Court Opinion

ID: 9602335
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 01:53:09.373739+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:02.627398
License: Public Domain

Clarke, Justice,
dissenting as to Division 2.
While I concur in the affirmance of validation and the elimination of § 5.1 from the lease, I respectfully dissent to the holding in Division 2 that § 5.4 (b) of the lease must also be eliminated. I recognize the Constitution prohibits long term debts by governmental entities. It is my understanding that this is part of the philosophy which had its origin with the admirable fiscal conservatism of Robert Toombs, who upon completion of his work on the Georgia Constitution of 1877, said, “I have locked the door of the treasury and thrown the key away.” It appears to me, however, that the majority overlooks the subsequent course of legislative actions and judicial holdings which have circumvented the rigidity of General Toombs’ philosophy, mainly through the means of authority financing.
*335Decided December 11, 1985 —
Reconsideration denied January 8, 1986.
Mayer, Nations & Perkerson, Randolph A. Mayer, Troutman, Sanders, Lockerman & Ashmore, J. Kirk Quillian, Donald W. Jan-ney, G. Craig Birchette, Hicks, Maloof & Campbell, Bruce M. Eden-*336field, Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan, John W. Bonds, Jr., Richard L. Robbins, Arnold, Golden & Gregory, Richard N. Hubert, Ennis, Friedman, Bersoff & Ewing, Paul R. Friedman, David W. Ogden, for appellants.
*335The most recent of these holdings appears in Building Auth. of Fulton County v. State of Ga., 253 Ga. 242 (321 SE2d 97) (1984). I am unable to distinguish the obligations incurred by Fulton County in that case from the obligations incurred by the City of Atlanta in the case before us. In Building Auth. of Fulton County, we approved bonds to be issued by the Building Authority for the construction of a retardation center. The lease contract between the Authority and county imposed an obligation upon the county to pay rent and it was these rental payments which would be used to service the debt created by the bonds. The Authority itself had no other means of retiring the debt. It therefore seems clear to me that the bonds were rendered marketable only because of the agreement of the county to make the rental payments. To say that this did not amount to the creation of a long term obligation or debt by the county to the bondholders applies form over substance. In each of these cases, there is a lease contract. In each of these cases, certain obligations are undertaken by the Authority and in each of these cases, the governing authority agrees to something in return. Fulton County agreed to pay money in the form of rent. The City agreed to pay money only upon the occurrence of a contingency. I fail to understand how an obligation which must be paid is not a debt and an obligation which may never have to be paid is a debt.
It matters not that the money in the Building Authority case went through the hands of the Authority before reaching the hands of the bondholders. The fact of the matter is an authority never really handles the money in either event since both of these plans would require that the payments be made to a trustee.
We may long for the days of General Toombs. I cannot now say that he was wrong, but I cannot bring myself to understand how Fulton County can agree to make payments to the Building Authority and thereby render its bonds marketable while the City of Atlanta cannot as part of a lease agreement agree to make payments upon the occurrence of a contingency which may or may not transpire. There are indeed subtle distinctions between the methods used by the Building Authority and those contemplated by the Downtown Development Authority. One is a goose and the other is a gander and the sauce for either of them ought to be the same.
*336Kutak, Rock & Campbell, Felker W. Ward, Jr., Jo Lanier Meeks, Long & Aldridge, Clay C. Long, R. William Ide III, Kilpa-trick & Cody, A. Stephens Clay, Mara McRae, Marva Jones Brooks, Rogers & Hardin, Steven E. Fox, for appellees.
Heard, Leverett & Adams, L. Clifford Adams, Jr., amicus curiae.