Public Water Supply District No. 1 of Butler County, Missouri v. City of Poplar Bluff

No. 22778 (Mo. Ct. App. December 29, 1999)

The court holds that a city did not violate federal or state law when it annexed and extended its water service to an area within a rural water supply district. The court first holds that the trial court did not err in failing to declare the annexations made by the city void as a violation of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA). The trial court did not misapply federal law when it denied the district's request for an injunction to prohibit the city from pursuing pending and future annexations. OBRA § 1926(b) afforded the district protection from encroachment upon its service territory from the time it received Farmer's Home Administration funds until the time it repurchased the debt in 1990. When the district opted to repurchase its own debt and extinguish all obligations to the federal government, the loan ended and so did the service area protections of § 1926(b). The court next holds that the trial court did not err in failing to declare the existing annexations void under state law and failing to issue an injunction against future annexations of territory within the district's boundaries. The district argued that a city must comply with state statutory detachment procedures before it can service inhabitants within annexed areas of a water supply district's territory. However, the remedy requested by the district is not available under the statutes or case law.

The full text of this opinion is available from ELR (6 pp., ELR Order No. L-162).

Counsel for Appellant
Paul A. Kidwell
Scott, Kidwell & Scott
357 N. Main St., Poplar Bluff MO 63901
(573) 785-4688

Counsel for Respondent
Wallace Duncan
Duncan & White
1900 Northwood Dr., Poplar Bluff MO 63901
(573) 785-0699

[30 ELR 20281]

[NO TEXT IN ORIGINAL]