City of Lawrence v. City of Indianapolis

338 N.E.2d 683, 167 Ind. App. 279, 1975 Ind. App. LEXIS 1439
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 18, 1975
DocketNo. 2-174A27
StatusPublished

This text of 338 N.E.2d 683 (City of Lawrence v. City of Indianapolis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Lawrence v. City of Indianapolis, 338 N.E.2d 683, 167 Ind. App. 279, 1975 Ind. App. LEXIS 1439 (Ind. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

White, J.

— The appellant City of Lawrence (Lawrence), a third class city located in Marion County, instituted this action by filing its complaint alleging that since 1967 it had not received its proper share of distributions madé' from the cigarette tax fund, that a portion of said proper share had been wrongfully paid by the Auditor of State first to the Mass Transportation Authority of Greater Indianapolis and subsequently to the Department of Transportation of the Consolidated City of Indianapolis, and that the recipients of said funds have been and are wrongfully withholding said funds from Lawrence. The complaint sought to have the funds alleged to have been improperly distributed declared the property of Lawrence, that the holders of said funds be ordered to turn said funds and interest thereon over to Lawrence, and that the Auditor of State be ordered to make [281]*281future distributions of cigarette tax funds in accord with law.

The trial court entered summary judgment in favor of the defendants and Lawrence has appealed that judgment.

We affirm.

The two questions presented by Lawrence’s complaint are straightforward questions of statutory construction which are buried in prolix pleadings. The first question involves two enactments of the 1967 Regular Session of the General Assembly, chapter 296, which amended the cigarette tax act, and chapter 311, which created a Mass Transportation Authority in Marion County.1 The question is: In view of the aforementioned enactments, is it Lawrence or is it the Mass Transportation Authority that is the proper recipient of certain moneys distributed from the cigarette tax fund? The second question involves the effect of Acts of 1969, chapter 173 (Uni-Gov), on the distribution of the same moneys. The question is: Is it Lawrence or is it the Department of Transportation of the Consolidated City of Greater Indianapolis (which assumed the duties of the Mass Transportation Authority) that is the proper recipient of certain moneys distributed from the cigarette tax fund?

I.

The cigarette tax act (Acts of 1947, ch. 222) levies a tax on the sale of cigarettes and has evolved by amendment from a simple source of money for the State’s general fund into a source of money to be distributed in a somewhat complex pattern to the State general fund, to various specified state agencies, and to local municipal corporations for specified purposes. We need not delve into the development' of the pattern of distribution of the fund, nor even describe [282]*282that pattern in detail. It is sufficient to note that prior to the effective date of the 1967 Acts in question, the cigarette tax act, as then last amended by Acts of 1965, ch. 225, created a cigarette tax fund and, in three separate sections, appropriated portions of that fund to the cities and towns in Indiana. Section 27b appropriated a portion of the cigarette tax fund to the general funds of cities and towns; Sections 27c and 27d each appropriated a portion of the cigarette tax fund to the cumulative capital improvement funds of the cities and towns. In all three instances the appropriation was to be allocated among and distributed to the cities and towns in proportion to their populations.

The 1967 amendment of the cigarette tax act, Acts of 1967, ch. 296 (hereinafter called the “Tax Amendment”), did not change the basic distribution of the cigarette tax fund, but it did add special provisions concerning the distribution to be made to the Cumulative Capital Improvement Fund of Indianapolis.

Section 27d was amended by adding to it the following language:

“Except, that, on and after July 1, 1967, the sum of Three Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars out of the appropriation theretofore made for distribution to the Cumulative Capital Improvement Fund of cities of the first class pursuant to this section is hereby appropriated to the Capital Improvement Board of Managers of the county created by Chapter 326 of the Acts of the Indiana General Assembly of 1965 to be used for the payment of principal and interest on any bonds issued or to be issued pursuant to the authority of said Chapter 326 of the Acts of 1965 or any acts amendatory or supplemental thereto. Said sum shall be distributed semi-annually on the first day of June and December in each year and paid to the treasurer of such County upon warrants issued by the Auditor of State. The County Treasurer shall deposit all amounts received pursuant to this section in the Capital Improvement Bond Fund created by Section 13 of said Chapter 326 of the Acts of 1965. It is the intent of the General Assembly that said appropriation to such board of Managers shall be deducted from the distributive share of [283]*283cities of the first class only, and nothing herein shall be construed as reducing the amount theretofore appropriated for distribution to the Cumulative Capital Improvement Fund of other cities and towns of the state.
“Provided further, that the remaining funds available ■for distribution to the Capital Improvement Fund of cities of the first class pursuant to this Act is hereby appropriated to the Metropolitan Thoroughfare Authority created pursuant to Acts 1963, ch. 386, or to any thoroughfare or transportation Authority subsequently created in a city of the first class for use by such Authority. Said funds shall be distributed semi-annually on the first day of June and December each year and paid to the treasurer of the county in which such Authority is situated upon warrants issued by the Auditor of State. The county treasurer shall accept said funds pursuant to said Act and the custody of such funds shall be governed by the provisions of said Act. It is the intent of the General Assembly that said appropriation to such Authority shall be appropriated from the distributive share of cities of the first class only, and nothing herein shall be construed as reducing the amount theretofore appropriated to the Cumulative Capital Improvement Fund of other cities and towns of the State.”

Section 27c was also amended to provide in pertinent part:

“(c) . . . provided, that all sums to be distributed in accordance with this subsection to Cumulative Capital Improvement Funds in cities of the first class is hereby appropriated to the Metropolitan Thoroughfare Authority created pursuant to Acts 1963, ch. 386 or to any thoroughfare or transportation authority subsequently created in a city of the first class, for use by any such Authority said funds shall be distributed semi-annually on the first day of June and December each year and paid to the treasurer of the county in which such Authority is situated upon warrants issued by the Auditor of State. The county treasurer shall accept said funds pursuant to said Act and the custody of such funds shall be governed by the provisions of said Act.
“It is the intent of the General Assembly that said appropriation to such Authority shall be appropriated from the distributive shares of cities of the first class only, and nothing herein shall be construed as reducing the amount theretofore appropriated to the Cumulative Capital Improvement Fund of other cities and towns of the State. . . .”

[284]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
338 N.E.2d 683, 167 Ind. App. 279, 1975 Ind. App. LEXIS 1439, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-lawrence-v-city-of-indianapolis-indctapp-1975.