Opinion ID: 2451499
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Is K.S.A. 19-223 the statute governing jurisdiction over these claims?

Text: Public agencies and boards exercise legislative, administrative, judicial, and quasi-judicial powers. Umbehr, 252 Kan. at 33, 843 P.2d 176. And it is well established that K.S.A. 19-223 is the exclusive means to review Board conduct that is judicial or quasi-judicial in nature. Dutoit, 233 Kan. at 998-99, 667 P.2d 879. K.S.A. 19-223 states: Any person who shall be aggrieved by any decision of the board of commissioners may appeal from the decision of such board to the district court of the same county, by causing a written notice of such appeal to be served on the clerk of such board within thirty days after the making of such decision, and executing a bond to such county with sufficient security, to be approved by the clerk of said board, conditioned for the faithful prosecution of such appeal, and the payment of all costs that shall be adjudged against the appellant. The County argues K.S.A. 19-223 applies exclusively to this appeal because the Board was acting in a judicial or quasi-judicial capacity when it entered its order finding the property did not comply with Resolution 2005-01, ordering the property owners to bring the land into compliance, and notifying them the County would complete the work at the owners' expense if they failed to diligently prosecute the order. In contrast, the property owners argue their challenge targets the tax assessment only and not the initial finding that their land did not comply with the resolution. A closer review of the claims supports their contention. The petition does not ask the district court to reverse the initial cleanup order. Rather, the prayer for relief is for an order permanently enjoining [the Board] from imposing any charge, assessment, or tax on Plaintiffs or Plaintiffs' real estate; and ... from attempting to collect or enforce the collection of any charge, assessment or tax from Plaintiffs or against any real property owned by Plaintiffs. The property owners' brief to this court makes clear that it is the levy of an illegal tax upon Plaintiffs' real property and the attempted enforcement thereof which is the basis of Plaintiffs' suit, not the finding that their property did not meet the standards of the resolution. Furthermore, the property owners' actions confirm they did not dispute the County's determination that the land contained unsafe structures and required cleanup. In fact, they hired a contractor and paid him to accomplish that cleanup. What is at the heart of this dispute is the special tax assessment amount, which is directly impacted by: (1) the county staff's decisions to dismiss the property owners' contractor and complete the work using county resources; (2) the degree of cleanup achieved by county personnel; and (3) the costs the County claims were reasonably incurred to finish the job. All of these county actions came well after 30 days from the date of the initial cleanup order. Therefore, even though we would agree the initial cleanup order is a judicial or quasi-judicial determination made by the Board, that order is distinct from what the Board and county personnel did after the order was issued. But the County argues this distinction is irrelevant because the special tax assessment stems from the January 2006 order. The County asserts the property owners had to appeal the initial cleanup order within 30 days to preserve the right to challenge any future tax assessment that may (or may not) have followed. How the property owners could anticipate and articulate unreasonable conduct, misconduct, or overcharging by county staff in some future implementation of the initial cleanup order is not explained. And this is an obvious weakness in the County's argument. But to support its defense, the County directs us to our Court of Appeals' decisions in Kirtdoll v. City of Topeka, No. 95,946, 2007 WL 570293 (2007) (unpublished opinion), rev. denied 284 Kan. 946 (2007), and Dahl v. City of Shawnee, No. 92,144, 2006 WL 851232 (2006) (unpublished opinion). Kirtdoll and Dahl both deal with a plaintiff's failure to exhaust administrative remedies under a different statute, K. S.A. 60-2101(d), which governs appeals from a political subdivision exercising judicial or quasi-judicial functions. We must consider these unpublished decisions in more detail to explain why they differ from the case brought by the property owners here. In Kirtdoll, an administrative hearing officer found Frank Kirtdoll in violation of two Topeka city ordinances and ordered him to abate a property nuisance within 30 days by removing some abandoned vehicles and other material from his premises. The order authorized the City to remedy the problem if Kirtdoll did not comply. He did not appeal that order or clean up the property, so the City secured a district court warrant to enter the premises to seize and dispose of the offending material. Kirtdoll sued the City for damages 2 years later, claiming due process violations, deprivation of property, trespass, and unlawful search and seizure. The City argued Kirtdoll was required to appeal within 30 days of the original abatement order under K.S.A. 60-2101(d), and that