Opinion letter to Mr. John C. Vaughn

February 25, 1972 Mr. John C. Vaughn Comptroller and Budget Director State of :assouri Post Office Box 80~ Jefferson City, Mtssouri 65101 Dear l-h' . Vaughn; OPINION LETTER NO . 37 Answer by Letter - Klaffenbach FILED 37 This letter is in response to your opinion request in which you ask whether a member of a county board of education could be reimbur sed by the state for the purchase of off ice equipment such as flle cabinets. t ype~1riter ~ and t he lil<e, under the pro- visions of Secti on 162 .151 , RSMo l OG~ . You state that: "A member of t he Grundy County Board of Edu- cation purchased a file cabinet and requested this office to make reimbursement for same. "Previous to this requ~s t t hi s office made reimbursement only for meals and mileage to members of County Boards of Education . "Section 2.150 of House Bill 2 of the 76th General Assembly appropriated $2,500.00 as expenses for County Board of Education, which this office does not feel indicates they intended to pay for office equipment." Section 162.151, RSMo 1969 to which you refer provides: "Each member of the board shall be reimbursed for the actual expense incurred in the per- formance of his duties as a member of the Mr. John C. Vaughn board. All expenses shall be itemized and approved by the president of the board and certified by the secretary t o the state comp- troller. The reimbursement shall be paid from the state school moneys fund" While we find no Missouri cases interpreting this section we take note of the fact that your office has given this section an administrative interpretation consistent with your views as ex- pressed above and that, as you have noted, the ler;islature has appropriated a nominal arnount for suc11 expettsc;:; . Under these circumstances and in view of the strict construction always given to statutes dealing with officers' allowances or compensatio11, we conclude that the expenses encompassed by Section 162.151 arc limited to strictly personal expenses and do not extend to office supplies or equipment. Very truly yours, JOHN C. DANFORTH Attorney General - 2 -