Kowalewski v. Madison Cty. Bd. of Comrs., 969 N.W.2d 392

Elkhorn Valley Sportsman Club applied for a conditional use permit to operate a trap/skeet range; Madison County Board granted it on Sept. 15, 2020.
Ronald & Linda Kowalewski and Robert & Sally Schroeter (appellants) filed a notice of appeal to the Madison County District Court on Oct. 14, 2020.
Appellants deposited a $100 cash bond with the county clerk and left an $82 check for the district court filing fee (the required fee was $83); an additional $1 was paid on Oct. 16 (day 31).
Appellants did not request that the county clerk apply bond funds to cover the $1 shortfall; they filed a petition in district court on Dec. 2, 2020.
The Board and Elkhorn Valley moved to dismiss for failure to timely pay the docket fee; the district court dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. The Supreme Court review followed.

Issue	Kowalewskis' Argument	Board/Club's Argument	Held
Whether timely payment of the district-court docket fee is jurisdictional	The $100 bond on deposit and subsequent payments meant the required fee was effectively paid; county clerk should have applied bond funds to cover the $1 shortfall	Statutory requirement to file notice and deposit the docket fee within 30 days is jurisdictional; strict compliance required	The court held the docket-fee requirement is jurisdictional and must be strictly complied with; failure to timely pay deprived the district court of jurisdiction
Whether prior cases (Olmer/Stigge) permit treating bond or other payments as satisfying the fee requirement	Olmer/Stigge support flexible application because § 25-1937 ties appeals from county entities to county-court appeal procedures	Those cases do not excuse strict payment of the docket fee; Olmer/Stigge do not allow using bond to cure an underpaid docket fee	The court distinguished Olmer/Stigge: they do not authorize alternative means to satisfy the jurisdictional docket-fee requirement; no duty exists to apply bond money to the filing fee

Stigge v. Graves, 213 Neb. 847, 332 N.W.2d 49 (Neb. 1983) (addressed application of county-court appeal procedure to administrative appeals)
In re Application of Olmer, 275 Neb. 852, 752 N.W.2d 124 (Neb. 2008) (applied § 25-2729’s county-court appeal procedure analogously to appeals from county boards)
Baker-Heser v. State, 309 Neb. 979, 963 N.W.2d 59 (Neb. 2021) (explains presumption of legislative acquiescence when court construction remains unamended)