Thomas v. Board of Ed., McDowell County, 14484

Decision Date11 December 1979
Docket NumberNo. 14484,14484
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
PartiesCharles E. THOMAS, Pres., etc., et al. v. The BOARD OF EDUCATION, COUNTY OF McDOWELL, etc., et al.

Syllabus by the Court

1. The true interpretation of the language of a special levy proposal is the meaning given to it by the voters of the county, who, by their approval of the special levy, consent to be taxed more heavily to provide the necessary funds.

2. Funds derived from a special levy may be expended only for the purpose for which they are approved. W.Va.Code §§ 11-8-25, 11-8-26.

3. When the funds raised by a special levy election are intended to provide supplements to the state minimum salaries and wages of non-teaching school employees, such funds may be expended by the county board of education for that purpose only.

Philip A. LaCaria, Tutwiler, Crockett & LaCaria, Welch, for appellants.

Wade T. Watson, Welch, for appellees.

Truby, St. Supt. Schools by William A. Toussaint, Charleston, for amicus curiae.

McGRAW, Justice:

This appeal by the McDowell County Non-Teaching Employees Association, Charles E. Thomas, President, from the Circuit Court of McDowell County challenges a ruling that the members of the Association were not entitled to payment of an additional $55.00 each per month from special levy funds over and above the minimum salaries and wages provided for such employees under W.Va.Code § 18A-4-8. We reverse the ruling of the circuit court.

On December 4, 1973, the voters of McDowell County, at a special levy election, authorized the adoption of a special school levy to go into effect on July 1, 1974. The relevant provisions of that levy proposal are as follows:

A. To continue the supplement to the state basic salary of each teacher, principal and supervisor in McDowell County in the amount of one hundred five dollars ($105.00) per month plus the required social security payments, being an approximate amount of $735,000 per year, or an approximate total for five years of $3,675,000.

B. To continue the supplement to the salary or wages of each regularly employed full-time non-teaching employee in the amount of fifty-five dollars ($55.00) per month plus the required social security payments, being an approximate amount of $170,000 per year, or an approximate total for five years of $850,000.

By amendment to W.Va.Code § 18A-4-8, effective July 1, 1973, a minimum pay scale was established for auxiliary and service employees of the school system. The state minimum salary was set at $335.00 per month. Beginning July 1, 1974, the McDowell County Board of Education paid its non-teaching employees the state minimum salary for auxiliary and service personnel plus an additional $55.00 per month and the required social security payment, the latter two payments coming from the funds authorized by the adoption of the special school levy. These payments continued until July 1, 1975. On that date Senate Bill No. 121, amending Code § 18A-4-8, became effective.

The effect of Senate Bill No. 121 was to establish a pay scale similar to that already in effect for teachers, based on an individual employee's job classification and length of employment, these factors determining the state minimum salary of the individual employee. 1 For example, pursuant to this scale, a person in his or her first year of employment at the lowest pay grade received a state minimum monthly salary of $350.00. Individuals employed for a longer period of time or in a job with a higher pay grade received higher state minimum monthly salaries. By amendment, the Legislature has subsequently increased the state minimum salary schedule.

On July 1, 1975, appellees apparently ceased paying non-teaching employees the levy supplement over and above the state minimum monthly salary and began applying the special levy funds to bring the employee salaries up to the new state minimum amounts, although no such action was implemented with respect to teaching employees. Appellants challenged this use of the levy funds, contending that they were entitled to be paid the state minimum monthly salary with an additional $55.00 under the provisions of the special levy from July 1, 1975 to July 1, 1979. 2 Appellants exhausted all of their administrative remedies before bringing a declaratory judgment action in the Circuit Court of McDowell County, which denied relief.

We are asked to decide whether appellees were required under the terms of the special levy, to spend the levy funds as supplemental payments in addition to the non-teaching employees' state minimum salary. We conclude that they were.

