Waters Garbage v. Shoshone County

• Decision Date: 10 April 2003
• Docket Number: No. 27532.,27532.
• Citation: 67 P.3d 1260,138 Idaho 648
• Parties: WATERS GARBAGE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. SHOSHONE COUNTY, and its Board of County Commissioners, Jack King, Sherri Krulitz and Jim Vergobbi, Defendants-Respondents.
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

67 P.3d 1260

138 Idaho 648

WATERS GARBAGE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. SHOSHONE COUNTY, and its Board of County Commissioners, Jack King, Sherri Krulitz and Jim Vergobbi, Defendants-Respondents.

No. 27532.

Supreme Court of Idaho. Boise, February 2003 Term.

April 10, 2003.

Law Office of John J. Rose, Jr., Kellogg, for appellant. John J. Rose, Jr., argued.

Evans, Keane, Kellogg, for respondents. Charles L.A. Cox argued.

EISMANN, Justice.

This is an appeal from a summary judgment holding that Idaho Code § 31-4404(2) authorizes Shoshone County to charge a users fee to county residents who did not use the county solid waste disposal facilities and that the imposition of such fee does not violate the Commerce Clause of the Constitution of the United States. We reverse the holding that the statute authorizes a county to charge a users fee to nonusers of the county solid waste disposal facilities, and we affirm the holding that Shoshone County did not violate the Commerce Clause.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The plaintiff-appellant Waters Garbage, a partnership consisting of Gary Waters, Joyce Waters, Pat Waters, and Mike Waters, is an Idaho licensed public works contractor engaged in collecting solid waste in Shoshone County, Idaho. It has approximately 2,300 residential customers, 250 commercial customers, and seven to eight industrial customers in the county.

Shoshone County constructed a transfer station to receive solid waste which, after being processed, was shipped to Missoula, Montana, for final disposal at a facility owned by Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI). The County financed the construction of the transfer station by issuing bonds that were to be repaid by an ad valorem tax on all taxable property within the county. In addition, the County imposed a fee (disposal fee) upon all residences and commercial entities in the county. It charged residences a flat monthly disposal fee and commercial entities a disposal fee based upon the amount of solid waste they generated in the prior year. The transfer station also accepts out-of-county waste upon payment of a "tipping fee."

In the past, Waters Garbage took the waste it collected to the County transfer station where it could dispose of the waste without charge. Sometime prior to May 5, 1999, Waters Garbage constructed its own transfer station to process solid waste and obtained approval from the Panhandle Health District to operate it. On May 5, 1999, however, the Shoshone County Commissioners refused to give County approval to the Panhandle Health District for Waters Garbage to operate its transfer station. On September 8, 1999, Waters Garbage obtained a court order requiring the County to issue that approval, and it did so on September 10, 1999.

Upon the completion of its transfer station, Waters Garbage no longer intended to use the County transfer station. After processing the waste in its own transfer station, Waters Garbage intended to ship that waste to the BFI facility in Missoula. In May 1997, Waters Garbage asked the County Commissioners to exempt its customers from paying the disposal fee. According to Waters Garbage, its customers refused to pay both Waters Garbage and the County for the transfer and disposal of solid waste. The County Commissioners refused to do so, and they indicated that the County would continue to charge Waters Garbage's commercial customers based upon their prior use even if they certified that they would not be dumping any solid waste at the County transfer station.

On December 26, 1997, Waters Garbage filed this action against the County. It ultimately filed a second amended complaint in which it sought a declaratory judgment that Idaho Code § 31-4401 did not authorize the County to charge a disposal fee to non-users of the County transfer station; a declaratory judgment that the County unconstitutionally interfered with interstate commerce when it charged a disposal fee to non-users of the County transfer station; an injunction prohibiting the County from charging non-users a disposal fee; and damages for interfering with Waters Garbage's ability to engage in interstate commerce. On May 10, 2000, Waters Garbage filed a motion for summary judgment on two issues: (1) whether the County interfered with interstate commerce by imposing the disposal fee on non-users of the County transfer station; and (2) whether Idaho Code § 31-4401 grants the County authority to charge non-users the disposal fee. After hearing oral argument, the district court entered a memorandum opinion and order on August 21, 2000, granting summary judgment on behalf of Shoshone County.

