Statutory Prohibition Against Use of Appropriated Funds To Pay for Telephone Services

An advance decision was requested as to whether the statutory prohibition against using appropriated funds to pay for telephone service in a private residence, applies to Government-leased quarters when they are vacant for a short period between the incoming and outgoing occupants to whom the quarters are assigned. Telephone service to the quarters provided to the Air Deputy for the Allied Forces in Northern Europe is issued under a long-term lease with the Norwegian Telephone Company for which the Air Deputy pays the charges. The lease is necessary to ensure that each new deputy immediately will have the 24-hour telephone service mandated by the nature of his position. If the service were terminated upon the departure of each Air Deputy, there is a likelihood of delay in providing telephone service to the successor. The basic monthly charge continues to accrue during the time the residence is vacant. The former Air Deputy paid for the service until he departed and the new Air Deputy assumed the cost of service when he commenced service. If the service charge may not be paid out of appropriated funds, the charges may be assessed against the current Air Deputy for a period when he did not occupy the residence. The applicable statute should not be interpreted so as to preclude reimbursement to an individual for an expense incurred as a result of governmental action over which he had no control. Since the instant case did not fall within the statutory prohibition, no public official received the benefit of the telephone service, and the quarters were not the private residence of a Government official at the time in question, appropriated funds may be used to pay for the service.