the district court lacked jurisdiction because he did not exhaust administrative remedies. The Court of Appeals agreed, holding Kirtdoll was required to appeal within 30 days of the original order pursuant to K. S.A. 60-2101(d) and could not collaterally attack the administrative order through an independent tort action. In Dahl, a natural disaster damaged the foundation of Bryan Dahl's home. A City of Shawnee inspector determined it was a hazardous condition and ordered Dahl to repair or remove the foundation within 30 days. When Dahl did not comply, the Shawnee City Council passed a resolution setting a hearing for Dahl to show cause why the structure should not be repaired or demolished. At the hearing, the Council adopted a resolution finding the structure unsafe or dangerous. It ordered Dahl to install safety fencing and submit an engineering plan for the foundation's removal. Under that resolution, the City would remedy the conditions if Dahl failed to comply. When Dahl continued to be in noncompliance, the Council held another meeting after giving Dahl notice. At that meeting, the Council found Dahl had not complied with the resolution and accepted a bid to proceed. The City's contractor completed the work. Dahl later sued the City for property damage he alleged occurred during the demolition. The City argued Dahl was required to appeal under K. S.A. 60-2101(d) within 30 days of the initial resolution, and because he did not do so, he failed to exhaust administrative remedies. The Court of Appeals held the initial resolution was the only order necessary for the City to demolish the structure under K.S.A. 12-1755, which allowed the City to raze or remove unsafe structures if the owner failed to diligently prosecute the removal or repair, so Dahl had 30 days to appeal. Finally, the Dahl court held his failure to exhaust administrative remedies deprived the court of jurisdiction. Kirtdoll and Dahl are distinguishable because they are civil actions for monetary damages. They do not involve the levying of disputed cleanup costs as a special tax assessment against property. And it is well established that the assessment of a tax is administrative in nature. See J. Enterprises, Inc. v. Board of Harvey County Comm'rs, 253 Kan. 552, 555-56, 857 P.2d 666 (1993) (jurisdiction depends on the nature of the actual relief sought); Dutoit, 233 Kan. at 999, 667 P.2d 879 (determination of extent of benefit property received from a public improvement for the purpose of calculating special assessment is legislative or administrative in nature); Garvey Grain, Inc. v. MacDonald, 203 Kan. 1, 29, 453 P.2d 59 (1969) (assessment and valuation of property are administrative functions); Harshberger v. Board of County Commissioners, 201 Kan. 592, Syl. ¶ 2, 442 P.2d 5 (1968) (taxation matters are administrative in character); Silven v. Osage County, 76 Kan. 687, 689, 92 P. 604 (1907) (matters of assessment and taxation are administrative, not judicial). We agree that the Board acted in a quasi-judicial capacity on January 17, 2006, when it investigated and weighed the facts and ultimately determined the property did not comply with Resolution 2005-01 and ordered the cleanup. See Brown v. U.S.D. No. 333, 261 Kan. 134, 155-56, 928 P.2d 57 (1996) (distinguishing quasi-judicial functions from purely administrative or executive functions by whether the function involves the exercise of discretion, requires notice and a hearing, involves the application of legal criteria to specific facts, or carries with it any of the normal trappings of a judicial inquiry, such as the presentation of evidence or the presence of counsel). But the character of the County's actions shifted to administrative when the Board assessed the special tax. Cf. Golden v. City of Overland Park, 224 Kan. 591, 597, 584 P.2d 130 (1978) (When the focus of a governing body shifts from legislative policy or executive duty to a zoning determination as to one specific tract of land, the function becomes quasi-judicial in nature.). Moreover, the decision to levy a tax against the property was not self-executing. Under the Board's January 2006 order, there were two mechanisms available to the County to recover any costs it might incur cleaning up the land. The Board could either begin judicial proceedings to impose a lien on the real property or it could enter a special tax assessment. It chose to levy the special tax assessment at issue here. Accordingly, we find the County was acting in an administrative capacity when the Board decided to levy the tax. Therefore, K.S.A. 19-223 does not control all of the claims in this litigation as the district court and Court of Appeals determined. We emphasize that our analysis only establishes the character of the County's action, at least in part, as administrative for the purpose of determining jurisdiction; and we are not reaching the merits of the claim that the Board lacked the authority to levy this special tax assessment. We simply hold that K.S.A. 19-223 does not necessarily operate as a jurisdictional bar to all of the arguments made by the property owners. Therefore, we must examine each claim separately to determine whether it actually challenges the special tax assessment and avoids K.S.A. 19-223's jurisdictional bar.