Harvey Hidgon, Charles Bryant, Glenn Wright, Ben W. Boswell, Charles A. McKinley, and Samuel Atkins, Jr., the “Taxpayers” filed a Complaint to Set Aside Hospital Service Assessment against the Greene County Board of Commissioners the “Board”, its individual members in their official capacities, and the Tax Commissioner of Greene County. After a bench trial, the trial court entered an order setting aside the assessment, from which all defendants appeal. Based on the reasons outlined below, we reverse. The facts in this case are not in dispute, as the parties stipulated thereto at the trial of this matter. Consequently, “this Court conducts a de novo review of the record in determining whether the trial court committed plain legal error.”1 On July 20, 2004, the Board approved Resolution No. 2004.7.20 b the “Resolution”, which created, on that date, a Special Tax District consisting of all real property within the boundary of Greene County the “District”. The District was created to allow the assessment of each parcel of real property in Greene County for the purpose of providing hospital-based care within the District. The assessment for 2004, made on June 1, 2004, was $100 per parcel of land in the County.2
On August 1, 2004, the Board entered into a contract with the Greene County Hospital Authority the “Authority” to provide facilities to take care of indigent patients requiring medical attention and hospitalization the “Contract”. The Authority issued Tax-Exempt Adjustable Mode Revenue Anticipation Certificates, Series 2004 the “Bonds”, in an aggregate principal amount of $6,090,000. On August 3, 2004, the District Attorney for the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit filed the Petition and Complaint for Bond Validation the “Bond Complaint”. The Bond Complaint provides: “The County intends to make the payments under the Contract from moneys received from an assessment the “Fee” that will be levied in a special taxing district the “Special District” created by the County pursuant to a resolution. The fee that will be levied in the Special District is $100 per tax parcel.”
