Hodek v. Greater Nelson County Consortium

520 N.W.2d 825, 1994 WL 458618
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 14, 1994
DocketCiv. 930351
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 520 N.W.2d 825 (Hodek v. Greater Nelson County Consortium) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hodek v. Greater Nelson County Consortium, 520 N.W.2d 825, 1994 WL 458618 (N.D. 1994).

Opinions

NEUMANN, Justice.

Charles Hodek, Jr., and Greg Daws have appealed from a judgment dismissing an action against the Greater Nelson County Consortium. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.

Pursuant to Ch. 15-27.6, N.D.C.C., seven independent public school districts — Aneta, Crary, Lakota, MeVille, Michigan, Tolna, and Unity — formed a consortium on July 1, 1990, to plan and implement the restructuring of school district boundaries. Each participating district appointed one of its members to an interim district board, which developed a proposal to merge the seven member districts into a single school district on July 1, [826]*8261993. The board determined the value and amount of all school property and indebtedness of each participating school district, made an adjustment of all property, assets, debts, and liabilities among the districts, determined the amount necessary to meet the expenses of the proposed reorganized district, and proposed a tax levy to meet those expenses.1

After approval of the county committee and the state board, a special election was called for November 10, 1992. The ballot asked voters to decide if the seven school districts should “form a new school district, with a general fund levy of 174.83 mills, in accordance with the reorganization proposal.” Voters in the Crary and Lakota school districts rejected the proposal, thus removing them from the consortium. In December 1992, an interim district board made up of representatives from the five remaining districts voted to adopt a revised restructuring plan.2 The revised plan proposed the merger of the Aneta, McVille, Michigan, Tolna, and Unity school districts into a single school district — Dakota Prairie School District No. 1 — on July 1, 1993, and proposed: “The maximum general mill levy for the school district for the 1993-94 school year will be 188 mills.”

By complaint dated June 21, 1993, Hodek, Daws, Allan Anderson, Larry Zacha, Francis Solberg, and Daniel Shirek brought a declaratory judgment action requesting that the district court issue orders:

“1. Issue its interim Order restraining defendant from proceeding with actions in reliance upon the levy of a tax at 188 mills and with actions taken for expenditure of funds in reliance upon the revenue from such mill levy without a re-vote;
“2. For the Court’s further determination that the proposed general mill levy for the school district for the 1993-94 school year at 188 mills cannot be accomplished without a re-vote....”

The district court determined:

“5. The Revised Restructuring Plan for the Dakota Prairie Public School District was approved by the State Board of Public School Education prior to the hearing of this matter on June 28, 1993. That Plan provided for a general mill levy for the [827]*827school district for the 1993-94 school year of 188 mills.
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“7. Two bills were enacted amending § 15-27.6-10(3), namely Senate Bill 2528 passed by the House on March 18, 1993 and House Bill 1003 passed by the Senate on April 24, 1993. Neither of these bills contained a requirement to re-vote or a retroactive provision. Therefore, neither bill was effective prior to approval of the Revised Restructuring Plan by the State Board of Public School Education.”

The court concluded:

“2. Defendant has established that there is no genuine issue of any material fact; that there is no statutory basis for granting plaintiffs’ request for a re-vote; that the two pieces of 1993 legislation (namely House Bill No. 1003 and Senate Bill No. 2528) are not irreconcilable or retroactive; that the revised proposal for the Dakota Prairie Public School District was approved by the State Board for Public School Education prior to July 1, 1993; and that the defendant is therefore entitled to a judgment of dismissal as a matter of law.”

A judgment of dismissal was entered. Ho-dek and Daws appealed.

As noted above, after the November 10, 1992, special election removed the Crary and Lakota school districts from the consortium, the interim district board made up of representatives from the five remaining districts adopted, and the state board approved, a revised restructuring plan, which proposed the merger of the Aneta, McVille, Michigan, Tolna, and Unity districts into one district on July 1, 1993, and proposed a maximum general fund mill levy of 188 mills for the 1993-94 school year. This was done in accordance with § 15-27.6-10(3), N.D.C.C. (S.L.1991, ch. 170, § 9), which, prior to its amendments in the 1993 legislative session, did not require a re-vote or contain a mill levy limit.3 The argument of amicus curiae that § 15-27.6-10, N.D.C.C., requires tax levies to be determined as provided in § 15-27.3-06, N.D.C.C., which requires any proposed tax levy to be submitted to the electors of a proposed district is without merit. A plain reading of § 15-27.6-10, N.D.C.C., discloses that only an initial proposal must be put to a vote. Once a vote has been taken, however, and some, but not all, districts vote in favor of a new district, the interim district board can, without an election, adopt a new proposal and determine the tax levy under § 15-27.6-10(3), N.D.C.C., as enacted in 1991.

Section 15-27.6-10(3), N.D.C.C., was amended four times in the 1993 legislative session. For purposes of this case, we are concerned with S.B. 2528 and H.B. 1003. Section 15-27.6-10(3), N.D.C.C., was first amended by passage of S.B. 2528 (S.L.1993, ch. 182, § 6) in the Senate on February 10, 1993, and in the House on March 18, 1993. That amendment specifically provided that no additional vote is required on a revised reorganization proposal submitted after an election in which some, but not all, districts voted to reorganize and those districts voting in favor complete a reorganization under a revised proposal. That amendment also introduced a mill levy limitation, requiring that the revised mill levy not exceed the number of mills voted on under the original reorganization proposal by more than ten percent. That amendment had no effect on the revised reorganization plan at issue in this case, however. House Bill 1003 (S.L.1993, ch. 3, § 16), which was passed by both the House and the Senate on April 24, 1993, prevailed over S.B. 2528. See § 1-02-09.1, N.D.C.C. (If amendments to the same statute “are irreconcilable, the latest in date of enactment prevails.”). The other 1993 amendments [S.L.1993, ch. 179, § 3 (S.B. 2184) and S.L. 1993, ch. 184, § 2 (H.B. 1413) ] were ineffective on this reorganization and in the resolution of this appeal.

House Bill 1003 amended § 15-27.6-10(3), N.D.C.C., to provide in part:

“If fewer than all of the districts vote in favor of a new district, any contiguous districts voting in favor of the proposal [828]*828shall form a new district provided the state board approves and:
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Related

Eggl v. Letvin Equipment Co.
2001 ND 144 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 2001)
Lang v. State
2001 ND App 2 (North Dakota Court of Appeals, 2001)
Aafedt v. N.D. State Board of Public School Education
540 N.W.2d 393 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1995)
Hodek v. Greater Nelson County Consortium
531 N.W.2d 280 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1995)

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Bluebook (online)
520 N.W.2d 825, 1994 WL 458618, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hodek-v-greater-nelson-county-consortium-nd-1994.