Does the borrowing of funds by a County official or employee from the County official's or employee's own 401(k) retirement account constitute a debt, such that it must be reported on the County official's or employee's Statement of Financial Interests?

          No. The borrowing of funds by a County official or employee from the County official's or employee's own 401(k) retirement account does not constitute a debt, such that it must be reported on the County official's or employee's Statement of Financial Interests.

          The New Castle County Ethics Code, Section 2-175(b)(5), states that a person required to file a Statement of Financial Interests (hereinafter "SFI"), must disclose, with certain limitations: "[T]he name and address of each creditor to whom a debt is or was owed by the person or business with which he or she is associated in excess of $5000.00". The requesting party has taken an advance from his own 401(k) investment fund. The requesting party, thus, in essence, has "borrowed" funds from himself. As a practical matter, the "creditor" is the same person as the debtor, Although one of the purposes of the Ethics Code is to ensure that a County employee's or official's own personal interest does not conflict with the public trust¹, the Ethics Commission does not believe that the reporting of one borrowing funds from his or her own account furthers this purpose. Accordingly, the "borrowing" of funds by a County official or employee from his or her own 401(k) retirement fund does not need to be reported by that County official or employee on his or her Statement of Financial Interest.

¹ Sec. 2-271. Purpose of division.