LEGAL OPINIONS
(below see board policy regarding legal advisory services)

• Questions: 1.) Is a quorum required in order for the board to certify the results of your budget vote and board elections?
  2.) Is there a specific time within which the board must so act?
   

• Question: Who makes the determination as to the school district polling places and the city polling places within a small city school district?
   

• Questions: 1) Who imposes the sales tax on utilities and how does it get to the small city school district? 2)  Would this be a new tax for the school district’s tax base or is the school district accessing taxes already collected from the utility companies?
   

• Question: May assistant superintendents in small city school districts obtain tenure rights?
   

• Request: a form of resolution of the board of education for approval and public hearing regarding imposition of a utility tax pursuant to Tax law §1212. Provided: two resolutions for your use, the first to schedule the public hearing and the second to impose the tax.
   

• Question:  -Validity of Nominating Petitions - You have asked about the validity of certain nominating petitions delivered to your office on April 30, 2008 for two candidates for the Salamanca CSD Board of Education twenty days prior to the election. You have stated the petitions appear to provide the proper information and signatures except that the blank petitions were not obtained from your office prior to the signatures being obtained as is usually done.
   

• Question: How many public hearings are required in order to implement a utility tax in a small city school district?
  And, how much notice must be given for said public hearing?
   

• Question: Does imposition of a utility tax in a small city school district require voter approval?
   

• Question: Are small city school districts required to conduct an annual student census?
   

• Question: What  happens to the status of a central school district when the village in which it is located becomes a city?
   

• Question: When must a salary increase agreement (for non-collective bargaining employees) be in place in
  order to be includable in a school district’s contingency budget?

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BOARD POLICY  Re: Legal Advisory Services  
November 27, 2006

From time to time, Association members seek to obtain legal opinions, advice or consultation on matters of specific concern to an individual member district from Association counsel. The Association through its counsel have been providing such opinions, advice and consultation on an ad hoc basis without charge to the district. The Board wishes to continue providing such services to individual member districts at Association expense within certain parameters so that such services may be provided evenly throughout the membership and within the Association budget.

Therefore, it is approved that Association counsel may provide district specific legal services to individual member districts as requested by them, including but not limited to legal opinions, advice and consultation., provided as follows:

1) the first five hours of such services in any year shall be provided without charge to the requesting district,

2) requests for such services which require work exceeding five hours may be provided by counsel at the district’s expense as may be agreed by and between the district and counsel, and

3) such expense shall be payable to the Association upon terms and conditions specified in the agreement between the district and Association counsel and shall be characterized as ‘Association dues-legal services.’

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