County of Riverside v. Idyllwild County Water District

This case involves a controversy between the County of Riverside and the Idyllwild County Water District (district) over a charge imposed by the district in connection with the county’s use of the district sewerage facilities. In a declaratory relief action brought by the county, the court granted the county’s motion for summary judgment and entered a judgment decreeing that the county was not obligated to pay the charge in question. The district appeals from the judgment.

The county’s motion for summary judgment was submitted on a written stipulation of facts which included the following:

In 1968, the district sold general obligation bonds of its Improvement District No. 1 which had been previously authorized by the voters and used the proceeds to construct sewerage facilities. A bond retirement and redemption fund was established to service the bonded indebtedness.

In 1971, the board of directors of the district adopted resolution No. 128 requiring “all tax exempt entities” to pay, as a condition of sewer service, a “Capital Cost Sewer Capacity Charge” (hereafter capital cost charge) as an “equitable contribution toward the capital cost of the sewerage system.” The…