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2018 Op. Iowa Att'y Gen. [i] (2018)

handle is hein.sag/sagia2018 and id is 1 raw text is: The Honorable Tim Kraayenbrink Office of the Attorney General August 15, 2018 Office of the Attorney General State of Iowa *1 Opinion No. 18-8-1 *1 August 15, 2018 *1 CITIES, PUBLIC OFFICERS: Iowa Code §§ 4.4, 4.73, 362.5, 372.13. Iowa Code § 372.13(8) (2018) bars city elected officers from receiving additional compensation for positions of employment beyond the salary received for their elected office. Iowa Code § 362.5(3) (2018), providing exceptions to the general ban in that statue for city offices and employees having interests in contracts with the city do not allow city elected officers to receive additional compensation for positions of employment with their city beyond the salary provided for their elected office. That portion of prior formal opinion, Op. Atty. Gen. #93-8-2(L), finding that a city elected officer may serve as an employee of their city for additional pay if the compensation does not exceed annual cumulative amounts set under Iowa Code § 362.5(3)0)& (k) (2018), is retracted. (Bennett to Kraayenbrink, 8-15-18) *1 The Honorable Tim Kraayenbrink *1 State Senator *1 Local Mail Dear Senator Kraayenbrink: *1 You requested a formal opinion of this office asking if city elected officials might enter contracts with the city they serve to perform water system supervision or meter-reading services as city empoyees. You specifically asked if any of the listed exceptions in Iowa Code § 362.5 (2018) (generally forbidding city employees and officers to have interest in city contracts with listed exceptions) apply to allow city council members and mayors to enter contracts of employment with the cities they serve given the bar on elected city officers from receiving additional compensation from their cities under Iowa Code § 372.13(8) (2018). *1 Our review of the facts and law, as set out in your letter, concludes that contracts for employment with the city by currently-serving city elected officers violates Iowa Code § 372.13(8) (2018), which is consistent with two prior opinions of this Office, Op. Atty. Gen. #83-5-2(L) and Op. Atty. Gen. #93-8-2(L) (enclosed). This office has a policy not to overrule prior formal opinions of this office unless we find that the law has changed or that the prior opinion is clearly erroneous. Op. Atty. Gen. #90-12-2, Op. Atty. Gen. #91-4-7(L). We confirm the legal analysis contained in Op. Atty. Gen. #83-5-2(L). and Op. Atty. Gen. #93-8-2(L), but clarify that the exceptions allowing city employees and officers to contract with their cities under Iowa Code § 362.5(3)(d), (j), & (k) (2018) (allowing contracts for purchases of goods or services by cities from city officers and employees awarded by competitive bids or which do not exceed stated annual amounts) do not apply to compensation for city employment and are not available to allow additional payment as a city employee to city elected officers. We re-cast our prior analysis to clarify this point, finding that city elected officers are not eligible for additional positions of employment for compensation by the cities they serve under Iowa Code § 362.5(3)(d), 0), & (k) (2018), but may be contractors for the purchase of goods and services by the cities they serve subject to the competitive bidding procedures and total annual purchase price limitations provided under those subsections. Overview of Iowa Code § 372.13(8) (2018) and § 362.5 (2018) *2 Iowa Code § 372.13(8) (2018) is specific to city elected officers, and generally contains restrictions on compensation paid to elected city officials, and their ability to use official power to increase that compensation. Under this subsection, compensation for the elected mayor may not be changed during the term in which a change is made, changes in compensation for the elected city council members must be delayed until the beginning of the next term for which city council members are elected, and no changes in elected city officers' compensation may be voted upon in November or December in the year of a regular city election. Id. Finally, Iowa Code § 372.13(8) (2018) places the following limits on elected city officer's compensation: *2 Except as provided in section 362.5, an elected city officer is not entitled to receive any other compensation for any other city office or city empioyment during that officer's tenure in office but may be reimbursed for actual expenses incurred (emphasis added). *2 This bar on additional compensation for city elected officials is consistent with the other provisions contained in Iowa Code § 372.13(8) (2018) listed above, which place significant limitations on city elected officials using their official power to increase their city compensation. *2 Iowa Code § 362.5 (2018), referenced by Iowa Code § 372.13(8) (2018), is a general provision applicable to all city employees and all city officers - both elected and appointed. This statute, consistent with the common law, proclaims a general rule barring all city officers and employees from having any interest in a contract, job of work or material, or the profits of these interests with their city. Iowa Code § 362.5 (2018) broadly defines contracts to include any claim, account, demand or agreement with the city officer or city employee and voids any

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