CopyCited 38 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Nov 1, 1991 | 261 Ga. 657
...The county's political subdivisions failed to produce a negotiated certificate. The City of Atlanta sued the commissioner challenging the new distribution formula and its proposed effective date. The trial court enjoined the commissioner from altering the distribution formula on the grounds that OCGA §
48-8-89 requires the formula to change on January 1, 1992....
...e commissioner receives a certificate as provided in this Code section, which certificate shall provide other percentages upon which the commissioner shall make the distribution to the political subdivisions entitled to the proceeds of the tax. OCGA §
48-8-89(b) (Supp.1991)....
...the commissioner institutes a new distribution formula after notifying the county that a minority municipality elects absent municipality status. [1] Other sections of the Act bolster our selection of January 1 as the preferred date. See, e.g., OCGA §
48-8-89.1(d) (terminating tax district's authority to impose tax on January 1 for failure to file a new certificate); OCGA §
48-8-89.1(e) (distributing proceeds under new certificate required by additional qualified municipality on January 1); see also 1980 Op....
...Either remedy comports with the Act's intent to encourage counties and qualified municipalities to negotiate the distribution certificate. Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur. NOTES [1] This rule does not alter the effective dates of distribution formulas under OCGA §§
48-8-89.2 and
48-8-89.3.
CopyCited 16 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Mar 15, 2018
...461, 463 (1),
458 S.E.2d 110 (1995).
In its order, the trial court relied entirely upon this Court's decision in Turner County v. City of Ashburn,
293 Ga. 739,
749 S.E.2d 685 (2013), holding that the dispute resolution process included in the Local Option Sales Tax ("LOST") Act, former OCGA §
48-8-89 (d) (4), violated the separation of powers doctrine by authorizing "judicial resolution of the allocation and distribution of tax proceeds, an exclusively legislative power." Id. at 745,
749 S.E.2d 685. The prescribed process for resolution of a local option sales tax dispute under former OCGA §
48-8-89 (d) provided for a negotiated allocation of LOST proceeds between a county and its qualified municipalities, followed by nonbinding arbitration. If that process failed to produce an agreement, any party could petition the superior court for a resolution under former OCGA §
48-8-89 (d) (4)....
...lusive criteria listed therein. The court would then prepare a "distribution certificate," a document ordinarily created by agreement of the parties receiving the tax proceeds, and file that certificate with the commissioner of revenue.8 Former OCGA §
48-8-89 (d) (4) (D).
*285In analyzing this process, this Court observed that the authority to impose taxation is a legislative function of the state or local government, and that the decision to renew an existing tax or allow it to expire is a purely legislative issue left solely to the elected legislative body's discretion....
...no manifest abuse of power or failure to abide by constitutional or legislative directives regarding the purposes for which the revenues may be spent." Id. at 745-746,
749 S.E.2d 685.
Applying these principles, this Court concluded that former OCGA §
48-8-89 (d) (4) authorized the superior court to go beyond a factual determination of matters in dispute and to allocate tax proceeds based upon its own weighing of an indefinite number of factors, substituting its judgment for that of the parties....
...Lowndes County, the City of Valdosta, the City of Greensboro, the Georgia Municipal Association with the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Savannah, and the Attorney General have filed briefs amici curiae. The Court appreciates their helpful and informative briefing.
Former OCGA §
48-8-89 (b) provided that the distribution certificate "shall be executed in behalf of each respective governing authority ......
CopyCited 15 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Mar 15, 2018
...461, 463 (1) (458 SE2d 110) (1995).
In its order, the trial court relied entirely upon this Court’s decision in
Turner County v. City of Ashburn,
293 Ga. 739 (749 SE2d 685) (2013), holding
that the dispute resolution process included in the Local Option Sales Tax
(“LOST”) Act, former OCGA §
48-8-89 (d) (4), violated the separation of
powers doctrine by authorizing “judicial resolution of the allocation and
distribution of tax proceeds, an exclusively legislative power.” Id. at 745. The
prescribed process for resolution of a local option sales tax dispute under former
OCGA §
48-8-89 (d) provided for a negotiated allocation of LOST proceeds
between a county and its qualified municipalities, followed by nonbinding
arbitration. If that process failed to produce an agreement, any party could
12
petition the superior court for a resolution under former OCGA §
48-8-89 (d)
(4)....
...criteria listed therein. The court
would then prepare a “distribution certificate,” a document ordinarily created by
agreement of the parties receiving the tax proceeds, and file that certificate with
the Commissioner of Revenue.8 Former OCGA §
48-8-89 (d) (4) (D).
In analyzing this process, this Court observed that the authority to impose
taxation is a legislative function of the state or local government, and that the
decision to renew an existing tax or allow it to expire is a purely legislative issue
8
Former OCGA §
48-8-89 (b) provided that the distribution certificate “shall be
executed in behalf of each respective governing authority ....
...etween a county
government and a municipality. See Turner County v. City of Ashburn,
293 Ga.
739 (749 SE2d 685) (2013). In Turner County, this Court held that the dispute
resolution process included in the Local Option Sales Tax Act, former OCGA
§
48-8-89 (d) (4), violated the “separation of powers doctrine of the Georgia
Constitution of 1983, Art....
