Board of County Com'rs of County of Laramie v. Laramie County School Dist. Number One

• Citation: 884 P.2d 946
• Decision Date: 07 November 1994
• Docket Number: No. 93-234,93-234
• Parties: 95 Ed. Law Rep. 737 The BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF the COUNTY OF LARAMIE and The Laramie County Treasurer, In Her Official Capacity, Appellants (Defendants), v. LARAMIE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT NUMBER ONE, Appellee (Plaintiff).
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Wyoming

Page 946

884 P.2d 946

95 Ed. Law Rep. 737

The BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF the COUNTY OF LARAMIE and The Laramie County Treasurer, In Her Official Capacity, Appellants (Defendants), v. LARAMIE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT NUMBER ONE, Appellee (Plaintiff).

No. 93-234.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

Nov. 7, 1994.

Thomas N. Long, Cheyenne, Craig E. Kirkwood, Laramie, and Roberta A. Coates and Cynthia L. Harnett, Cheyenne, for appellants.

J. Kent Rutledge of Lathrop & Rutledge, P.C., Cheyenne, for appellee.

Valerie Hafner Phifer, Lander, for amicus curiae Wyoming County Com'rs Ass'n.

Tracy J. Copenhaver and R. Scott Kath of Copenhaver, Kath & Kitchen, Powell, for amicus curiae Wyoming School Boards Ass'n.

Eric A. Easton, Natrona County Atty., Casper, for amicus curiae Bd. of County Com'rs and Treasurers of Albany, Campbell, Fremont, Natrona, Park, Sublette, Teton and Weston Counties.

Before GOLDEN, C.J., THOMAS, CARDINE ^* and MACY, ^** JJ., and BROWN, J., Retired.

BROWN, Justice, Retired.

Laramie County School District No. One (School District) filed this action to obtain a declaration that: (1) the School District is entitled to interest earned by the Laramie County Treasurer on revenues collected for the School District between the time the revenues were collected and the time they were distributed to the School District; (2) the School District is entitled to the interest paid by taxpayers for delinquent taxes attributable to the School District; and (3) the interest earned by the Laramie County Treasurer on revenues attributable to school district bond levies must be applied to retire the School District's bond issues. In addition, the School District requested that the Board of County Commissioners of the County of Laramie and the Laramie County Treasurer pay over to or for the benefit of the School District the amounts which have been improperly diverted in the past.

The district court granted a partial summary judgment to the School District substantially awarding the relief requested. The only issue reserved for trial was a factual issue regarding the amount of interest withheld by the Laramie County Treasurer.

We affirm and hold that our determination will be prospective.

Appellants, Board of County Commissioners of the County of Laramie (Board) and the Laramie County Treasurer (County Treasurer), identify these issues:

I. Whether the trial court properly entered partial summary judgment requiring Laramie County to pay damages to Laramie County School District No. One.

A. Whether, appellant Laramie County should be required to pay damages given appellee's defenses of lack of standing, general restitution principles, and the budget defense.

B. Whether the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to award certain damages to appellee because appellee

failed to comply with the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act.

C. Whether equitable principles prevent recovery of damages by appellee Laramie County School District No. One.

D. Whether collection of a portion of the damages sought is barred by the applicable statute of limitations.

II. Whether the trial court properly entered partial summary judgment in favor of Laramie County School District No. One, to the extent such judgment requires prospective payment of certain interest amounts by Laramie County to Laramie County School District No. One.

A. Whether, under Wyo.Stat. § 21-13-207, taxes collected by the Laramie County Treasurer "belong" to the school district before the time of apportionment and distribution.

B. Whether Wyo.Stat. § 21-13-207 requires interest earned upon taxes collected by the Laramie County Treasurer, prior to the second Monday of the month, to be paid to the school district.

C. Whether Article 15 § 13 of the Wyoming Constitution requires Laramie County to pay over any interest earnings to the School District or its "bond and interest" accounts.

D. Whether appellants have a statutory or common law duty to earn interest on taxes collected for appellee school district.

E. Whether Wyo.Stat. § 21-13-207 requires that interest be paid on fines and forfeitures.

The School District urges slightly different issues:

I.

