Blount County Board of Education v. City of Maryville, Tennessee

In this case regarding the proper distribution of liquor-by-the-drink (LBD) tax proceeds between a county and a municipality within the county, the Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals' decision affirming the trial court's grant of summary judgment against the county and in favor of the two defendant cities, holding that the LBD statute, Tenn. Code Ann. 57-4-306, did not require the Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Revenue to pay half of the cities' LBD tax proceeds to the county.The recipient cities distributed half of their tax proceeds to its own city school system and did not share the proceeds with the county. The counties sued the cities, arguing that section 57-4-306 required the cities to distribute the tax proceeds pro rata among all schools in the county based on average daily attendance. The trial court granted summary judgment for the cities. The trial court held that the statute required counties to distribute their LBD tax proceeds pro rata among all schools in the county, even though it did not require the same of cities. The court of appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding holding that the distribution statute directed the cities to distribute the education portion of their LBD tax proceeds in support of their own municipal school systems. View "Blount County Board of Education v. City of Maryville, Tennessee" on Justia Law