Development Authority of DeKalb County “DADC” and DeKalb County appeal from the superior court’s rejection of their constitutional challenges to OCGA § 36-75-11 c, which imposes a referendum requirement on the issuance of bonds by “any authority” which is authorized to operate and incur bonded indebtedness in a county with an activated public safety and judicial facilities authority “PSJF authority” and which has constructed or operated buildings or facilities for use by any such county. Finding that DADC comes within the category of authorities governed by the statute, the superior court denied a petition to confirm and validate the issuance of bonds for completion of a performing arts center due to the failure to obtain prior approval from DeKalb County voters. Finding no error in the superior court’s ruling, we affirm. The case involves the impact of the War on Terrorism Local Assistance Act, OCGA § 36-75-1 et seq. “WTLA Act”, on authorities subject to the Development Authorities Law, OCGA § 36-62-1 et seq. “DAL”. Under the provisions of the DAL, DADC was excepted from any referendum requirement arising out of the sale or issuance of bonds. OCGA § 36-62-11. This provision was not affected by the initial enactment of the WTLA Act, see Ga. L. 2003, p. 862, § 1, which authorizes the activation of a PSJF authority by any county or city that imposes a sales tax levied for the purposes of a metropolitan area system of public transportation. As the parties acknowledge, only the City of Atlanta, Fulton County and DeKalb County currently meet the criteria to activate a PSJF authority; moreover, DeKalb County is the only county that has so activated a PSJF authority pursuant to the WTLA Act.
The issue at the core of this appeal arose when the WTLA Act was amended in May 2007 to add OCGA § 36-75-11. Ga. L. 2007, p. 421, § 1. Subsection a of that statute requires PSJF authorities created and activated by a single county to obtain voter approval before issuing bonded indebtedness for new projects. The provision challenged by appellants is subsection c of the statute, which extends the referendum requirement to “any authority” subject to the following two criteria: the authority is “authorized by general or local Act to operate and incur bonded indebtedness in a single county that has activated or that activates a PSJF authority,” id. at c 1, and the authority “constructs or operates buildings or facilities for use by any department, agency, division or commission of any county that has activated or that activates a PSJF authority.” Id. at c 2. Uncodified § 3 of the legislation enacting OCGA § 36-75-11 expressly provides that “all laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.” Ga. L. 2007, supra, p. 422, § 3.
