Bay Area Cellular Telephone Co. v. City of Union City

This case presents the question of whether a fee imposed on telephone lines by defendant City of Union City (the City) to fund its 911 emergency communication system is a special tax that must be approved by two-thirds of the voters in the City. The trial court ruled it was a tax, and entered judgment against the City and in favor of the plaintiffs in this action for declaratory relief. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

The Legislature enacted the Warren-911 -Emergency Assistance Act (Gov. Code, § 53100 et seq.) (the Warren Act) in 1972. The Warren Act declared that the establishment of a uniform, statewide emergency number was a matter of statewide concern, and required every local public agency to establish and operate, or to be part of, a “basic system” that automatically connects a person dialing the digits 911 to a public safety answering point. (§§53100, 53107, 53109.)

In 2003, the City established an “Emergency Communication System Response Fee” (the Fee) (City Mun. Code, ch. 7.20) by adopting ordinance No. 617-03 (the Ordinance). The Fee was imposed on “every person who maintains access to the 911 communication system by subscribing to local telephone service within the…