In New York, can the same person serve as town assessor and as a member of the school board?

Plain-English summary

The Town of Romulus had a sole assessor (an appointed officer of the town) who had been elected to serve on a school board whose district overlapped Romulus and several other towns. The town attorney asked whether the combined role was permissible.

The AG concluded it was. The analysis ran through the standard People ex rel. Ryan v. Green framework. First, no statute barred the combination. Town Law § 20(4) restricts dual holding of "elective town office," but the Romulus assessor was appointive, so § 20(4) did not apply, and the school board seat was not a "town" office in any event. Education Law § 2103 enumerates the dual-office restrictions for school board members and does not include town assessor.

Second, neither office was subordinate to the other. The town and the school district are separate legal entities, and neither reviewed the other's actions.

Third, the duties did not overlap and produced no foreseeable conflict. The assessor's job (under Town Law § 33) is to value real property for taxation. School board members set school district policy (Education Law § 2503). The closest point of contact was the assessor's duty under Real Property Tax Law § 1302(2) to prepare the portion of the town assessment roll covering property within the school district, used for levying district taxes. The AG had reached the same conclusion in 1949 Op Atty Gen (Inf) 26 (assessor and member of board of education of district located entirely in town) and saw no reason to reach a different conclusion where the district spanned multiple towns. The AG noted that interjurisdictional differences in assessment ratios are addressed by State Office of Real Property Services equalization (RPTL §§ 1200-1264).

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2000. 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

Does the assessor's role in setting values that fund the school create a conflict?

The AG concluded no. The assessor values all parcels in the town; the assessor's duties run to the town, not the school district. Equalization by the State adjusts for differences in assessment levels across towns. The school board uses the assessment roll but does not direct how the assessor values property.

Would the answer change if the assessor were elected, not appointed?

Possibly. Town Law § 20(4) restricts holding two elective town offices, and the AG specifically flagged that the appointive status of this particular assessor took § 20(4) off the table. An elected town assessor would still need to clear § 20(4), but here the school board seat is a school district office (not a town office), so § 20(4) may still not bar the combination.

What about ethics rules under General Municipal Law § 805-a?

The AG did not analyze § 805-a in this opinion. That section deals with specific prohibited interests and disclosures, not dual office holding generally. The compatibility analysis here is the common-law dual-office test.

Does the assessor have to recuse on anything as a board member?

The AG did not impose any recusal requirements. The assessor's general duty is to determine property values uniformly across the town; the board member's duty is to set school district policy. The two roles do not converge on the same decision.

Background and statutory framework

Town Law § 20(4) is the chief restriction on town officers holding multiple offices. It applies only to "elective town office," meaning that appointed town officers (like the Romulus sole assessor under RPTL § 310(1)) face no per se § 20(4) limit.

Education Law § 2103 lists incompatible offices for school board members and is enumerative, not catchall. The AG read § 2103's silence on the town assessor position as legislative acceptance of the combination.

Real Property Tax Law § 1302(2) requires town assessors to prepare, for each school district within the town, the portion of the final assessment roll relating to that district. This is the mechanical handoff that funds school district taxes.

Real Property Tax Law §§ 1200-1264 set up the State equalization system, which adjusts each town's contribution to a multi-town school district to account for differences in assessment levels. The AG cited this as the structural answer to any concern that one town's assessor might bias the school's tax base by setting lower values.

Citations

• Education Law § 2103 (school board member dual office restrictions).
• Education Law § 2503 (school board member duties).
• Real Property Tax Law § 310(1) (town assessor appointment).
• Real Property Tax Law § 1302(2) (town assessor duty to prepare school district portion of assessment roll).
• Real Property Tax Law §§ 1200-1264 (State equalization system).
• Town Law § 20(4) (limits on holding multiple elective town offices).
• Town Law § 33 (town assessor's duty to value property for taxation).
• People ex rel. Ryan v. Green, 58 N.Y. 295 (1874) (common-law dual office incompatibility test).
• Op Atty Gen (Inf) No. 92-25 (town assessor and fire district commissioner compatible).
• 1949 Op Atty Gen (Inf) 26 (town assessor and school board member of single-town district compatible).

Source

• Landing page: https://ag.ny.gov/libraries-documents/opinions/opinions-year
• Original PDF: https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/opinions/I_2000-14_pw.pdf

Original opinion text

Opn. No. 2000-14
EDUCATION LAW §§2103, 2503; REAL PROPERTY TAX LAW §§1200, et seq., and 1302(2);
TOWN LAW §§20(4), 33.
The positions of town assessor and school board member are compatible.
July 10, 2000
James A. Gabriel, Esq.
Town Attorney
Town of Romulus
7185 Main Street
Ovid, New York 14521-0449

Informal Opinion
No. 2000-14

Dear Mr. Gabriel:
You have inquired whether the sole assessor of the Town of Romulus may serve as an elected
member of a school board located partly in that town. We conclude that the two positions are
compatible.
In a telephone conversation, you stated that the school district in question occupies a portion of
the Town of Romulus, as well as portions of other towns. You also stated that the assessor for the Town
of Romulus is an officer appointed by the town board. See Real Property Tax § 310(1).
In the absence of a constitutional or statutory prohibition against dual office holding, one person
may hold two offices simultaneously unless they are incompatible under common law. In People ex rel.
Ryan v. Green, 58 N.Y. 295 (1874), the Court of Appeals held that two offices are incompatible if one is
subordinate to the other or if there is an inherent inconsistency between the duties of the two offices.
We have found no statute prohibiting the concurrent holding of these two offices. Town Law § 20
(4), which imposes restrictions upon dual holding of "elective town office," does not apply because the
assessor's position is appointive and the position of school board member is a school district office.
Section 2103 of the Education Law, which imposes restrictions on certain dual office holding by school
board members, does not prohibit a member from holding the office of town assessor. Thus, the State
Legislature has not expressly prohibited an individual from simultaneously holding the positions of town
assessor and member of a board of education.
Moreover, one office is not subordinate to the other because they are within separate legal entities,
and because neither entity reviews actions of the other. Nor do the duties of the two positions overlap.
The town assessor determines the value of real property for the purposes of taxation. See Town Law §
33; see also Op Atty Gen (Inf) No.92-25. The duties of a member of a board of education are set forth in
Education Law § 2503. Generally, the board determines policy for the school district.
Finally, there is no foreseeable conflict between the duties of the two positions. See Op Atty Gen
(Inf) No.92-25 (positions of town assessor and fire district commissioner compatible). A town assessor
must prepare and deliver to each school district wholly or partly within the town a duplicate of the
town's assessment roll, which is the basis for levy of district taxes. See Real Property Tax Law § 1302
(2) (town assessors required to prepare for each school district wholly or partly in the town that part of
the final assessment roll applying to the district). We have previously concluded that this duty does not
disqualify a town assessor from being a member of a board of education of a school district located
entirely in a town because there is no inherent conflict between the duties of the two positions.1 See
1949 Op Atty Gen (Inf) 26. We reach the same conclusion here for the same reason.
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,
WILLIAM E. STORRS
Assistant Solicitor General
1 We note that any differences between towns in the level of assessment of real property (for example, one town may assess
at full value while another assesses at a percentage of full value) are "equalized" by the State Office of Real Property
Services. See generally Real Property Tax Law §§ 1200-1264. The equalized assessments are used in determining each
town's tax liability to fund the school district budget.

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