Court Opinion

ID: 9717161
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:59:28.452254+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:51.797566
License: Public Domain

WILLIAM A. BABLITCH, J.
(dissenting). A unanimous court of appeals concluded that the referendum requirements of sec. 38.15, Stats., apply to District No. 4’s current plan for a split campus for the new MATC facilities, and that the requirements of that statute have not been met. I agree with that conclusion.
The court of appeals’ decision very importantly serves to carry out the legislature’s intention in passing that law. As noted by the majority of this court, a cardinal *550rule of statutory construction is that the purpose of statutory interpretation is to ascertain and give effect to the intent of the legislature. County of Columbia v. Bylewski, 94 Wis. 2d 153, 164, 288 N.W.2d 129 (1980).
To understand the legislative intent, and why the court of appeals’ decision is correct, it is important to understand the background surrounding the passage of this law. The members of the State VTAE Board as well as the district VTAE boards are all appointed. They are elected by no one. In addition, the district boards have the power to tax.
The record clearly reveals the frustrations of the legislature in attempting to force greater public accountability on the VTAE system. The 1977-79 biennial budget included a provision requiring district VTAE boards to seek public approval through the referendum process of all capital expenditure projects in excess of $500,000. Specifically, sec. 67.05(6m) (a), Stats., was amended to provide in pertinent part: “. . . All resolutions adopted under sub. (1) in an amount of money in excess of $500,000 or more for purposes specified in s. 38.16(2) shall be submitted to the electors of the district for approval. . . .” From July 1, 1977, when this mandatory referendum process became effective, through June 30, 1979, eight new construction and remodeling projects with estimated costs exceeding $500,000 were approved by the State Board. Despite the mandatory referendum requirement, only one of those projects was submitted to the voters for approval. All remaining seven projects avoided the referendum process by structuring their financing plans so that mandatory referenda were not required. The one project of the eight that was submitted for referendum approval failed to receive voter approval. Nevertheless, that project went ahead because after the referendum failed, the State Board authorized the local *551district to structure their financing plans so as to avoid the need for a referendum.
In a memo dated February 21, 1980, from Robert Lang, Director of the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, to the Joint Committee on Finance, which drafted the language of sec. 38.15, Stats., Lang advised the Committee:
“In summary, it would appear that since July 1, 1977, vocational districts have been structuring their capital project financing plans so that mandatory referenda are not required. Presumably the districts wish to avoid the possibility of public rejection of proposed capital project expenditures ... If mandatory referenda seems the most direct was to insure accountability, the statutes could be amended to require all building and remodeling projects with costs in excess of $500,000 ... to be subjected to elector approval. . . .”
The end result was passage in 1980 of sec. 38.15. The legislature, having tried but failed in the past, was determined to force public accountability on the State Board.
It is conceded by all parties that the legislative intent of sec. 38.15, Stats., was to make those boards more accountable to the taxpaying public by providing that building program actions approved by the State Board that cost in excess of $500,000 would be subject to voter approval by referendum.
The purpose of sec. 38.15, Stats., is obvious: to give the public the opportunity to debate and decide by way of referendum the kinds of costly proposed building program actions enunciated in sec. 38.15(1) involving either a) an acquisition of a site; or b) purchase or construction of buildings; or c) lease/purchase of buildings; or d) building additions or enlargements; or e) the purchase of fixed equipment relating to the above activities. The proposed MATC split campus project involves several of these.
*552In 1974, the voters approved borrowing for a project that was far different from the project in this case with respect to: scope, cost, integrated vs. split, new construction vs. rehabilitation and construction, and effect on students, on the area, and on the electors of the district.1 The environmental, social, and economic questions involving this split site campus are far different, far more complex, and far more reaching than the 1974 approved project. Public consciousness and public attitudes regarding urban sprawl, urban decay, and downtown development are much different today than in 1974. The purpose of the statute enacted in 1980 was obviously to provide the public with the opportunity to debate and decide these types of questions. They merit debate. The decision of the majority forecloses that opportunity. I conclude that sec. 38.15, Stats., must be interpreted in a way that most fully effectuates the legislative intent of providing that public debate and decision. I therefore dissent.2

 The evidence in this record concerning whether the legislature intended to exempt any building project of District No. 4 from the referendum requirements is decidedly mixed. I note, however, that at the time the legislature passed sec. 38.15, Stats., in 1980, the only project of District No. 4 that had received State Board approval and that had not been struck down by court action was the single site project at East Washington Ave. One can only speculate what action the legislature would have taken had it known about the proposed split campus plan.

 This project has already been delayed more than ten years. Another few months to allow a referendum does not appear onerous or unreasonable. A fear by District No. 4 that the district voters may defeat the project in a referendum is certainly understandable; however, that possibility is in the very nature of the democratic process.