Carlsbad Municipal Water District v. QLC Corp.

QLC Corporation, formerly Community Resources Corporation, (CRC), appeals a money judgment in favor of Carlsbad Municipal Water District, formerly Costa Real Municipal Water District, (District), in the amount of $95,400 plus interest representing District’s charge to CRC for a 300-unit condominium development under the authority of a District resolution, Resolution No. 439, imposing a “Major Facilities Charge” (MFC). The trial court’s judgment was based on its finding the MFC was a permissible “user fee” rather than a “special tax” subject to the two-thirds vote requirement of article XIII A, section 4, of the California Constitution (Proposition 13).

CRC asserts the District’s resolution is invalid because it imposes development fees nominally necessitated by new development but explicitly permits District to expend those fees for wholly unrelated purposes in derogation of Proposition 13. CRC further asserts the resolution is invalid because, by including fees for unrelated and arbitrarily conceived revenue purposes, it constitutes a special tax which was not adopted by the electorate as required by Proposition 13. CRC also claims entitlement to attorney’s fees under…