N. Perry v. Lake Cty. Budget Comm. - Ohio Supreme Court Opinion - Ohio Supreme Court Decision

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Village of North Perry, Appellant, v. Lake County Budget
Commission et al., Appellees.
[Cite as N. Perry v. Lake Cty. Budget Comm. (1994), Ohio
St.3d .]
Taxation -- Appeals to Board of Tax Appeals on Lake County
General Health District assessment -- Appeals dismissed
for lack of jurisdiciton when appeal not filed within
thirty days of receipt of official certificates of
resources -- R.C. 5705.37, applied.
(Nos. 93-1552 amd 93-1932 -- Submitted May 25, 1994 --
Decided August 3, 1994.)
Appeals from the Board of Tax Appeals, Nos. 90-J-260,
91-J-279 and 92-B-267, and 93-B-216.
The village of North Perry, appellant, appeals the
dismissals of its notices of appeal by the Board of Tax Appeals
for the budget years 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993.
In each of the above years, the Lake County General Health
District, appellee, filed a budget with the Lake County Auditor
pursuant to R.C. 3709.28. The auditor then transmitted the
budget to the Lake County Budget Commission, appellee. The
commission approved each budget and returned them to the
auditor. The auditor then apportioned the health district's
unfunded expenses among the subdivisions composing the district
according to each subdivision's taxable valuation and assessed
each its portion of the expenses. North Perry was one of these
subdivisions.
For each of these years, North Perry included an estimate
of this assessment in the budget it filed with the auditor.
The auditor then delivered North Perry's budget to the
commission, which approved it. The commission thereafter
issued an official certificate of resources for North Perry.
In 1990, the commission issued the 1990 certificate on August
24, 1989, the 1991 certificate on August 21, 1990, the 1992
certificate on August 23, 1991, and the 1993 certificate on
August 20, 1992.
In January 1990, the health district began the 1991 budget
process by issuing a letter advising all subdivisions within
its district of its proposed 1991 budget. This letter

mentioned each subdivision's 1990 actual assessment. North
Perry, claiming that this was the first notice of its actual
1990 assessment, appealed from this letter to the Board of Tax
Appeals ("BTA") on February 26, 1990, claiming an
overassessment for the budget year 1990. North Perry filed
appeals from similar letters for budget years 1991 and 1992 on
February 28, 1991, February 26, 1992, and January 20, 1993,
respectively.
The BTA dismissed these appeals for lack of jurisdiction.
The BTA ruled that the appeals were not timely filed as to any
action taken by the commission.
This cause is now before this court upon appeals as of
right.

Crabbe, Brown, Jones, Potts & Schmidt, John P. Kennedy,
Larry H. James and David A. Morton; Cannon, Stern, Aveni &
Loiacono, and James V. Loiacono, for appellant.
Steven C. LaTourette, Lake County Prosecuting Attorney,
and Michael P. Brown, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for
appellees.

Per Curiam. R.C. 5705.37 states:
"The taxing authority of any subdivision that is
dissatisfied with any action of the county budget commission
may, through its fiscal officer, appeal to the board of tax
appeals within thirty days after the receipt by the subdivision
of the official certificate or notice of the commission's
action. * * *"
North Perry claims that the only notice it received of the
actual assessment was contained in the letters sent by the
health district. Consequently, so it argues, it may appeal
from this notice. The commission responds that the appeals
were untimely since North Perry filed them more than thirty
days after it received notice of the commission's actions and
because North Perry attempted to appeal the health district's
action, not the commission's action.
"The right to appeal granted by R.C. 5705.37 is statutory,
and an appellant must follow the statute." Cincinnati v.
Budget Comm. of Hamilton Cty. (1988), 35 Ohio St.3d 252, 253,
520 N.E. 2d 232, 234. In Budget Comm. of Brown Cty. v.
Georgetown (1986), 24 Ohio St. 3d 33, 24 OBR 76, 492 N.E. 2d
826, syllabus, we stated:
"Pursuant to the express terms of R.C. 5705.37, the
permissible time in which to perfect an appeal to the Board of
Tax Appeals may be triggered by a subdivision's receipt of
either the official certificate as set forth in R.C. 5705.37 or
by receipt of notice as defined in R.C. 5747.51(J)."
The commission, in the instant case, sent the official
certificates of resources in August of the year prior to each
of the years in dispute. Further, the notice defined in R.C.
5747.51(J) is the published list of the subdivisions and the
amount each is to receive from the undivided local governmental
fund. The auditor must publish this notice in a local
newspaper of countywide circulation, and send it by certified
mail to each participating subdivision. This latter notice is
not involved in this case.
Thus, R.C. 5705.37 required North Perry to file its notice

of appeal within thirty days of receiving the official
certificate of resources. This statute does not provide for
filing an appeal from a notice issued by a health district
informing subdivisions of its proposed budget, including
therein, the actual assessment for the current year. Since
North Perry failed to file its appeals within thirty days of
receiving the official certificates of resources, the BTA
correctly dismissed the appeals.
In truth, North Perry had some knowledge of its assessment
prior to receiving the official certificates. According to the
testimony of North Perry's clerk-treasurer, she attempted, in
December 1989, to obtain information on 1990's assessment from
the health district to prepare the 1990 budget. North Perry
then included an assessment estimate in such budget. Moreover,
according to Lake County's Chief Deputy Auditor, who handles
the budgeting process for the auditor, North Perry's official
certificate of resources reflects the assessment because such
amount is deducted from real estate tax revenue to determine
the exact amount of that revenue source.
Accordingly, we affirm the BTA's decisions because North
Perry did not file timely appeals for each of the years in
question.
Decisions affirmed.
Moyer, C.J., A.W. Sweeney, Douglas, Wright, Resnick, F.E.
Sweeney and Pfeifer, JJ., concur.