Court Opinion

ID: 9572870
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:45:14.917633+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:34:31.011783
License: Public Domain

ZIMMERMAN, Justice
(concurring and dissenting):
I concur in that portion of the majority opinion which remands the case for further factual determination. I also concur in that portion which holds that a school district may be liable to the county for interest on delinquently paid reimbursements. However, I dissent from the majority’s holding that this ruling on interest should be prospective.
In Board of Education v. Salt Lake County, 659 P.2d 1030, 1037 (Utah 1983), three members of this Court did make prospective a ruling that Salt Lake County would be liable to Granite School District for interest on tax monies held beyond the date when they were to be paid over to the district. As I read that case, a large part of the justification for the prospectivity ruling was the fact that the County’s practice was long-standing and that it would have been unreasonable to expect the County to have anticipated the adverse ruling in Board of Education. In the present case, I do not find the equities to be nearly as strong in favor of the districts. If there had been any doubt as to the liability of one governmental entity for interest on revenues delinquently paid to another governmental entity, our decision in Board of Education v. Salt Lake County disposed of that issue. Therefore, the school districts cannot claim any surprise at our holding today. In the absence of surprise, I can find no justification for making our decision on the interest issue prospective. Admittedly, school districts can always use additional revenue or the forgiveness of an accrued debt. However, that fact is not enough to justify our creating an ad hoc preference in this case.
HALL, C.J., concurs in the concurring and dissenting opinion of ZIMMERMAN, J.