...cal
Option Sales Tax (“LOST”) Act involved in Turner County v. City of Ashburn,
293 Ga. 739 (749 SE2d 685) (2013), which this Court deemed to be
unconstitutional. The judicial resolution statute formerly included in the LOST
Act (former OCGA §
48-8-89 (d) (4) (D)) provided that if the parties did not
arrive at an agreement for allocating LOST proceeds after engaging in
nonbinding arbitration, then any party could petition the superior court for a
resolution....
...and
the trial court then prepared a tax distribution certificate for the parties and
submitted it to the Commissioner of Revenue. Id. As noted by the majority,
this Court concluded that the judicial resolution procedure set forth in former
OCGA §
48-8-89 (d) (4) (D) improperly invaded the legislative function that is
reserved to the elected legislative body....
CopyCited 8 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Oct 7, 2013 | 749 S.E.2d 685
...Generally speaking, once the governing authorities of a special district have been authorized to collect the tax by referendum elections, they are initially required to agree to the distribution of collected funds in accordance with criteria set forth in OCGA §
48-8-89 (b), based in part upon population distribution between the governing entities, and then to notify the revenue commissioner by filing a certificate executed by each respective governing authority....
...The commissioner then disburses the tax revenue pursuant to the agreement of the parties, after deducting the State’s one percent administration fee. Failure to file a certificate by the required date results in revocation of authority to impose the tax. OCGA §
48-8-89 (c)....
...ute, “make rational the allocation of [tax] resources,” and then to-file a renewed certificate; otherwise, authority to collect the tax expires on December 31 of the second year following the year in which the decennial census is conducted. OCGA §
48-8-89 (d) (1)....
...Failure to reach an agreement resulted in termination of authority to collect the tax and if no certificate was filed regarding the manner in which previously collected taxes were to be distributed, then the proceeds were to escheat to the state.
In 2010, the legislature amended and rewrote OCGA §
48-8-89 (d)....
...The judge’s decision shall adopt the best and final offer of one of the parties ... and shall also include findings of fact. The judge shall enter a final order containing a new distribution certificate and transmit a copy of it to the commissioner.
OCGA §
48-8-89 (d) (4) (D). The statute provides limited grounds for appellate review of the judge’s decision. OCGA §
48-8-89 (d) (4) (E).
*742In the case now before us, appellant Turner County and appellees, who are the qualified municipalities within the special taxing district involved in this dispute, reached an impasse in their negotiations for renewing the...
...ment. The court also entered a final order adopting the final and best offer of the municipalities and finding that the municipalities’ offer more closely comported with the requirements of the statute and the intent and criteria set forth in OCGA §
48-8-89 (b)....
...Upon consideration of the enumerations of error raised by Turner County and the briefing of the parties and amicus curiae, as well as oral argument, it is apparent that one issue is dispositive of the case: whether the procedure for judicial resolution set forth in OCGA §
48-8-89 (d) (4) violates the separation of powers doctrine of the Georgia Constitution of 1983, Art. I, Sec. II, Par. III. We conclude this procedure does violate the separation of powers doctrine, as set forth below, and declare that portion of the statute to be void.
Until the 2010 amendment to OCGA §
48-8-89 (d) (4), both the levy of a tax to be renewed pursuant to the LOST Act as well as the allocation of the proceeds of the tax required approval of the elected governing authority of each governmental entity participating in the tax....
...on of a dispute regarding the renewal of *743LOST and the distribution of tax proceeds upon renewal was left solely to the discretion of the governing bodies involved in the LOST. As shown by Turner County, the additional procedure set forth in OCGA §
48-8-89 (d) (4), whereby one necessary party to the required renewal certificate may petition the superior court for an order determining how tax proceeds shall be distributed within the special tax district, effectively permits a municipality or...
...service delivery responsibilities and the existing allocation of proceeds made available to such governments under the provisions of this article and make rational the allocation of such resources to meet such service delivery responsibilities.
OCGA §
48-8-89 (d) (1)....
...of legislation.”). But in this case we are not invalidating a tax and not striking the LOST Act or its terms for how the tax may be levied or for what purposes the proceeds may be applied. We are striking only the 2010 amendment, codified at OCGA §
48-8-89 (d) (4), which effectively grants judicial resolution of the allocation and distribution of tax proceeds, a process that we deem to be a clear violation of the separation of powers doctrine....
...Contrary to the assertion of the municipalities, this holding does not expand or violate this Court’s standards for constitutional review of legislative acts.14 In sum, the trial court erred when it denied Turner County’s motion to dismiss and sustained the constitutionality of the 2010 amendment to OCGA §
48-8-89 and so its order on said motion is reversed. The order on the municipalities’ petition, entered pursuant to OCGA §
48-8-89 (d) (4), is vacated....
...ll as ad valorem property taxes.
Ga. L. 1979, p. 446.
The provisions of Constitutional Amendment 19, referenced in the Taylor County case, are now found at Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. IX, Sec. II, Pars. Ill and VI.
Ga. L. 2010, p. 958.
See OCGA §
48-8-89 (b).
