City of Macon v. ALLTEL

• Decision Date: 03 May 2004
• Docket Number: No. S04Q0128.,S04Q0128.
• Citation: 596 S.E.2d 589,277 Ga. 823
• Parties: CITY OF MACON v. ALLTEL COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

596 S.E.2d 589

277 Ga. 823

CITY OF MACON v. ALLTEL COMMUNICATIONS, INC.

No. S04Q0128.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

May 3, 2004.

James, Bates, Pope & Spivey, Thomas C. James III, for appellant.

Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge & Rice, Nisbet S. Kendrick III, Adam S. Scott, for appellee.

Robert J. Middleton, Jr., Albany, Susan M. Pruett, Atlanta, Ted C. Baggett, Atlanta, amicus curiae. HINES, Justice.

This case is before the Court on a certified question from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.¹ Alltel Communications v. City of Macon, 345 F.3d 1219 (11th Cir.2003). The question certified is:

Whether Section 18-153 of Article VII of Chapter 18 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Macon, Georgia, as amended in July 1999, is preempted by state law or otherwise invalid so as to preclude the charge of the subject fees in excess of those provided for under Georgia Department of Transportation Rule 672-11-.03.

The answer is that the City of Macon ordinance in question is preempted by OCGA §§ 32-4-92(a)(10), 32-6-174, and Georgia Department of Transportation Rule 672-11-.03 to the extent that the permit fees authorized by the ordinance exceed the rate charged by the Georgia Department of Transportation on its rights-of-way, and are otherwise unrelated to the reasonable costs of recouping the expenses incurred by the City of Macon as a result of allowing Alltel access to its public rights-of-way.

BACKGROUND

The parties entered into the following joint statement of material facts not in dispute. Alltel is a telecommunications company that provides telephone service throughout portions of the United States, including parts of Georgia, by the use of a telecommunications network that includes fiber optic cable. To establish a telecommunications network and the provision of telecommunications service in Georgia, Alltel, among other things, beginning in July 1997, contracted with Georgia Power Company ("Georgia Power") to lease portions of Georgia Power's existing easements and rights-of-way for the installation of fiber optic cable; filed tariffs required by the Georgia Public Service Commission ("PSC"); and, on or about July 4, 1997, obtained "Underground or Aerial Fiber Optic Cable Permit 15" (the "Permit") from the City of Macon ("the City").

In 1997, Alltel installed fiber optic cable on utility poles owned and maintained by Georgia Power along city streets within the City of Macon (the "Macon ROW"). Georgia Power's utility poles are lawfully located in the Macon ROW. The Alltel fiber optic cable is located on the Macon ROW and is not located on or within the Georgia Department of Transportation ("DOT") ROW. Subject to the Permit, Alltel installed a total of 25,555 feet of fiber optic cable on Georgia Power utility poles within the Macon ROW. The Alltel fiber optic cable that is the subject of the Permit and is at issue is trunk communications cable utilized by Alltel exclusively for the purpose of the transmission of intrastate and interstate long distance telecommunications.

From July 1997 through April 11, 2000, under the Permit, the City charged Alltel $2.00 per foot per year as a permit fee for right-of-way usage pursuant to Section 18-153 of Article VII of Chapter 18 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Macon (the "Ordinance"). Alltel, without objection, paid the City this charged rate as a permit fee for right-of-way usage pursuant to the Ordinance. The purpose of the Ordinance is to govern the compensation charged by the City in its franchising and licensing of telecommunications providers and in its management of the use of the public rights-of-way within the corporate limits and boundaries of the City.

On or about July 8, 1999, the City adopted an amendment to the Ordinance to increase the permit fee charged by the City for wire, cable, or conduit located in a city street rights-of-way from $2.00 per foot to $4.50 per foot per year (the "Amended Ordinance").² Under the Amended Ordinance, the City charges $4.50 per foot per year as a permit fee to all entities for placing wires, cables, and conduits in the rights-of-way of City streets. Pursuant to OCGA § 32-6-174,³ the DOT has promulgated Rule 672-11-.03 which provides the Permit Fee Schedule for Long Distance and Trunk Communications Cables.⁴ On April 11, 2000, the City submitted to Alltel an invoice reflecting a fee charge of $4.50 per foot per year, for a total amount of $114,997.50, as provided by the Amended Ordinance for right-of-way usage. Alltel refused to pay the invoice, contending that the City cannot charge $4.50 per foot but rather is limited to $5,000 per mile ($0.947 per foot), the rate charged by the DOT on its rights-of-way.

