Krause v. City of Brunswick, 34158
| Decision Date | 05 December 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 34158,34158 |
| Citation | 242 Ga. 659,251 S.E.2d 239 |
| Parties | KRAUSE et al. v. CITY OF BRUNSWICK et al. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Moreton Rolleston, Jr., Atlanta, for appellants.
Eugene Highsmith, Brunswick, Arthur K. Bolton, Atty. Gen., Patricia T. Barmeyer, Asst. Atty. Gen., Dickey, Whelchel, Miles & Brown, J. Thomas Whelchel, Taylor, Bishop & Lee, Thomas J. Lee, Brunswick, for appellees.
Herman Krause and four other citizens, residents and taxpayers of Glynn County, brought this suit against the City of Brunswick, the County of Glynn, and the State of Georgia, complaining about the collection of tolls at a bridge connecting St. Simons Island to the mainland. They sought a declaratory judgment to determine which of the defendants owns the St. Simons causeway and the toll fund which has accrued from the operation of the causeway and toll bridge, and to determine whether any of the defendants are authorized to collect tolls from plaintiffs and the traveling public. They also sought an injunction terminating collection of the tolls, and attorney fees and costs. Each defendant answered, raising numerous defenses.
At a hearing it was shown that the revenue bonds issued by the county in 1949 will be paid in full in early 1979 from funds now on hand and that an additional surplus of $500,000 already exists. Following the hearing, the trial court denied the temporary injunction to stop the collection of tolls and granted the state's motion to dismiss.
Appellants enumerate as error the trial court's dismissal of the state, the trial court's denial of the temporary injunction to stop the collection of tolls, and the trial court's failure to declare that the causeway is owned by and is the property of the state, not the county or city .
1. Appellants urge that the trial court erred in denying the injunction to stop the county's collection of tolls. The county argues numerous authorities as the basis of its collecting tolls, including the Revenue Bond Law (Ga.L.1937, p. 761 et seq., as amended, Code Ann. § 87-801 et seq.). Appellants argue that under the Revenue Bond Law neither the county or city has the authority to collect tolls from the public once the revenue bonds have been paid in full. 1 We do not so read the law. Code Ann. § 87-803 provides that counties and cities have the power "(c) To prescribe, revise, and collect rates, fees, tolls, or charges for the services, facilities, or commodities furnished by such undertaking 2; and, in anticipation of the collection of the revenues of such undertaking: (1) To issue revenue bonds . . ." The power to collect fees, tolls, or other charges from " undertakings" such as causeways, parking meters, etc., is clearly independent of the power to issue revenue bonds. To hold otherwise would mean that a county could not...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Rolleston v. Sea Island Properties, Inc.
...his alleged rights and which future action, without such directions, might reasonably jeopardize his interest." Krause v. City of Brunswick, 242 Ga. 659(2), 251 S.E.2d 239 (1978). There is thus no controversy to be decided, and we decline to issue an advisory opinion on the matter. See St J......
-
Baker v. City of Marietta
...of an "actual controversy," the trial court could not enter a declaratory judgment pursuant to OCGA § 9-4-2(a). Krause v. City of Brunswick, 242 Ga. 659(2), 251 S.E.2d 239 (1978). Subsection (b) of OCGA § 9-4-2 broadens the scope of the Declaratory Judgment Act beyond actual controversies t......
-
McLeod v. Columbia County
...to collect fees or charges from undertakings are " clearly independent of the power to issue revenue bonds." Krause v. City of Brunswick, 242 Ga. 659, 660(1), 251 S.E.2d 239 (1978). See also Kelley v. City of Griffin, 257 Ga. 407, 408(1), 359 S.E.2d 644 (1987); Schanck v. Town of Hephzibah,......
-
Sieg v. PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS, LLP
...of an `actual controversy,' the trial court could not enter a declaratory judgment pursuant to OCGA § 9-4-2(a). Krause v. City of Brunswick, 242 Ga. 659(2), 251 S.E.2d 239 (1978)." Baker, supra at 214, 518 S.E.2d Our Supreme Court in Baker recognized that the scope of the Declaratory Judgme......