Opinion ID: 2632256
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area Public Schools Trust

Text: ¶ 19 The City of Oklahoma City has created the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area Public Schools Trust (OCMAPST) to manage the sales tax revenues collected pursuant to ordinance no. 21,805 and is the beneficiary thereof. Petitioners argue that the OCMAPST attempts to circumvent Cont. Art. 10, § 26, which limits the indebtedness a city or school district may incur in any calendar year. We disagree. Any indebtedness payable solely from the trust estate and its revenues, incurred by trustees of trusts for the furtherance of public functions, is constitutional. Morris v. City of Oklahoma City, 1956 OK 202, ¶ 23, 299 P.2d 131, 136-137. We stated therein, . . . the fact that such trustees also are designated as regularly constituted authorities of a beneficiary governmental subdivision does not violate sections 26 and 27 of Article X of the Constitution. Morris v. City of Oklahoma City, 1956 OK 202, ¶ 23, 299 P.2d 131, 136-137, citing  Board of County Commissioners of Oklahoma County v. Warram, 285 P.2d 1034, 1035, syllabus ¶¶ 3, 7. ¶ 20 The plaintiff in Morris advanced an argument similar to Petitioners' herein, to-wit: that Trustees of a public charitable trust are Agents of the State and that since the indebtedness of the Trustees is of the type prohibited by Sections 23, 25, 26 and 27 of Art. 10, § 26 of the Constitution, they are void and the Public Trust Law purporting to authorize such indebtedness is unconstitutional. However, we held the contrary, in Morris [7] and do so again, today. ¶ 21 Accordingly, we reiterate our previous conclusion in prior cases that a public trust such as OCMAPST does not violate Art. 10, § 26. Since we determine the actions of the City of Oklahoma City pursuant to § 22-159 are in pursuit of a lawful public function, then the actions of OCMAPST, of necessity, also must be lawful.