Question Submitted by: The Honorable Ron Justice, State Senator, District 23

2014 OK AG 15
CourtOklahoma Attorney General Reports
DecidedOctober 31, 2014
StatusUnpublished

This text of 2014 OK AG 15 (Question Submitted by: The Honorable Ron Justice, State Senator, District 23) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oklahoma Attorney General Reports primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Question Submitted by: The Honorable Ron Justice, State Senator, District 23, 2014 OK AG 15 (Okla. Super. Ct. 2014).

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OSCN Found Document:Question Submitted by: The Honorable Ron Justice, State Senator, District 23
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Question Submitted by: The Honorable Ron Justice, State Senator, District 23
2014 OK AG 15
Decided: 10/31/2014
Oklahoma Attorney General Opinions


Cite as: 2014 OK AG 15, __ __

¶0 This office has received your request for an official Attorney General Opinion in which you ask, in effect, the following questions:
In 1996 Canadian County voters approved a county sales tax for the purpose of financing, construction and equipping of a juvenile delinquents detention facility, and juvenile justice facilities, including design, construction, expenses, operations, equipment, and furnishings.
1. What type of activity constitutes the operations of a juvenile delinquents detention facility and a juvenile justice facility?
2. What limitations exist, if any, on the type of programs that can be funded by this sales tax? May the proceeds be used to finance the operation of juvenile rehabilitation and education programs such as truancy enforcement, an alternative school for Canadian County students who have been suspended from their home school, drug screening for children, substance abuse treatment, drug court for families with children in the custody of the Department of Human Services and the supervision of visitation and child exchange between divorced parents?
3. May the proceeds of the sales tax be used to pay salaries and expenses related to the operation of a juvenile bureau created pursuant to 10A O.S.2011 & Supp.2014, §§ 2-4-101 through 2-4-110?
4. What are the responsibilities of the trustees of the public trust that owns the facilities, the members of the county excise board and the board of county commissioners with regard to how the proceeds from this sales tax are expended?

I.

No Tax Levied and Collected For One Purpose Shall Ever be Devoted to Another Purpose.

¶1 The resolution for the particular sales tax about which you inquire reads as follows:

A RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR FUNDS FOR CANADIAN COUNTY, OKLAHOMA; AUTHORIZING THE CALLING OF A SALES TAX ELECTION LEVYING A .35 OF ONE CENT SALES TAX ON THE GROSS RECEIPTS OR PROCEEDS ON CERTAIN SALES FOR AN UNLIMITED PERIOD, SUCH TAX TO BE USED FOR CONSTRUCTION, FINANCING AND EQUIPPING OF A JUVENILE DELINQUENTS DETENTION FACILITY AND JUVENILE JUSTICE FACILITIES IN CANADIAN COUNTY, INCLUDING DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, EXPENSES, OPERATIONS, EQUIPMENT AND FURNISHINGS; FIXING AN EFFECTIVE DATE, MAKING PROVISIONS SEPARABLE; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.

Canadian Cnty. Comm'rs Res. No. 96-20.1

¶2 Section 4 of the resolution, which was adopted by the Commissioners of Canadian County, further specified the purpose of the resolution as follows:

It is hereby declared to be the purpose of this Sales Tax Resolution to provide for a county sales tax of .35 of one cent. Such revenues shall be utilized for design, construction, financing, operations, equipment and furnishing of the Facilities to be located in Canadian County.

Canadian Cnty. Comm'rs Res. No. 96-20, § 4, p.2, on file with the Attorney General's Office.

¶3 The term "facilities" is defined in the commissioners' resolution to include the "Juvenile Delinquents Detention Facility and Juvenile Justice Facilities." See id. at p.1, first recital.2 Section 5 of the commissioners' resolution also places the following restrictions on the use of the project described in Section 4.

The abovedescribed [sic] Project to be financed with such Sales Tax is subject to certain restrictions, as follows:

(1) The Project is to be implemented for the development of the Facilities approved by the County Commissioners;

(2) The Facilities are to be owned by the Canadian County Public Facilities Authority, subject to the direction of the Canadian County Commissioners to the Trustees of the Canadian County Public Facilities Authority.

Canadian Cnty. Comm'rs Res. No. 96-20, § 5, p.2. The resolution does not specify whether the proceeds from the sales tax are to be deposited in the county's general revenue fund or a dedicated sales tax revolving fund. We understand from information provided by Canadian County that the sales tax proceeds are deposited into a revolving fund and intermingled with other revenue generated from contracts with schools and state agencies.

¶4 The principal restrictions on a county's use of sales tax funds are imposed by the Oklahoma Constitution at Article X, Section 19.

Every act enacted by the Legislature, and every ordinance and resolution passed by any county, city, town, or municipal board or local legislative body, levying a tax shall specify distinctly the purpose for which said tax is levied, and no tax levied and collected for one purpose shall ever be devoted to another purpose.

Id. (emphasis added). The Oklahoma Supreme Court has held Section 19 contains two distinct commands. The first is that every resolution levying a tax must specify distinctly the tax's purpose and the second is that the funds from a tax once collected for a distinct purpose shall not be used for any other purpose. State ex rel. Bd. of County Comm'rs v. Okla. Tax Comm'n, 1942 OK 266, ¶ 8, 127 P.2d 1052, 1054; see also Black v. Okla. Funding Bond Comm'n, 1943 OK 270 ¶ 6, 140 P.2d 740, 743 (holding that the purpose of Article X, Section 19, is to prohibit the improper use of a tax levy after it has been pledged for a certain purpose).3

¶5 In addition to Article X, Section 19, the Legislature has provided a statutory grant of authority to counties to levy sales taxes.

Any county of this state may levy a sales tax of not to exceed two percent (2%) upon the gross proceeds or gross receipts derived from all sales or services in the county upon which a consumer's sales tax is levied by this state. Before a sales tax may be levied by the county, the imposition of the tax shall first be approved by a majority of the registered voters of the county voting thereon at a special election called by the board of county commissioners or by initiative petition signed by not less than five percent (5%) of the registered voters of the county who were registered at the time of the last general election.

68 O.S.2011, § 1370(A). Subsection E of Section 1370 also echoes the two primary commands of the constitutional provision and gives counties two options for the deposit of the proceeds.

The county shall identify the purpose of the sales tax when it is presented to the voters pursuant to the provisions of subsection A of this section. . . .

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Related

Shipp v. Southeastern Oklahoma Industries Authority
1972 OK 98 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1972)
Cavin v. Board of Com'rs of Garfield County
1934 OK 245 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1934)
State Ex Rel. Board of Com'rs v. Oklahoma Tax Commission
1942 OK 266 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1942)
Black v. Oklahoma Funding Bond Commission
1943 OK 270 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1943)

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2014 OK AG 15, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/question-submitted-by-the-honorable-ron-justice-state-senator-district-oklaag-2014.