Alcovy Shores Water & Sewerage Authority v. Jasper County

626 S.E.2d 560, 277 Ga. App. 341, 2006 Fulton County D. Rep. 321, 2006 Ga. App. LEXIS 81
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedJanuary 24, 2006
DocketA05A1720
StatusPublished

This text of 626 S.E.2d 560 (Alcovy Shores Water & Sewerage Authority v. Jasper County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alcovy Shores Water & Sewerage Authority v. Jasper County, 626 S.E.2d 560, 277 Ga. App. 341, 2006 Fulton County D. Rep. 321, 2006 Ga. App. LEXIS 81 (Ga. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

MlKELL, Judge.

Pursuant to the Service Delivery Act, OCGA § 36-70-20 et seq. (the “Act”), Jasper County, the City of Monticello and the City of Shady Dale entered into an agreement (the “Service Agreement”) to implement a local government service delivery strategy. Characterizing the Service Agreement as improperly reducing the scope of its territory, the Alcovy Shores Water and Sewerage Authority (“ASWSA”) filed an action for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief against Jasper County, the City of Monticello, the City of Shady Dale, and the Jasper County Water and Sewer Authority (“defendants”) seeking, among other things, a declaration that the defendants had no right to ASWSA’s territory and an injunction prohibiting the defendants from interfering with ASWSA’s right to provide water service within its territory. ASWSA appeals the trial court’s grant of the defendants’ motion for summary judgment and denial of its motion for summary judgment. We affirm.

To prevail on a motion for summary judgment, the moving party must demonstrate that there is no genuine issue of material fact, and that the undisputed facts, viewed in a light most favorable to the party opposing the motion, warrant judgment as a matter of law. OCGA§ 9-11-56 (c); Lau’s Corp. v. Haskins, 261 Ga. 491 (1) (405 SE2d 474) (1991). Our review of a grant of summary judgment is de novo, and we view the evidence and all reasonable inferences drawn from [342]*342it in the light most favorable to the nonmovant. Supchak v. Pruitt, 232 Ga. App. 680, 682 (1) (503 SE2d 581) (1998).

Although ASWSA claims that material issues remain for the trier of fact, it fails to argue how the disputed facts are relevant. The controlling facts are not in dispute. ASWSA was created by the General Assembly through local legislation in 1979. See Ga. L. 1979, p. 3177 et seq. A 1980 amendment to the creating legislation established ASWSA’s “project area” as “all that area within a radius of five miles from the intersection of the centerlines of Lake Shore Drive and Decatur Street in the Alcovy Shores Subdivision of Jasper County.” See Ga. L. 1980, p. 4412. The project area, which includes portions of Butts County, Jasper County, and Newton County, does not purport to be exclusive to ASWSA. Id. Furthermore, ASWSA’s creating legislation provides that the law “shall be regarded as supplemental and additional to powers conferred by other laws.” Ga. L. 1979, p. 3190, §26.

The Jasper County Water and Sewer Authority (the “Jasper County Authority”) was created by the General Assembly pursuant to local legislation in 1999. See Ga. L. 1999, p. 4595 et seq. Under the 1999 legislation, “the authority may exercise any of its powers or provide any of its services inside the boundaries of any local government within Jasper County.” Id. at p. 4599, § 3 (13). Thus, with respect to that portion of ASWSA’s project area lying in Jasper County, the jurisdiction of ASWSA and the Jasper County Authority overlap.

The General Assembly passed the Act with the express intent of minimizing “inefficiencies resulting from duplication of services and competition between local governments and to provide a mechanism to resolve disputes over local government service delivery, funding equity, and land use.” OCGA § 36-70-20. The Act required “[e]ach county and municipality [to] execute an agreement for the implementation of a local government service delivery strategy as set forth in this article by July 1, 1999.” OCGA § 36-70-21. As a part of the implementation of the service delivery strategy, the Act instructed the counties and municipalities (1) to identify all local government services presently provided therein, and (2) to designate which local government or authority would provide such services within specific geographic areas of the county. OCGA § 36-70-23. In its formulation, “[t]he strategy shall identify steps which will be taken to remediate or avoid overlapping and unnecessary competition and duplication of service delivery.” OCGA§ 36-70-24 (1).

As mandated by the Act, Jasper County, the City of Monticello, and the City of Shady Dale entered into the Service Agreement on June 24, 1999. See OCGA§§ 36-70-21; 36-70-25. The Service Agreement set the service area for ASWSA as the area then actually being [343]*343served by ASWSA, which was substantially less than ASWSA’s project area under its creating legislation. The Service Agreement also established a service area for the Jasper County Authority, which was defined as those areas of Jasper County not otherwise assigned to another service provider. Thus, a portion of ASWSA’s project area was included within the Jasper County Authority’s service area. On July 16, 1999, the Department verified that the Service Agreement included the components and minimum criteria required by the Act. See OCGA § 36-70-26.

1. ASWSA claims that the trial court erred in concluding that the defendants were authorized to reduce its project area as defined by the General Assembly. ASWSA contends that because it was established as a separate “political subdivision of the State of Georgia and a public corporation,” Ga. L. 1979, p. 3179, § 2, that a local action by the defendants could not take precedence over ASWSA’s creating legislation. We disagree. First, the Service Agreement did not purport to modify ASWSA’s creating legislation. The defendants’ reliance on Wood v. Gwinnett County, 243 Ga. 833 (257 SE2d 258) (1979), is thus misplaced. See id. at 834-835 (where an authority is not an extension of the county, its creating legislation may not be amended by the county commissioners). Second, the Service Agreement does not prohibit ASWSA from providing services within its project area. Rather, the effect of the Service Agreement on ASWSA is through the Act, which forbids the issuance of any “state administered financial assistance or grant, loan, or permit” to any local government or authority for a project which is inconsistent with a verified service delivery strategy. OCGA§ 36-70-27 (a). Thus ASWSA, to the extent it relies on any state-administered financial assistance or grant, loan, or permit, may not be able to complete a project outside the service area designated by the Service Agreement. The salient point, however, is that the Service Agreement and the Act do not alter ASWSA’s project area as defined in its creating legislation.

2. ASWSA further contends that because Jasper County, the City of Monticello, and the City of Shady Dale could have designated ASWSA’s service area as co-existent with its project area that the Service Agreement was a local action improperly “trumping” ASWSA’s creating legislation. Again, we disagree.

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Related

Lau's Corp., Inc. v. Haskins
405 S.E.2d 474 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1991)
Supchak v. Pruitt
503 S.E.2d 581 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1998)
Wood v. Gwinnett County
257 S.E.2d 258 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1979)
Board of Education of Hall County v. Shirley
177 S.E.2d 711 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1970)
Dudley v. State
542 S.E.2d 99 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2001)

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Bluebook (online)
626 S.E.2d 560, 277 Ga. App. 341, 2006 Fulton County D. Rep. 321, 2006 Ga. App. LEXIS 81, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alcovy-shores-water-sewerage-authority-v-jasper-county-gactapp-2006.