Bonner Springs Unified School District No. 204 v. Blue Valley Unified School District No. 229

95 P.3d 655, 32 Kan. App. 2d 1104, 2004 Kan. App. LEXIS 831
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedAugust 13, 2004
DocketNo. 90,656
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 95 P.3d 655 (Bonner Springs Unified School District No. 204 v. Blue Valley Unified School District No. 229) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bonner Springs Unified School District No. 204 v. Blue Valley Unified School District No. 229, 95 P.3d 655, 32 Kan. App. 2d 1104, 2004 Kan. App. LEXIS 831 (kanctapp 2004).

Opinion

Greene, J.:

Four Wyandotte County school districts and 10 individual parents of Wyandotte County students appeal the district court’s denial of their motion for a temporary injunction to prohibit the distribution of revenues from a Johnson County sales tax to Johnson County school districts, arguing that the distribution and receipt of such sales tax revenues violate the School District Finance and Quality Performance Act (the Act), K.S.A. 72-6405 el seq., and the Kansas Constitution. The district court concluded that the standards for issuance of a temporary injunction had not been met. We question plaintiffs’ standing and remand for further proceedings, but we affirm the district court’s denial of a temporary injunction.

Factual and Procedural Background

In June 2002, four of six Johnson County school districts enacted resolutions requesting the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) to submit to tire electorate the question of imposing a countywide retailers’ sales tax in the amount of Va of one cent, with the revenues to be distributed

“as required by law, 64% to the County and 36% to the cities of Johnson County, and the County share to be used to fund and award economic development and public benefit grants to public school districts located within Johnson County, Kansas . . .

Upon receipt of these resolutions, tire BOCC submitted the question to the electors of Johnson County pursuant to K.S.A. 12-187, [1107]*1107and on August 6, 2002, the question was approved by approximately 61% of voters. The new local sales tax became effective January 1, 2003, and was expected to raise $42 million for six Johnson County school districts.

On March 4, 2003, the Wyandotte County plaintiffs filed an action in district court against the Johnson County school districts, tire BOCC, and the State Treasurer, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to suspend distribution to and receipt by Johnson County school districts of revenues from the new sales tax. Specifically, the petition alleged that use of local option sales tax revenues for public education was (i) contrary to the Act, K.S.A. 72-6405 et seq., (ii) violative of Article 6, §§ 1, 6 of the Kansas Constitution, and (iii) violative of § 1 of the Bill of Rights of the Kansas Constitution; alternatively, the petition sought a declaration that the subject tax revenues should be deemed “local effort” for purposes of K.S.A. 72-6410(c), thus affecting the Johnson County school districts’ entitlement to state financial aid pursuant to K.S.A. 72-6416.

Contemporaneous with the filing of their petition, plaintiffs filed a motion for temporary injunction, requesting that sales tax revenues not be paid to or received by Johnson County school districts. In their response to this motion, defendants argued that the standards for temporary injunctive relief had not been met and challenged plaintiffs’ standing to maintain the action. After briefing and argument, the district court declined to issue a temporary injunction, concluding that (i) plaintiffs had not demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success on the merits; (ii) plaintiffs failed to establish a probability that they would suffer irreparable financial harm; (iii) the balance of harm to both parties was equal; and (iv) the issuance of a temporary injunction would be adverse to the public interest. The district court did not explicitly address the issue of plaintiffs’ standing, noting that the issue was “not directly related to the issuance of a temporary injunction.”

The Wyandotte County plaintiffs appeal pursuant to K.S.A. 60-2102(a)(2). The Johnson County defendants do not cross-appeal, but the BOCC challenges plaintiffs’ standing on appeal as a jurisdictional issue.

[1108]*1108 Do Wyandotte County Plaintiffs Have Standing To Challenge Distribution of Johnson County Local Sales Tax Revenues?

Although the district court chose not to address standing, we consider the issue critical to the jurisdiction of the district court and this court as well. See Families Against Corporate Takeover v. Mitchell, 268 Kan. 803, 806, 1 P.3d 884 (2000); Dillon Stores v. Board of Sedgwick County Commr's, 259 Kan. 295, 303, 912 P.2d 170 (1996). It has long been recognized that standing imparts justiciability and must be determined as a threshold issue. See, e.g., Harrison v. Long, 241 Kan. 174, 176, 734 P.2d 1155 (1987). The question of standing requires us to determine whether these plaintiffs have a sufficient stake in the outcome of this controversy to justify the exercise of the court’s remedial powers on their behalf. Moorhouse v. City of Wichita, 259 Kan. 570, 574, 913 P.2d 172 (1996).

Plaintiffs essentially argue three alternative bases for their claims of standing: (i) They construe K.S.A. 60-907 as “open[ing] the courthouse doors” to anyone challenging the illegal levy of any tax; (ii) they contend that the parent plaintiffs are “persons whose property is or may be affected or whose taxes may be increased” since they shop in Johnson County and therefore pay the tax; (iii) they contend that they have sustained special damages different in kind from that of the public generally because they have children attending public schools in Wyandotte County and have been placed at a competitive disadvantage by the Johnson County schools’ receipt of new sales tax revenues. For reasons discussed below, we reject bases (i) and (ii) as a matter of law, but we remand for an evidentiary hearing to address basis (iii).

Applicability of K. S.A. 60-907

K.S.A. 60-907 addresses injunctive relief against illegal levy or collection of a tax but does not expressly address relief against illegal distribution of tax revenues. K.S.A. 60-907 provides in relevant part:

“(a) Illegal tax, charge or assessment. Injunctive relief may be granted to enjoin the illegal levy of any tax, charge or assessment, the collection thereof, or any proceeding to enforce the same.”

[1109]*1109This statute has been construed broadly by Kansas appellate courts to permit actions against levy and collection of illegal taxes, but the courts have carefully limited its use to cases where the act to be enjoined was either a levy or collection of a tax. See Schulenberg v. City of Reading, 196 Kan. 43, 48-51, 410 P.2d 324 (1966).

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Bluebook (online)
95 P.3d 655, 32 Kan. App. 2d 1104, 2004 Kan. App. LEXIS 831, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bonner-springs-unified-school-district-no-204-v-blue-valley-unified-kanctapp-2004.