CEO 84-52 -- June 7, 1984

FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

APPLICABILITY OF DISCLOSURE LAW TO EMPLOYEES OF CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY

To: (Name withheld at the person's request.)

SUMMARY:

The executive director of a city housing authority is a "local officer" subject to the requirement of filing a statement of financial interests under Section 112.3145, Florida Statutes, as he is the chief administrative employee of a political subdivision. Other employees of the housing authority would be subject to the disclosure law only if they have the authority to make purchases in excess of $1,000 for the authority.

QUESTION:

Are you, the executive director of a city housing authority, and other upper-level administrative employees of the authority "local officers" subject to the requirement of filing a statement of financial interests annually?

In your letter of inquiry you advise that you are the Executive Director of the Housing Authority of the City of Sarasota. The Housing Authority, you advise, is a special district of the State formed under Chapter 421, Florida Statutes. You question whether you and other upper-level administrative employees of the Authority are required to file financial disclosure.

As the Housing Authority is a special district, we consider it to constitute a political subdivision for purposes of the financial disclosure law. See Section 1.01(9), Florida Statutes, defining the term "political subdivision" to include all districts in the state. We reached this conclusion previously in CEO 83-83.

The financial disclosure law requires each "local officer" to file a statement of financial interests within thirty days of appointment and annually thereafter by July 1. Section 112.3145(2)(b), Florida Statutes (1983). The term "local officer" is defined to include:

Any person holding one or more of the following positions: . . . chief administrative employee of a county, municipality, or other political subdivision; . . . or purchasing agent having the authority to make any purchase exceeding $1,000 for any political subdivision of the state or any entity thereof. [Section 112.3145(1)(a)3, Florida Statutes (1983).]

In turn, a "purchasing agent" is defined as:

a public officer or employee having the authority to commit the expenditure of public funds through a contract for, or the purchase of, any goods, services, or interest in real property for an agency, as opposed to the authority to request or requisition a contract or purchase by another person. [Section 112.312(16), Florida Statutes (1983).]

Accordingly, as the chief administrative employee of the Housing Authority, you are a "local officer" subject to the requirement of filing a statement of financial interests annually under Section 112.3145, Florida Statutes. Other upper-level administrative employees are required to file disclosure only if they have the authority to make purchases in excess of $1,000 for the authority, as outlined above.

In CEO 77-156, we found that the executive director of a city housing authority was required to file financial disclosure only if he had the authority to make purchases in excess of $100 for the authority. Because we believe that a housing authority is an independent political subdivision, for the reasons expressed in CEO 83-83, we hereby revoke CEO 77-156. In addition, we recognize that our interpretation affects the rationale, but not the result, of CEO 83-12, in which we found that members of a city housing authority are subject to the financial disclosure law.