City of Lancaster v. Fairfield County Budget Commission

712 N.E.2d 719, 86 Ohio St. 3d 137
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 28, 1999
DocketNo. 98-1059
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 712 N.E.2d 719 (City of Lancaster v. Fairfield County Budget Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Lancaster v. Fairfield County Budget Commission, 712 N.E.2d 719, 86 Ohio St. 3d 137 (Ohio 1999).

Opinion

Moyer, C.J.

This appeal presents two legal issues: (1) whether, pursuant to R.C. 5747.53 and 5747.63, the budget commission must secure annual approvals from all the participants in order to allocate the ULGF and the ULGRAF pursuant to the alternative formulas, and (2) whether the budget commission must secure approval from all participants for succeeding years if one of the participants in these funds initially limited its approval, of the alternative formulas to one year, but thereafter approved use of an alternative formula without [140]*140limiting it to a specific time period. We answer both of these interrelated inquiries in the negative.

We described the local government fund established by R.C. Chapter 5747 in Andover Twp. v. Ashtabula Cty. Budget Comm. (1977), 49 Ohio St.2d 171, 173-174, 3 O.O.3d 238, 239, 360 N.E.2d 690, 691-692, as follows:

“The local government fund is a form of financial state support of the smaller governmental units existing in Ohio. It is composed of a portion of the state sales tax receipts and the state-collected tax on ‘capital employed by financial institutions, and * * * by dealers in intangibles.’ These funds are transferred by the state auditor to the several counties for distribution to the local subdivisions. A group of three county officials, designated as the budget commission, then has the responsibility of allocating the local government fund. The budget commission may apportion such funds on a straight formula basis, the ‘statutory method,’ or by the ‘alternative method,’ which latter method allows the budget commission jto consider any factor deemed to be ‘appropriate and reliable,’ in its sole discretion. The budget commission meets annually, on the first Monday in August, at which time it considers the budget submitted by each governmental subdivision.”

R.C. 5747.53 and 5747.63 provide for alternative formulas in nearly identical language:

“(A) In lieu of the method of apportionment of the undivided local government fund [undivided local government revenue assistance fund] of the county provided by section 5747.51 [5747.62] of the Revised Code, the county budget commission may provide for the apportionment of such fund under an alternative method or on a formula basis as authorized by this section. Such alternative method of apportionment shall have first been approved by all of the following government units: the board of county commissioners; the legislative authority of the city, located wholly or partially in the county, with the greatest population; and a majority of the boards of township trustees and legislative authorities of municipal corporations, located wholly or partially in the county, excluding the legislative authority of the city with the greatest population. * * * Any method of apportionment adopted and approved under this section may be revised, amended, or repealed in the same manner as it may be adopted and approved. In the event a method of apportionment adopted and approved under this section is repealed, the undivided local government fund [undivided local government revenue assistance fund] of the county shall be apportioned among the governmental units eligible to participate therein, commencing in the ensuing calendar year, under the apportionment provided in section 5747.52 [5747.62] of the Revised Code, unless a new method for apportionment of such fund is provided in the action of repeal.

[141]*141“(E) The actions of the budget commission taken pursuant to this section are final and may not be appealed to the board of tax appeals, except on issues of abuse of discretion and failure to comply with the formula.” R.C. 5747.53; [R.C. 5747.63].

The city of Lancaster argues that these statutes require participants to approve the alternative formula each year. The BTA accepted this argument. The county budget commission contends, to the contrary, that alternative formulas need not be formally approved on an annual basis.

In requiring annual approvals, the BTA relied on Andover. In that case, the city of Ashtabula had annually approved the budget commission’s alternative formula, originally approved in 1972, for each of the next three years. Ashtabula limited each approval to the current budget year, and the other participating governmental units apparently did the same. In 1976, however, Ashtabula declined to adopt the alternative formula. The court, on appeal, permitted Ashtabula to limit its approval to one-year periods. In dictum, the court concluded that “the entire statutory scheme implies an annual determination of the method of distribution.” Andover, 49 Ohio St.2d at 175, 3 O.O.3d at 240, 360 N.E.2d at 692.

Thereafter, in Girard v. Trumbull Cty. Budget Comm. (1994), 70 Ohio St.3d 187, 638 N.E.2d 67, the court, in explaining the importance of adopting an alternative formula by September 1, the statutory deadline, stated:

“It is this very necessity of ascertaining the intent of the various governmental units that requires the adoption procedure to commence anew in the following year, especially since ‘the entire scheme implies an annual determination of the method of distribution.’ ” Girard, 70 Ohio St.3d at 192-193, 638 N.E.2d at 72, quoting Andover, 49 Ohio St.2d at 175, 3 O.O.3d at 240, 360 N.E.2d at 692.

Upon additional review of the relevant statutes, we are convinced that R.C. 5747.53 and 5747.63 do not necessarily require adoption of an alternative formula by the necessary number of governmental units on an annual basis, and we therefore disavow dicta in Andover and Girard to the contrary.

The statutes prescribe an elaborate procedure, by which the budget commission proposes the formula and the specified governmental units must each approve the formula: the board of county commissioners, the legislative authority of the city with the greatest population, and a majority of the legislative authorities of the remaining participating governmental units. The formula fails if one of these units disapproves.

The formula thereafter may be revised, amended, or repealed if done so in the same manner as adopted and approved. That is, these governmental units must agree to revise, amend, or repeal the formula. If the formula is repealed, the [142]*142budget commission must apply the statutory formula for the ensuing calendar year, unless the governmental units adopt a new formula.

Neither R.C. 5747.53 nor 5747.63 mentions annual approvals. The statutes set forth a procedure for adoption of a formula to allocate the funds by agreement of the participating governmental units. Using phrases usually applicable to legislation, these statutes authorize the governmental units to revise, amend, or repeal the formula in the same manner as they had adopted the original formula. If the formula is repealed, the budget commission is to allocate the funds under the statutory formula unless the governmental units adopt a new formula. Accordingly, under these statutes, and after initial and unlimited approval, additional action by the necessary governmental units is required only in order to revise, amend, repeal, or adopt a new formula.

We therefore hold that where, pursuant to R.C.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
712 N.E.2d 719, 86 Ohio St. 3d 137, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-lancaster-v-fairfield-county-budget-commission-ohio-1999.