Is the County Treasurer obligated to pay over to the School District[ ] interest earned on revenues collected for the School District while those revenues were in the possession of the Treasurer, and interest collected by the Treasurer on the School District's share of delinquent property taxes?

II.

Do the defenses raised by Appellants prevent entry of partial summary judgment?

A. Does the School District have standing to bring an action to require the County Treasurer and the County Commissioners to pay over interest earned in the past which was improperly diverted?

B. Must the School District file a claim under the Governmental Claims Act in order to give the District Court jurisdiction to recover monies which were improperly diverted in the past by the County Treasurer?

C. Are the affirmative equitable defenses, including the so-called "budget defense", waiver, estoppel, laches, and set-off applicable in an action by a school district to require the County Treasurer and the County Commissioners to pay over monies which were improperly diverted?

D. Is the statute of limitations applicable to bar the School District from bringing an action to require the County Treasurer and the County Commissioners to pay over monies which were improperly diverted?

III.

Does the County Treasurer have a duty to act with reasonable skill, diligence, good faith and honesty, and to act as a fiduciary, with regard to the funds collected and held on behalf of the School District?

Our resolution of this case makes it unnecessary to address all the issues urged by the parties. Furthermore, in an effort not to multiply words and obscure our determination, we will not analyze every case cited or address every theory urged by the parties.

The adjudicative facts are not complicated. The County Treasurer collected revenues which she was required to collect for the School District and distributed those revenues to the School District. Since June 30, 1983, the revenue collected has earned interest between the time of collection and the time of distribution to the School District. Instead of distributing this interest to the School District, along with the revenues which produced it, the County Treasurer made the interest available to the Board who used it for county purposes. Additionally, since September 1, 1988, the County Treasurer has collected interest paid by taxpayers on delinquent property taxes attributable to school district taxes and made that interest available for Board purposes.

The School District brought this declaratory judgment action for: (1) a declaration of rights and liabilities of the two governmental entities; ¹ and (2) the recovery of money that should have been distributed to it in the past.

The Board and the County Treasurer counterclaimed, seeking reimbursement for interest on delinquent real property taxes which the County Treasurer had distributed and a declaratory judgment that the County Treasurer had no duty to invest and earn interest on revenues collected for the School District.

In an order dated October 7, 1993, a partial summary judgment was granted in favor of the School District. At the same time, the motion for summary judgment by the Board and the County Treasurer was denied. The summary judgment granted to the School District resolved all issues except for the issue of the amount of interest withheld by the County Treasurer. That issue was reserved for trial, there being a factual dispute concerning the calculation of the amount. The dispositive provisions of the summary judgment are:

1. Judgment in favor of the School District on the issues of the rights and obligations of the parties concerning interest earned on the various revenues in question; declaring that the County Treasurer has an obligation to pay over to the School District, or to its bond and interest fund, as the case may be, interest earned on revenues collected for the School District while those revenues were in the hands of the County Treasurer; and interest collected on delinquent property taxes attributable to the School District; and

2. Judgment in favor of the School District regarding the duty of the County Treasurer to earn interest; declaring that the County Treasurer has a duty to act with reasonable skill, diligence, good faith and honesty; and that the County Treasurer is a fiduciary with regard to the funds collected and held on behalf of the School District.

The summary judgment order provided that there was no just reason for delay and that final judgment should be entered pursuant to W.R.C.P. 54(b) as to the claims resolved in the order. An appeal was taken accordingly.

STANDING TO BRING LAWSUIT

The Board and the County Treasurer contend that the School District does not have standing to bring this action because it would violate the rule that one governmental entity cannot sue another, since it would in effect be suing itself.

We believe that Simons v. Laramie County School Dist. No. One, 741 P.2d 1116 (Wyo.1987) is dispositive of the standing issue. In Simons, the school district brought a declaratory judgment proceeding, seeking a determination of the rights and liabilities of the parties under a statute affecting state educational funding and to recover payments that had been withheld from the school district. The state contended that the school district, as a constitutionally implemented instrumentality of the state, could not claim unpaid amounts withheld by other public officials. Id. at 1121. This court rejected the state's argument. In Simons, we said: "[S]overeign immunity as a doctrine in Wyoming does not apply to proceedings between segments of state government wherein declaratory judgment or administrative appeal provisions are available to determine respective rights and liabilities under...