Graves v. Greene County

2013 Ark. 493, 430 S.W.3d 722, 37 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 531, 2013 WL 6327506, 2013 Ark. LEXIS 587
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedDecember 5, 2013
DocketCV-13-552
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 2013 Ark. 493 (Graves v. Greene County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Graves v. Greene County, 2013 Ark. 493, 430 S.W.3d 722, 37 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 531, 2013 WL 6327506, 2013 Ark. LEXIS 587 (Ark. 2013).

Opinion

JIM HANNAH, Chief Justice.

| Appellant, Claude Graves, appeals the order of the Greene County Circuit Court denying his claim for reimbursement of expenses incurred while working as a constable and rejecting his claim that the Greene County ordinance setting constable salaries at $25 per month was arbitrary and capricious and therefore unconstitutional. We affirm the circuit court’s order.

On January 28, 2008, Graves was appointed Constable for the Shady Grove Township, Greene County, by Governor Mike Beebe. He was elected Constable in November 2008 and served in that position until he finished his term on December 31, 2012. On February 26, 2010, in CV-2010-66, Graves filed a complaint in circuit court against Greene County; Greene County Quorum Court; and Jesse Dollars, in his official capacity as County Judge of Greene County (collectively, “Greene County”), and sought |2a writ of mandamus to compel the quorum court to reimburse him for his expenses and set a salary for constables. Graves then filed a motion for summary judgment, and Greene County filed a response. The circuit court entered an order granting partial summary judgment in favor of Graves, finding that pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated section 14-14-1205(d), the quorum court was required to fix a salary for constables and that the salary amount was within the quorum court’s discretion. In addition, the circuit court found that the claim for expenses was not properly before the circuit court; rather, that claim first had to be presented to Greene County.

In March 2011, the finance committee of the quorum court met to discuss setting a salary for constables. At the meeting, the committee assessed the work performance of the constables in light of the role of the Greene County Sheriffs Office and reviewed the salaries of constables from other counties in the state. On March 21, 2011, the quorum court passed Appropriation Ordinance No. 2011-06, which set the constable salaries at $25 per month.

Meanwhile, pursuant to the circuit court’s order, Graves submitted claims for expenses in the amount of approximately $4,142 to the Greene County Clerk. The Clerk then transferred the claims to the Greene County Judge, who denied them. A hearing was held before the quorum court, and on May 10, 2011, an order was entered denying Graves’s claims for expenses. Graves then filed CV-2011-131 in the circuit court, appealing the order denying payment of the expenses he incurred while working as a constable.

On July 22, 2011, Graves filed in the circuit court CV-2011-184, a complaint for declaratory judgment seeking to have the ordinance setting the salaries for constables declared ^unconstitutional as being arbitrary and capricious. The circuit court consolidated CV-2010-66, CV-2011-131, and CV-2011-184, conducted a de novo review and, after a hearing and consideration of the pleadings filed, proof submitted through testimony and exhibits, briefs submitted and statements of counsel, denied Graves’s claim for reimbursement of expenses and found that the ordinance setting the salary for constables was not unconstitutional. Graves now brings this appeal.

Graves first contends that the circuit court erred in denying his claim for reimbursement of expenses incurred while working as a constable. He maintains that, pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated section 14-14-1207(a), Greene County was required to reimburse him for his expenses. Greene County responds that Graves’s reliance on section 14-14-1207(a) is misplaced because that statute applies only to county and district officials and not to constables, who are township officers.

A brief review of the relevant history of section 14-14-1207(a) is helpful to an understanding of the parties’ arguments. Before it was amended in 2009, section 14-14-1207(a) provided as follows: Ark.Code Ann. § 14-14-1207(a) (Repl. 1998) (emphasis added).

(a) Reimbursement authorized. All elected county and township officers, and employees thereof shall be entitled to receive reimbursement of allowable expenses incurred in the conduct of county affairs where the incurrence of expense is not discretionary in the conduct of duties assigned by law. Reimbursement of allowable expenses which are incurred in the performance of discretionary functions may be permitted where provided for by a specific appropriation of the county quorum court.

In 2009, section 14-14-1207(a) was amended so that it now reads:

(a) Reimbursement authorized. All county and district officials and authorized deputies |4or employees thereof shall be entitled to receive reimbursement of expenses incurred in the conduct of official and nondiscretionary duties under an appropriation for the operating expenses of an office, function, or service. Reimbursement of expenses that are incurred in the performance of discretionary functions and services may be permitted when provided for by a specific appropriation of the quorum court.

Ark.Code Ann. § 14-14-1207(a) (Supp. 2011) (emphasis added); see Act of Apr. 1, 2009, No. 732, 2009 Ark. Acts 3839. Thus, the current version of the statute authorizes reimbursement for county and district officials, whereas the prior version of the statute authorized reimbursement for elected county and township officers.

We begin by determining which version of the statute applies in this case. Graves asserts that constables are both “elected township officers” and “district officials” for the purposes of reimbursement; therefore, he appears to contend that both versions of the statute are applicable. We disagree. Based on the record before us, we conclude that the current version of the statute applies in this case. Section 14-14-1207(a) was rewritten by Act 732 of 2009, which did not contain an emergency clause or a specified effective date; therefore, pursuant to amendment 7 of the Arkansas Constitution, the Act became effective ninety days after the adjournment of the legislative session at which it was enacted. See Tate v. Bennett, 341 Ark. 829, 833 n. 3, 20 S.W.3d 370, 372 n. 3 (2000). The session in which Act 732 was approved adjourned on May 1, 2009; thus, the Act became effective on July 31, 2009. See Op. Ark. Att’y Gen. No. 90 (2009). Linda Heritage, Greene County Clerk, testified that in 2011, Graves presented to her invoices and claims for payment of expenses for 2008, 2009, 2010, and “a portion” of 2011. Because Graves sought reimbursement in 2011, after the statute had been amended, the current version of the statute is applicable in this case.

1 ¿Having determined that the current version of the statute is applicable, we must now consider Graves’s argument that, as constable, he is a “district official” for the purposes of section 14-14-1207(a) (Supp.2011). The question of the correct application and interpretation of an Arkansas statute is a question of law, which this court decides de novo. E.g., Bennett & DeLoney, P.C. v. State ex rel. McDaniel, 2012 Ark. 119, 388 S.W.3d 12. The basic rule of statutory construction is to give effect to the intent of the legislature. E.g., Dachs v. Hendrix, 2009 Ark. 542, 354 S.W.3d 95. Where the language of a statute is plain and unambiguous, we determine legislative intent from the ordinary meaning of the language used. Id.

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2013 Ark. 493, 430 S.W.3d 722, 37 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 531, 2013 WL 6327506, 2013 Ark. LEXIS 587, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/graves-v-greene-county-ark-2013.