PROCEEDINGS IN FEDERAL COURT

On April 4, 2001, Alltel filed a two-count complaint against the City in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. Count I alleged that the Amended Ordinance violated the Federal Telecommunications Act, 47 U.S.C. § 253(a), because it assessed an unfair and unreasonable fee and it effectively prohibited Alltel from providing interstate or intrastate telecommunications service. Count II asserted that the Amended Ordinance violated OCGA § 32-4-92, and related Code sections, because it charged more than the maximum permitted by the DOT under its Rule 672-11-.03. Alltel sought a declaratory judgment and the City filed a counterclaim for unpaid permit fees. The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment.

On September 27, 2002, the district court granted Alltel's motion for summary judgment after concluding that the permit fee set forth in the Amended Ordinance is invalid as preempted by state law pursuant to OCGA §§ 32-4-92(a)(10)⁵, 32-6-174, and DOT Rule 672-11-.03.⁶ Consequently, the district court also granted Alltel's request for a declaratory judgment, declared that the Amended Ordinance violates Georgia law, and enjoined the City from enforcing it. The City appealed to the Eleventh Circuit, which certified the aforementioned question to this Court.

DISCUSSION

OCGA § 32-4-92(a)(10) confers upon a municipality the authority to grant permits and establish reasonable regulations for the installation, construction, maintenance, renewal, removal, and relocation of ... cables, wires, ... and other equipment, facilities, or appliances of any utility in, on, along, over, or under any part of its municipal street system and of a county road system lying within its municipal limits. However, the statutory provision clearly limits these regulations in that they must "not be more restrictive with respect to utilities affected thereby than are equivalent regulations⁷ promulgated by the [DOT] with respect to utilities on the state highway system under authority of Code Section 32-6-174." OCGA § 32-4-92(a)(10).

The City argues that the DOT did not intend to set the maximum fee that a municipality may charge for the installation and maintenance of the cables, and if it did, the regulation is an invalid delegation of legislative power. It further argues that the doctrines of statutory construction, noscitur a sociis⁸ and expressio unius est exclusio alterius,⁹ make it clear that OCGA § 32-4-92(a)(10) deals only with technical issues, such as installation, construction, maintenance, etc., and therefore, the statute's limiting language does not apply to a municipality's right to charge a "revenue producing and licensing fee." Instead, the City urges, that its right to charge a fee arises under OCGA § 36-34-2(7),¹⁰ which gives the governing body of a municipal corporation the "power to grant franchises to or make contracts" with utilities. But the City's arguments are unavailing.

First, the DOT's intent is not relevant to the question of whether OCGA § 32-4-92(a)(10) established a limitation on municipal power to set regulatory fees. Preemption is a matter of legislative intent, that is, it is dependent upon the legislature's intent in granting the power to regulate. City of Buford v. Ga. Power Co., 276 Ga. 590, 591(3), 581 S.E.2d 16 (2003). "`Where the State has established an agency of its own with plenary power to regulate utilities, it is universally recognized that municipalities cannot properly interpose their local restrictions unless and only to the extent any power to do so is expressly reserved to them by statute.'" Id.

By its express terms, OCGA § 32-4-92(a)(10) deals with a municipality's authority in regard to the granting of permits to utilities for the installation of cables, wires, and other equipment. It is not ambiguous. Thus, the judicial construction of the statute, offered by the City, is not only unnecessary, but it is forbidden. Jennings v. McIntosh County Bd. of Commrs., 276 Ga. 842, 845(3), 583 S.E.2d 839 (2003); Six Flags Over Ga. v. Kull, 276 Ga. 210, 211, 576 S.E.2d 880 (2003).

In the recent case, BellSouth Telecommunications v. Cobb County, 277 Ga. 314, 588 S.E.2d 704 (2003), this Court was asked to determine whether Cobb County had the authority, by ordinance, to impose a permit fee on telecommunications companies who apply to use Cobb County's public rights-of-way. The resolution of the issue involved consideration of OCGA § 32-4-42(6), part of the statutory scheme providing for the powers of a county with respect to its county road system. That statute has language identical to that in OCGA § 32-4-92(a)(10) and gives a county the express authority to "grant permits and establish reasonable regulations for the installation, construction, maintenance, renewal, removal, and relocation of ... cables, wires, ... and other equipment, facilities, or appliances of any utility in, on, along, over, or under the public roads of the county which are a part of the county road system lying outside the corporate limits of a municipality." OCGA § 32-4-42(6) also contains the same restriction now at issue, in that it provides that "such regulations shall not be more restrictive with...