School Dist. of Riverview Gardens v. St. Louis County, No. 73625

• Decision Date: 24 September 1991
• Docket Number: No. 73625
• Citation: 816 S.W.2d 219
• Parties: 70 Ed. Law Rep. 692 SCHOOL DISTRICT OF RIVERVIEW GARDENS, et al., Appellants, v. ST. LOUIS COUNTY, et al., Respondents.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

Page 219

816 S.W.2d 219

70 Ed. Law Rep. 692

SCHOOL DISTRICT OF RIVERVIEW GARDENS, et al., Appellants, v. ST. LOUIS COUNTY, et al., Respondents.

No. 73625.

Supreme Court of Missouri En Banc.

Sept. 24, 1991.

Thomas E. Tueth, Thomas F. Schlafly, St. Louis, for appellants.

William L. Webster, Atty. Gen., B.J. Jones, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for respondents.

Bourne Bean, Jordan B. Cherrick, Andrew B. Mayfield, James E. Mello, St Louis, for amicus: Metro. Zoo. Park & Museum Dist.

ROBERTSON, Chief Justice.

Appellants in this case advance a number of constitutional challenges to Section 137.115.1(2), RSMo 1986. Despite the broad spectrum across which appellants attack the constitutionality of the statute, the dispositive issue on this appeal is narrow: Whether the provisions of Section 137.115.1(2), which purport to treat political subdivisions in the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County differently than political subdivisions in other counties of the state for purposes of adjusting an ad valorem tax rate following reassessment, violates Article III, section 40(30), Missouri Constitution. That constitutional provision prohibits the General Assembly from passing local or special laws where a general law can be made applicable. The trial court upheld the constitutionality of the statute and denied appellants' request for an injunction.

This appeal involves the constitutional validity of a statute of the State of Missouri. Exclusive appellate jurisdiction is vested in this Court under Article V, section 3, Missouri Constitution. We hold that those portions of Section 137.115.1(2) purporting to establish different procedures for adjusting ad valorem taxes in political subdivisions in St. Louis County and the City of St. Louis than apply to political subdivisions elsewhere in Missouri violate Article III, section 40(30). Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand the cause for entry of a judgment in favor of the appellants.

I.

The facts are stipulated. The School District of Riverview Gardens (the District) is a political subdivision of the State of Missouri, operating wholly within St. Louis County, Missouri. The District is organized to provide a free, public education to school-aged residents of the District and in pursuit of that enterprise, possesses the power to levy ad valorem taxes against property lying within the District. The District, together with four taxpayers who own real property within the District and whose children attend district schools, and two minors, who are students within the District and who are represented by an appointed next friend, brought this action challenging the constitutional validity of Section 137.115.1(2). These plaintiffs, now appellants before this Court, claim that that statute violates numerous provisions of the Missouri Constitution as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The defendants, respondents before this Court, are St. Louis County, the St. Louis County Collector, and the State Auditor of Missouri.

Section 137.115.1(2) is fully set out in the appendix. It purports to establish procedures by which all political subdivisions in Missouri may revise their tax levies following "implementation of an assessment and equalization maintenance plan." The statutory scheme applicable to most of the political subdivisions of the state requires a political subdivision to revise its levy immediately following the implementation of an assessment and equalization plan to produce "the same amount of tax revenue as was produced in the previous year." In every political subdivision except "those the greater part of which is located in first class charter counties adjoining any city not within a county [St. Louis County] or any city not within a county [the City of St. Louis]," the governing body of a political subdivision may adjust the levy to account for inflation without voter approval "provided that the consumer price index ... shall not exceed five percent." In St. Louis County and the City of St. Louis, the governing body of a political subdivision may adjust its tax levy for inflation under two circumstances: First, the consumer price index has not risen more than five percent; and second, the voters of the political subdivision have previously granted that governing body the authority to increase the levy by a majority vote. If the voters do not grant the board of directors of the political subdivision that authority, the political subdivision may not adjust its levy to account for inflation and must maintain the same gross tax revenue from year to year.

