whether the assessor for the Town of Webb can impartially assess this particular piece of real property given his or her financial association with the owner in the Town of Ohio. If it is possible, the assessor should recuse him or herself from acting with respect to the individual's property in the Town of Webb or, if not possible, should not represent the individual in a private capacity in the Town of Ohio. See, 1988 Op Atty Gen (Inf) 98. Further, we note that municipalities are required to have codes of ethics defining when private employment is in conflict with official duties. General Municipal Law § 806(1). We suggest that you review your code of ethics to determine whether there are any applicable standards.

We conclude that it is a conflict of interests for an assessor to represent in his or her private capacity a taxpayer in another town where that taxpayer also owns property within the assessor's jurisdiction. The Attorney General renders formal opinions only to officers and departments of State government. This perforce is an informal and unofficial expression of the views of this office. Very truly yours,

JAMES D. COLE
Assistant Attorney General
in Charge of Opinions