The first issue raised is: to what purpose were the levy funds dedicated? Appellants contend that the wording of the levy proposal with respect to non-teaching employees is essentially identical to that of the proposal dealing with teaching employees and clearly contemplates the payment of a supplement in the form of a "bonus" of $55.00 per month and social security payments over and above the salary or wages of the individual employee. They maintain that the reference in the levy proposal to "salary or wages" is actually a reference to the state minimum monthly salary, which was established for non-teaching employees on July 1, 1973. Appellants contend that when the Legislature established graded minimum pay schedules for non-teaching employees and raised the state minimum monthly salary, the levy funds were intended to be used to continue that supplement in addition to the increased state minimum salary.

Appellees, on the other hand, maintain that the distinction between the wording of the levy proposal with respect to teachers and non-teaching employees clearly shows that the purpose of the levy with respect to non-teaching employees was to grant a supplement to the salary of the individual employee as it stood on July 1, 1974, the effective date of the levy. If the purpose of the levy had been to grant a bonus over and above the state minimum salary, they argue, the levy proposal dealing with non-teaching employees would have been worded similarly to the proposal regarding teachers and would have specifically referred to the state minimum or basic salary. Since this was not the case, appellees maintain that they are only required to use the levy funds to pay the supplement over and above the July 1, 1974 salaries of the non-teaching employees and need not pay an additional $55.00 over the increased state minimum salary since established by the Legislature.

We do not see merit in this argument, for if the levy notice in fact referred to the salary of non-teaching employees at the effective date of the levy, it must also have referred to the state basic salary of teachers, principals and supervisors on that day. The minimum salaries of teachers were fixed by statute at that time, as were those of non-teaching employees. And yet appellees have continued to pay the teachers a supplement of $105.00 per month over and above the salary fixed by statute even when those minimum salaries have been increased by the Legislature. This disparity belies the validity of appellees' reasoning. We will, however, consider the merits of appellees' argument.

The general rule is that the purpose for which funds were raised at a special election levy is determined by the proposal approved by the voters at the polls. Haws v. County Court, 86 W.Va. 650, 104 S.E. 119 (1920); Lawson v. Kanawha County Court, 80 W.Va. 612, 92 S.E. 786 (1917); Harner v. Monongalia County Court, 80 W.Va. 626, 92 S.E. 781 (1917); Brown v. Preston County Court, 78 W.Va. 644, 90 S.E. 166 (1916). 3 The true interpretation of the language of a special levy proposal, then, is the meaning given to it by the voters of the county who, by their approval of the special levy, consent to be taxed more heavily to provide the necessary funds. We must be guided by the purpose the voters of McDowell County sought to effect in approving the special levy rather than by the intention of those who interpreted the proposal.

We think that the voters here expressed their desire that all employees of their county school system should receive something in addition to the state mandated monthly salaries. In reading paragraphs A and B of the proposal, we think the voters were given reason to believe that they were agreeing to an excess tax which would provide a bonus to All school employees of their county every month for the next five years, and that the supplement would continue even if the state salaries were increased. Technicalities aside, the only substantive difference we see in the two paragraphs are that teachers and supervisory personnel are to be paid a larger monthly supplement of $105.00, while the supplement of non-teaching employees is to be the lesser sum of $55.00 per month. We believe the distinction made by appellees between the language of the two proposals represents the highest form of legal technicality and is a perfect example of exalting form over substance. 4 We do not believe that public policy should rely on such obscure, formal interpretations of language.

As the purpose of the levy which the voters approved at the polls was to provide a supplement to the state minimum salary, there is no question that the levy funds were required to be spent for that purpose. Funds derived from a special levy may be expended only for the purpose for which they are approved. W.Va.Code § 11-8-25. Any expenditure of levy funds in an unauthorized manner or for an unauthorized purpose constitutes an unlawful diversion of funds. W.Va.Code § 11-8-26; Jarrell v. Board of Education, 131 W.Va. 702, 50 S.E.2d 442 (1948). Appellees had no discretion in the expenditure of the levy funds and were required to pay the monthly supplements to the appellants in accordance with the wishes of the people of McDowell County.

Appellees argue, however, that they are bound by the formula devised by the State...

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