Appellants claim that the District was prohibited by Section 137.115.1(2) from revising its tax rate to allow for changes in the general price level. The general price level, as measured by the consumer price index, increased by 3.8 percent for the 12-month period preceding the 1987 adjustment in the District's tax levy. Despite the impact of inflation, Section 137.115.1(2) required the District to reduce its levy by 12 cents per $100 of assessed valuation and resulted in the loss to the District of approximately $225,000 in property tax revenue for the fiscal year 1987-1988.

Following the completion of the assessment and equalization maintenance plan by St. Louis County in 1989, and despite an increase in the consumer price index of 5.4 percent, the District again reduced its tax rate by 11 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. This resulted in a loss of an additional $217,000 in annual revenue to the District. The appellants contend that had the District been in any county of the state other than the City of St. Louis or St. Louis County, it would have been permitted to adjust its tax levy without a vote of the people and would not have suffered a loss of revenues.

The District has not held an election seeking voter approval pursuant to Section 137.115.1(2). Appellants argue that this election, even if successful, would do no more than put the District on the same legal footing as other political subdivisions in Missouri that are not in St. Louis County or the City of St. Louis for purposes of adjusting the District's ad valorem tax rate. Appellants thus claim that the statute is facially unconstitutional and seek a judicial declaration to that effect. The trial court found the statute constitutional. This appeal followed.

II.

Article III, section 40, provides in pertinent part that "[t]he general assembly shall not pass any local or special law: ... (30) where a general law can be made applicable." The constitution further provides that the question "whether a general law could have been made applicable is a judicial question to be judicially determined without regard to any legislative assertion on that subject." Art. III, § 40(30).

Two tests are required to determine the constitutionality of the provision under scrutiny: First, is the law a special or local law? Second, if so, is the vice that is sought to be corrected, the duty imposed, or the permission granted by the statute so unique to the persons, places, or things classified by the law that a law of general applicability could not achieve the same result?

A.

Are the provisions of Section 137.115.1(2) affecting the Riverview Gardens School District special or local laws? In 1880, this Court considered a statute requiring the judges of the circuit courts in cities having over 100,000 inhabitants to award the printing of legal notices to newspapers only upon competitive bid. The Court in holding that the statute in question was not a special law relied on the distinction drawn in distinguishing between general and special laws by the Pennsylvania courts: " '[A] statute which relates to persons or things as a class is a general law, while a statute which relates to particular persons or things of a class is special,' and that classification does not depend on numbers." State ex rel. Lionberger v. Tolle, 71 Mo. 645, 650 (1880), quoting Wheeler v. Philadelphia, 77 Pa. 338, 348 (1875). The Court held that application of the law to the class of cities having a specified population level rendered the law general, not special. This was so, even though only the City of St. Louis fit the category; it was sufficient for the Court that other cities might reach that population level and that the law would apply to those cities.

This rationale was further explicated in Fire District of Lemay v. Smith, 184 S.W.2d 593 (Mo. banc 1945). There the legislature adopted a statute providing for the incorporation of fire districts in counties having a population between 200,000 and 400,000. Although only St. Louis County fell within those population parameters this Court held that "this fact alone does not make the act a special law because the act will also apply to other counties which ... attain the same population in the future." Id. at 595.

Walters v. City of St. Louis, 364 Mo. 56, 259 S.W.2d 377, 382-3 (1953), aff'd 347 U.S. 231, 74 S.Ct. 505, 98 L.Ed. 660 (1954), broadened the definition of a general law further. The Court again held that legislation classifying political subdivisions by population is not special or local, even if the permission granted the political subdivision by the statute is of limited duration, "so long as it applies to all within, or that may come within, the enumerated class during its effective period." Id. at 383. The Court reasoned that classification based on population permits "the rule of 'open-endedness' to legislation pertaining to cities (or counties or other subdivisions)." Id. at 382. This "open-endedness" allows the legislature to address the unique problems of size with focused legislation; it also permits those political subdivisions whose growth or decline brings them into a new classification the advantage of the legislature's previous consideration of the issues facing similarly situated governmental entities. Walters stands...