Waters Garbage filed a motion for reconsideration, which the district court denied on December 20, 2000, after considering the parties' oral arguments. Waters Garbage then filed another motion asking the district court to decide certain issues and clarify others. It supported that motion with supplemental affidavits. That motion was considered by the district court based upon the briefs submitted by both parties. At the request of the County, the district court struck Waters Garbage's supplemental affidavits because they did not contain any statements or documentary evidence that was not known, or could not reasonably have been discovered, when Waters Garbage moved for summary judgment. The district court held that no issues remained to be determined and that Waters Garbage had failed to provide the court with a copy of the county ordinances upon which it based its claim that other issues needed to be clarified. The district court entered its order denying the motion on March 29, 2001. On the same date, judgment was entered dismissing this action with prejudice. Waters Garbage then timely appealed.

II. ISSUES ON APPEAL

A. Does Idaho Code § 31-4401 authorize Shoshone County to collect a solid waste disposal fee from county residents and commercial entities that did not use the county solid waste disposal system?

B. Did Shoshone County violate the Commerce Clause of the federal constitution when it imposed a solid waste disposal fee upon county residents and commercial entities that did not use the county solid waste disposal system?

C. Is Shoshone County entitled to an award of attorney fees on appeal?

III. ANALYSIS

A. Does Idaho Code § 31-4401 Authorize Shoshone County to Collect a Solid Waste Disposal Fee from County Residents and Commercial Entities that Did Not Use the County Solid Waste Disposal System?

In count one of its second amended complaint, Waters Garbage sought a declaratory judgment that Idaho Code § 31-4401(2) did not permit Shoshone County to charge a user fee to County residents who did not use the County solid waste disposal facilities. In count three it sought an injunction prohibiting the County from collecting that fee from non-users of the County facilities. The district court ruled that Idaho Code § 31-4401(2) authorized Shoshone County to collect a solid waste disposal fee from all county residents and all commercial entities in the county, regardless of whether they actually used the county solid waste disposal system. We exercise free review over the construction of a statute. Lopez v. State, Industrial Special Indemnity Fund, 136 Idaho 174, 30 P.3d 952 (2001). If the statutory language is unambiguous, we merely apply the statute as written. Id. If it is ambiguous, then we attempt to ascertain the legislative intent. Id. When doing so, we may examine the language used, the reasonableness of proposed interpretations, and the policy behind the statute. Id.

Idaho Code § 31-4404 provides as follows:

Funding of operations.—For the purpose of providing funds to acquire sites, facilities, operate and/or maintain solid waste disposal systems, a board of county commissioners may in addition to the authority granted in sections 31-4402 and 31-4403, Idaho Code:

(1) Levy a tax of not to exceed four hundredths percent (.04%) of the market value for assessment purposes on all taxable property within the county, provided that property located within the corporate limits of any city that is operating and maintaining a solid waste disposal site shall not be levied against for the purposes of the county solid waste disposal system; or,

(2) Collect fees from the users of the solid waste disposal facilities; or,

(3) Finance the solid waste disposal facilities from current revenues; or,

(4) Receive and expend moneys from any other source;

(5) Establish solid waste collection systems where necessary or desirable and provide a method for collection of service fees, among which shall be certification of a special assessment on the property served;

(6) Use any combination of subsections (1), (2), (3), (4), and (5) of this section.

The issue is the meaning of the phrase "the users of the solid waste disposal facilities."

When construing a statute, the words used must be given their plain, usual, and ordinary meaning, and the statute must be construed as a whole. State v. Hart, 135 Idaho 827, 25 P.3d 850 (2001). The word "user" means: "1. The exercise or employment of a right or property .... 2. Someone who uses a thing ." Black's Law Dictionary 1542 (7th ed.1999). Giving the word "users" its plain, usual, and ordinary meaning, the "users of the solid waste disposal facilities" means those who actually use the facilities. Nonusers—those who fail or neglect to use the facilities—would not be "users" as that term is normally used. The legislature knows how to draft language authorizing the charging of fees to prospective users in addition to actual users. For example, Idaho Code § 50-2708(1)(l) authorizes public corporations to "collect fees or charges from users or prospective users of industrial development facilities to recover actual or anticipated administrative costs."

The provisions of subsection (1) of Idaho Code § 31-4401 also indicate that "users" means those who actually use the solid waste disposal facilities. That portion of the...