Can An Aspiring Tax Collector Object to a School Board's Salary Action Before Running for the Office ?

In Abington School District v. Yost, 40 Pa. Commw. 312, 397 A.2d 453 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1979), the school board passed a resolution in January 1977 reducing the compensation for tax collectors. Yost, an incumbent tax collector who intended to be a candidate for that office in the 1977 municipal election, promptly filed a complaint on February 3, 1977. Another incumbent tax collector promptly intervened. The school board argued that they did not have standing to sue. This Court disagreed, explaining as follows: As incumbent tax collectors intending to seek new terms in an election, the mechanics of which was to begin within weeks after the School Board action, they clearly possessed a direct, substantial and immediate interest in the School Board's actions decimating the salaries and the responsibilities of the office. Further, in Myers v. Newtown Township School District, 396 Pa. 542, 153 A.2d 494 (1959), dealing directly with the subject matter of this case, the Supreme Court wrote that unless an aspiring tax collector objects to the school board's salary action before running for the office, he may never be in a position to do so. Id. at 455-456.