381 Mass. 708 | Mass. | 1980
The basic question in this case is whether the board of aldermen of the city of Holyoke has lawfully appropriated for school purposes during the 1981 fiscal year an amount in excess of the amount that, but for such an appropriation, could be available for school purposes under the so called “tax cap” legislation. St. 1979, c. 151.
The Holyoke school committee, as a “governing body” defined in St. 1979, c. 151, § 2, had no general authority to
We conclude that the action of the board of aldermen in voting to exceed the statutory “tax cap” on school department appropriations was lawful and that the mayor’s approval of the school department’s request to exceed the “tax cap” was not “required by law” within the meaning of St. 1979, c. 151, § 2. On September 22, 1980, in order to assist the city in the calculation of its tax rate for the 1981 fiscal year, we entered an order remanding the case to the single justice for entry of a judgment consistent with our conclusion.
The mayor subsequently submitted the city’s entire 1981 fiscal year budget to the board of aldermen at its meeting of March 18. He included and recommended for school purposes an amount that was only 104% of the total of the school budget for the 1980 fiscal year. On April 16, the board of aldermen voted, by 13 to 2, to “[g]ive relief to the School Department of the 4% Tax Cap and adopt the School Budget . . . submitted by the School Committee.” On May 2, following advice from the city solicitor’s office that its earlier vote was incorrect in form, the board of aldermen voted on the school department budget, 10 to 5, “to increase the budget limit for fiscal 1981 ... by $706,047.82 so that the budget limit as so increased will be $12,672,015.24.
The mayor thereafter commenced this action seeking a declaration that the votes of the board of aldermen purporting to approve the school committee’s request to exceed the “tax cap” were invalid and that the mayor must “initiate” any appropriations for school purposes in excess of the “tax cap.”
The “tax cap” legislation (St. 1979, c. 151) gave the may- or no authority to act that he did not have prior to the enactment of that legislation with respect to school department appropriations. The question, then, is what is meant by the provision in St. 1979, c. 151, that the mayor’s approval of a school committee’s request to exceed the “tax cap” is necessary “when required by law.”
School committees traditionally have had authority over their own budgets. See Bell v. North Reading, 363 Mass. 505, 510 (1973); Casey v. Everett, 330 Mass. 220, 222 (1953); Ring v. Woburn, 311 Mass. 679, 683 (1942); Leonard v. School Comm. of Springfield, 241 Mass. 325, 329 (1922). By law, prior to the “tax cap” act, barring any special legislation, a municipal appropriating authority was required to appropriate the funds that its school committee designated as necessary for school purposes. G. L. c. 71, § 34. See Pirrone v. Boston, 364 Mass. 403, 407 (1973); Bell v. North Reading, supra; Ring v. Woburn, supra at 691; Decatur v. Auditor of Peabody, 251 Mass. 82, 89 (1925). If the requested amount were not appropriated, legal action (traditionally in the form of a taxpayers’ suit) could be taken to obtain the requested funds. G. L. c. 71, §34. The fact that mayors have had the power by statute to make recommendations concerning the municipal budget, and city councils (or boards of aldermen) could not appropriate
It was thus the mayor’s obligation, with minor exceptions for items not involved in this case, to submit the school budget to the board of aldermen. Although, prior to the enactment of St. 1979, c. 151, the mayor had the power not to recommend the amount requested, any deficiency in his recommendation could have been made up by an appropriate court order. Under the new “tax cap” legislation, however, if a mayor does not recommend any amount requested by the school committee in excess of 104 % of the prior year’s budget, a court order simply to restore the amount requested would not be appropriate because a two-thirds vote of the city council or board of aldermen is required to exceed the “tax cap.” All that a court can do in such a case today is to order the mayor to submit the school committee’s budget request in excess of the “tax cap” to the city council or board of aldermen for its action.
In the circumstances before us, no such order was required because the mayor did transmit the school committee’s request for a waiver of the “tax cap” to the board of aldermen and that board approved it by a two-thirds vote. We think the absence of a recommendation from the mayor should not be fatal to the validity of the vote of the board of aldermen. In submitting the school committee’s budget to the board of aldermen, the mayor merely did what a court could have ordered him to do. G. L. c. 71, § 34. The board of aldermen acted as it eventually would have had the right to act after a court-ordered submission of the school committee’s request. It would be a triumph of form over substance for us to hold that because the mayor had the power, but not the right, to decline to include the school
Accordingly, we remanded the case to the single justice for entry of a judgment in the form set forth in the second footnote of this opinion.
The order of September 22 reads as follows:
“After hearing it is ORDERED that the case is remanded to the Single Justice for entry of a judgment that the Hoard of Aldermen of Holyoke lawfully voted under St. 1979, c. 151, to approve the request of the School Committee to increase the budget limit imposed on it by St. 1979, c. 151, § 4, for the fiscal year 1981 by $706,047.82 and that the mayor’s approval of that increase was not required by law.
“Rescript will issue forthwith. An opinion or opinions will follow.”
The parties appear to agree that as to the school budget the excess over the “tax cap” is $706,047.82 and not the $706,007.82 (or $40 less) set forth
Although the mayor was required to submit the school committee’s budget to the board of aldermen, he had the right to urge the board of aldermen to reject the school committee’s request for approval of an increase in its budget to an amount in excess of the “tax cap.”
The mayor makes no argument before us that his approval of the school committee’s action or of the board of aldermen’s vote was required under any provision of the charter of the city. We have reviewed the charter and concur with the mayor’s conclusion not to rely on any of its provisions. See Casey v. Everett, 330 Mass. 220 (1953).