State, ex rel. Veterans Serv. Office, v. Pickaway Cty. Bd. of Cty. Commrs.
| Decision Date | 14 August 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. 90-1522,90-1522 |
| Citation | 61 Ohio St.3d 461,575 N.E.2d 206 |
| Parties | The STATE, ex rel. VETERANS SERVICE OFFICE OF PICKAWAY COUNTY et al., v. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF PICKAWAY COUNTY et al. |
| Court | Ohio Supreme Court |
Relators, Veterans Service Office of Pickaway County, Veterans Service Commission, and Veterans Service Officer Ronnie Fraley, Jr., distribute relief to needy military veterans in Pickaway County under R.C. Chapter 5901. Respondents, Board of County Commissioners of Pickaway County ("board") and Commissioners George H. Hamerick, John Fissell and Ruth Neff, administer Pickaway County. Relators seek an order compelling respondents to disburse additional money to relators for distribution to needy veterans and to pay relators' fees and court costs.
The service commission submitted its 1990 budget to respondents, disclosing its need for $50,000 for relief allowances. The commission had distributed $27,696.61 to needy veterans in 1989, and $49,584.36 in 1988 and 1989, combined.
The board appropriated $45,000 for 1990, the amount it had appropriated in 1989. The board appropriated all other budget amounts, totaling, with the relief amount, $105,431, as the commission had requested.
Relators experienced unexpected demands for relief and, in May 1990, requested an additional $80,000 from the board. In June 1990, the board appropriated an additional $5,000 for relief, to bring the total amount appropriated to the initially requested $50,000. In a letter dated June 25, 1990, respondents explained that they had appropriated the entire $5,113,000 that the county auditor certified would be available in the general fund and that they could not appropriate any more money to relators. Relators thereafter filed this original action in mandamus.
Daniel P. Jones, Columbus, for relators.
Downes & Hurst and Rufus B. Hurst, Columbus, for respondents.
Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Pros. Atty., Patrick J. Murphy and Timothy J. Kollin, urging denial for amicus curiae, Board of County Com'rs of Cuyahoga County.
Peck, Shaffer & Williams and Thomas A. Luebbers, Cincinnati, urging denial for amicus curiae, County Com'rs Ass'n of Ohio.
A county veterans service commission, appointed by a judge of the court of common pleas, R.C. 5901.02, may receive applications for financial assistance for needy veterans and their qualified relatives who have been residents of the state for one year and the county for six months, R.C. 5901.08. The commission investigates the applicant's income and property, R.C. 5901.09, to determine the amount of relief each veteran should receive, R.C. 5901.14.
Under former law, the commission certified the probable amount necessary to the board of county commissioners, and the board had to appropriate the amount certified up to the five-tenths mill limit. State, ex rel. Binder, v. Mahoning Cty. Bd. of Cty. Commrs. (1962), 174 Ohio St. 23, 21 O.O.2d 251, 186 N.E.2d 476. However, the General Assembly amended R.C. 5901.11 to provide for a review and revision of the commission's budget request by the board of county commissioners. Now the board makes the necessary levy to raise the amount that the board approves, not to exceed five-tenths of a mill. 142 Ohio Laws, Part III, 4685, 4689 (effective Sept. 14, 1988). Current R.C. 5901.11 provides:
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