There has been no contention of a manifest abuse of power in this case.
“Baseball arbitration” is a unique type of arbitration, first adopted by major league baseball to arbitrate salary disputes, wherein “each party makes h...
CopyCited 6 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Oct 19, 1989 | 259 Ga. 570
...Once a referendum passes, the political subdivisions negotiate the percentage each will receive. If a qualified minority municipality [1] decides that it does not wish to be included in the certificate of distribution, then it can elect to be an "absent municipality." OCGA §
48-8-89 (b)....
...unicipality's population bears to the total population of qualified municipalities within the special district multiplied by that portion of the remaining proceeds which are received by all qualified municipalities within the special district. [OCGA §
48-8-89 (b).] Because the act allows a qualified minority municipality to elect to be an "absent municipality," it protects the majority from a possible minority holdout which might otherwise prevent the enactment of the local sales and use tax after citizen approval....
...pose the tax within a district terminates if a municipality becomes qualified after a certificate of distribution has been submitted to the department and the submitting subdivisions do not file a new certificate of distribution within 60 days. OCGA §
48-8-89.1 (d). Moreover, a municipality that becomes qualified after a certificate of distribution has been submitted to the revenue department is also guaranteed a proportional share of the taxes collected if it elects to be an "absent municipality." OCGA §
48-8-89.1 (c). The General Assembly intended that all qualified municipalities share proportionally in the proceeds of the sales and use tax approved and paid for by their citizens. OCGA §§
48-8-89 (b);
48-8-89.1 (c)....
...wed to flourish as "absent municipalities" should they elect this status after negotiations. NOTES [1] A qualified minority municipality is a political subdivision with less than half of the aggregate population of all qualified municipalities. OCGA §
48-8-89 (b).
CopyCited 4 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Jun 11, 1992 | 262 Ga. 261, 92 Fulton County D. Rep. 927
...cipality's population bears to the total population of all qualified municipalities within the special district multiplied by that portion of the remaining proceeds which are received by all qualified municipalities within the special district. OCGA §
48-8-89 (b). Under this formula, absent municipalities receive their pro rata share of the tax proceeds based on their percentage of the population of all the qualified municipalities in the county. Relying on OCGA §
48-8-89, this court held that a qualified minority municipality may withdraw its consent from a distribution certificate *263 after its population increases....
...ties. The statute apparently does not permit the county's percentage to be reduced except by agreement of the county's political subdivisions, by their failure to file a new certificate when required, or by a vote that terminates the tax. See OCGA §§
48-8-89;
48-8-89.1;
48-8-89.3;
48-8-92. As a result, the percentage allocated to the county does not change when a minority municipality elects to become absent from the certificate. Cf. OCGA §
48-8-89.3 (b) (4) (1991 Supp.) (requiring no change in county's percentage in new distribution formula imposed because a qualified municipality has been omitted from a distribution certificate)....
...The legislature made clear that "only that portion of the population of each [absent] municipality which is located within the special [tax] district" should be considered to determine both each municipality's population and the total population of all qualified municipalities within the special district. See OCGA §§
48-8-89 (b);
48-8-89.1 (b);
48-8-89.3 (b) (2) & (d)....
...that district. Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur. NOTES [2] A minority municipality is a qualified municipality with "less than one-half of the aggregate population of all qualified municipalities located within the special district." OCGA §
48-8-89 (b).
CopyCited 3 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Mar 7, 1984 | 252 Ga. 330
...he denial of summary judgment on the remaining issues. 1. Plaintiff contends that the county is required by Art. 9, Sec. 2, Par. 3 (Code Ann. § 2-4903) (Const. 1983; former Art IX, Sec. IV, *331 Par. II, Const. 1976 (Code Ann. § 2-6102)), and OCGA §
48-8-89 (a) (2) (Code Ann. § 91A-4608), to use the proceeds from the local option sales tax to reduce the millage rate in the special service tax district. OCGA §
48-8-89 (a) (2) (Code Ann....
...The constitution provides further that such powers and services shall not be performed by a county within a city, and vice versa, except by contract or as provided by local or special law (former provision) or except by contract or as provided by law (new provision). Plaintiff argues that because OCGA §
48-8-89 (a) (2) (Code Ann....
...nd be coterminous with the geographical boundary of one of the 159 special districts. Several sections of the local option sales tax act *332 refer to municipalities "within" the special district. See OCGA §§
48-8-82,
48-8-84,
48-8-85,
48-8-86 and
48-8-89 (Code Ann....
CopyPublished | Supreme Court of Georgia | May 13, 2002 | 565 S.E.2d 439, 2002 Fulton County D. Rep. 1400
...l districts in the State. E.g., OCGA §§
48-8-82,
48-8-84,
48-8-85,
48-8-86, 48-8-87.1 The Act contains provisions which limit application of the Act only to that percentage of a qualified municipality which lies within a special district. See OCGA §
48-8-89.3 (d), which provides that “[flor the purpose of all population based calculations under this Code section, only that portion of the population of a qualified municipality which is located within the special district shall be computed.” See also OCGA §§
48-8-89 (b),
48-8-89.3 (b) (2)....
