Validation of $19,800,000 General Obligation School Bonds, Series 1987, Madison County, MS Dated Nov. 1, 1987., In re
| Decision Date | 01 November 1987 |
| Citation | 534 So.2d 1025 |
| Parties | 50 Ed. Law Rep. 911 In re VALIDATION OF $19,800,000 GENERAL OBLIGATION SCHOOL BONDS, SERIES 1987, MADISON COUNTY, MS DATED |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Jerry R. Wallace, Montgomery, Smith-Vaniz & McGraw, Canton, C. Scott Woods, Jerry L. Mills, Pyle, Dreher, Mills & Woods, Arthur F. Jernigan, Jr., Phelps, Dunbar, Marks, Claverie & Sims, Jackson, for appellant.
Steve H. Smith, G. Milton Case, Smith & Case, Ridgeland, for appellee.
Before ROY NOBLE LEE, C.J., and PRATHER and GRIFFIN, JJ.
This is an appeal by the Madison County Board of Education, from an April 29, 1988, judgment of the Madison County Chancery Court refusing validation of general obligation school bonds of the Madison County School District in the principal amount not to exceed $19,800,000 pursuant to a Resolution of Intent adopted by the Madison County Board of Education on June 1, 1987 to issue general obligation school bonds as authorized by Sec. 37-59-1, et seq., Mississippi Code, Annotated (1972).
The Resolution of Intent required the resident electors of the school district to file any petitions requesting an election on the issuance of the bonds with the Board of Education by 6 o'clock P.M., June 26, 1987. At the designated date, time and location, the Board of Education met and acknowledged receipt of certain petitions requesting an election on the bond issue. The hearing on the sufficiency of the protest was eventually continued until July 16, 1987, when the Board of Education adopted its resolution adjudicating insufficiency of protest to the proposed bond issue.
On September 16, 1987, the Board of Education adopted a resolution authorizing and directing the issuance of the bonds of the school district as described in the June 1, 1987, Resolution of Intent, and again determining the insufficiency of the petitions.
An initial validation hearing was scheduled in January 1988 in the Madison County Courthouse in the City of Canton, Mississippi. Legal notice to taxpayers was duly published in the Madison County Herald. Objections to the validation were promptly filed on November 19, 1987. The objectors raised nine objections to validation of the bonds below. The chancellor took all under advisement and found all meritless except three, which are:
I. The Resolution of Intent declaring the intent to issue bonds was insufficient because it failed to give an approximate sum as to the amount to be spent on each item listed. The chancellor said, "I feel [the taxpayers] are entitled to a few more details."
II. The notice of intent was insufficient because it gave a deadline for filing a petition that was not consistent with the board's "final" order.
III. The assessed valuation of property within the Ridgeland Municipal Separate School District should not have been included in the total assessed valuation inasmuch as this area was not within the Madison County School District at the time of publication of the Resolution of Intent.
We disagree with the learned chancellor.
The above three matters are the only ones on appeal here. All other questions were decided adversely to the appellees and no cross-appeal was made; therefore, we are concerned only with assigned errors of the appellant where it alleged the chancellor erred in not validating the bonds.
I. The Resolution of Intent declaring the intent to issue bonds was insufficient because it failed to give an approximate sum as to the amount to be spent on each item listed. The chancellor said, "I feel [the taxpayers] are entitled to a few more details."
Neither the chancellor's opinion nor the appellees cite any authority requiring any finding by the school board in the initial resolution except those statutorily required. We, like the chancellor, feel the taxpayers might be entitled to a few more details as to what the money is to be spent for; nevertheless, we are bound by the plain words of the statute. Here there is no challenge to constitutionality of the statute. All the statute requires is "the approximate amount of the indebtedness to be incurred and the purpose or purposes for which the money so borrowed is to be expended, including the approximate cost of the alterations, additions and repairs to be made." Section 37-59-11, Mississippi Code Annotated (1972).
Quite obviously, the resolution is in literal compliance with the statute and affords no basis for failure to validate the bonds. However, so that the point might be more vividly demonstrated, we copy the resolution and Sec. 37-59-11 as it existed at the time of the resolution.
A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE MADISON COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT DECLARING ITS INTENTION TO ISSUE GENERAL OBLIGATION SCHOOL BONDS OF THE MADISON COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT IN THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF $19,800,000 FOR THE PURPOSE OF REPAIRING, EQUIPPING, ENLARGING AND REMODELING EXISTING SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND RELATED FACILITIES, ERECTING AND EQUIPPING A NEW HIGH SCHOOL AND ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AND RELATED FACILITIES AND PURCHASING OF TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES FOR THE DISTRICT AS AUTHORIZED BY SECTION 37-59-1, ET SEQ., MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, AS AMENDED BY CHAPTER 307, LAWS OF 1987.
WHEREAS, the District is a duly and legally created, organized, existing and functioning school district in Madison County and in the State of Mississippi;
WHEREAS, it is necessary and in the public interest to issue general obligation school bonds of the District in the maximum principal amount of Nineteen Million Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars ($19,800,000) (the "Bonds") for the purpose of repairing, equipping, enlarging and remodeling existing school buildings and related facilities; erecting and equipping a new high school and elementary school and related facilities; and purchasing of transportation vehicles for the District, for which sufficient funds are not now available in the depository of the District to provide for the aforesaid improvements; and
WHEREAS, the assessed valuation of all taxable property within the District, according to the last completed assessment for taxation, is the sum of One hundred thirty-eight million three hundred four thousand two hundred thirty-two and no/100 Dollars ($138,304,232.00) and that bonds of the District in the sum of $-0- are now outstanding; and that the issuance of said Bonds in said amount for said purposes, when added to the aforesaid indebtedness, will not result in the imposition upon any of the property in the District of any indebtedness for property in the district of any indebtedness for purposes authorized by Title 37, Chapter 59, Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended, of more than fifteen percent (15%) of the assessed value of all taxable property within the District according to the last completed assessment for taxation.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE DISTRICT, AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. That the Governing Body of the District does hereby declare its intention to issue general obligation school bonds of the District in the maximum principal amount of Nineteen Million Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars ($19,800,000) (the "Bonds") for the purpose of repairing, equipping,, enlarging and remodeling Flora Middle School, East Flora Elementary School, Luther Branson Elementary School, Velma Jackson School, Ridgeland Elementary School, Rosa Scott Middle School, Madison-Ridgeland Elementary School and the Business and Commerce Center and related facilities; erecting and equipping a new high school and elementary school and related facilities, and purchasing transportation vehicles for the District.
SECTION 2. That the Governing Body proposes to direct the issuance of all or any portion of the Bonds in the amount and for the purposes aforesaid at a meeting of the Governing Body to be held at its regular meeting place at the office of the County Superintendent of Education, Highway 22, Canton, Madison County, Mississippi, at 6:00 p.m. on the 26th day of June, 1987, or at some meeting held subsequent thereto, if twenty percent (20%) or Fifteen Hundred (1500), whichever is less, of the qualified electors in the District shall file a written petition with the Governing Body of the District on or before the aforesaid date and hour requesting that an election be called on the question of incurring said indebtedness, then the Bonds shall not be issued unless authorized at an election on the question of incurring said indebtedness, such election shall be called and held as provided by law. If no petition, or if an insufficient petition be filed, then the Governing Body shall be resolution spread upon its minutes, give final approval to the issuance of the Bonds, and shall authorize the issuance of the Bonds of the District.
SECTION 3. That this Resolution shall be...
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