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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF KANSAS
No. 82,996
KANSAS CITY RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL CORP., a Kansas Corporation,
Appellee,
v.
CITY OF BONNER SPRINGS, KANSAS,
Appellant,
and
CONTEMPORARY GROUP, INC., and WILLIE L. CUNNINGHAM,
Appellees,
v.
CITY OF BONNER SPRINGS, KANSAS,
Appellant.
SYLLABUS BY THE COURT

In an action for declaratory judgment challenging the validity of Bonner Springs Ordinance No. 1791, which imposes a tax on the admission of persons entering a place of amusement, the record is examined, and it is held that the City is precluded from imposing by ordinary ordinance an excise tax not authorized by K.S.A. 12-194. The judgment of the district court holding Ordinance No. 1791 invalid is affirmed.
Appeal from Wyandotte district court; JOHN J. BUKATY, JR., judge. Opinion filed July 14, 2000. Affirmed.
Neil R. Shortlidge, of Stinson, Mag & Fizzell, P.C., of Leawood, argued the cause, and Joseph P. Perry, of Perry and Trent, L.L.C., of Bonner Springs, was with him on the briefs for appellant.
Cynthia L. Reams-Martin, of Weisenfels & Vaughan, P.C., of Kansas City, Missouri, argued the cause, and John R. Weisenfels, of the same firm, and Reid F. Holbrook, of Holbrook, Heaven & Osborn, of Kansas City, were with her on the briefs for appellee Kansas City Renaissance Festival Corp.
Thomas W. Rynard, of Jefferson City, Missouri, argued the cause, and Kenton E. Snow and John C. Craft, of Craft Fridkin & Rhyne, L.L.C., of Kansas City, Missouri, were with him on the briefs for appellees Contemporary Group, Inc., and Willie L. Cunningham.
Donald L. Moler, Jr., executive director, and Kimberly A. Gulley, and Larry A. Kleeman, of Topeka, were on the brief of amicus curiae League of Kansas Municipalities.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
ALLEGRUCCI, J.: Kansas City Renaissance Festival Corp. (Renaissance Festival) and Contemporary Group, Inc., and Willie L. Cunningham (collectively Contemporary) challenged the validity of a Bonner Springs ordinance imposing a tax on the admission of persons entering the premises of a place of amusement. Their declaratory judgment actions were consolidated in the district court. On cross-motions for summary judgment, the district court held that the ordinary ordinance was not valid. Bonner Springs appealed. The case was transferred from the Court of Appeals to this court pursuant to K.S.A. 20-3018(c).
A brief was filed by the League of Kansas Municipalities (League) as amicus curiae.
The material facts are not disputed and can be summarized as follows: Renaissance Festival is a corporation which operates an annual 7-weekend festival in Bonner Springs. Contemporary leases and operates Sandstone Amphitheater (Sandstone), an outdoor entertainment facility, in Bonner Springs. On August 18, 1997, Bonner Springs adopted Ordinance No. 1791, which levies a tax on amusements within the city. Based on the definition of "amusement" in the ordinance, only the Renaissance Festival and Sandstone currently are obligated to collect the amusement tax.
The tax imposed by Ordinance No. 1791 is "upon all amusements within the city at the rate of $.50 per ticket for admission of each person entering the premises of a place of amusement for the purpose of witnessing, viewing or participating in the amusement. The tax herein levied shall be in addition to any other taxes."
Ordinance No. 1791 is not a charter ordinance.
On February 17, 1998, Bonner Springs passed Charter Ordinance No. 16 for the purpose of exempting the City from the provisions of K.S.A. 12-194 that pertain to the imposition of excise taxes. Section 1 of the charter ordinance provides:
"The City of Bonner Springs, Kansas, by virtue of the power vested in it by Article 12, Section 5 of the Constitution of the State of Kansas, hereby elects to exempt itself from and make inapplicable to it the provisions of K.S.A. 12-194, insofar as that statute prohibits the City of Bonner Springs, Kansas, from imposing any excise tax, or tax in the nature of an excise."
The charter ordinance became effective in April 1998.
Where only questions of law are presented, this court's review is unlimited. See Hamilton v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., 263 Kan. 875, 879, 953 P.2d 1027 (1998).
In its petition in the district court, Renaissance Festival prayed for a declaratory judgment that Ordinance No. 1791 was invalid. Contemporary's petition was more far-ranging. In addition to praying for a declaration that Ordinance No. 1791 was invalid, Contemporary sought a ruling that Charter Ordinance No. 16 is invalid and has no curative effect on Ordinance No. 1791, and that "adoption of H.B. No. 2584 restores the uniform status of the local retailers' sales tax and voids any effort of the City to adopt regulations that contradict the terms of that legislation." Bonner Springs counterclaimed against Contemporary, seeking validation of Ordinance No. 1791 and an order requiring payment of amusement taxes due under the ordinance.
In its motion for summary judgment, Renaissance Festival prayed for the entry of summary judgment on its "claim for declaratory judgment." In its motion for summary judgment, Contemporary sought an order declaring that Ordinance No. 1791 was invalid and Charter Ordinance No. 16 was without effect. Bonner Springs, in its motion for summary judgment, sought validation of Ordinance No. 1791.
The district judge announced his ruling on the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment from the bench:
"[I]t appears to me that as a matter of law, in order for the city of Bonner Springs to pass any kind of an ordinance that is in conflict with K.S.A. 12-194, it had to do so by charter ordinance. Now, I'm not going to answer the question of whether or not even with the Charter Ordinance it had the authority to impose this tax, because I don't think that is a question before me. In light of my ruling that a charter ordinance is required, I think that is as far as the inquiry needs to go. And if I went ahead and issued a ruling . . . as to whether or not K.S.A. 12-194 applied uniformly, I would simply be giving you an advisory opinion and I don't think I should do that." (Emphasis added.)
Following his ruling, the trial judge asked, "Does either side wish me to make more specific findings or rulings? " Counsel for Contemporary, the only party that had sought a further-reaching ruling, did not ask the district court to address the additional issues. Instead, he agreed with Renaissance Festival's counsel's suggestion "that we have a simple journal entry that recites just what the court said." The journal entry of judgment simply states that declaratory judgment is entered in favor of Renaissance Festival and Contemporary and against Bonner Springs declaring Ordinance No. 1791 invalid. On the City's counterclaim, the journal entry states that judgment is entered in favor of Contemporary.
The trial court's ruling is extremely narrow. It is contended by Bonner Springs that the trial court's conclusion is incorrect for reasons centering on the statute's nonuniform applicability, which, of course, the trial court refused to consider. The only ordinance considered by the district court was ordinary Ordinance No. 1791; therefore, it is the only ordinance to be considered by this court on appeal. As will be discussed below, this court's analysis may of necessity touch on the effectiveness of the charter ordinance as well as that of the ordinary ordinance. H.B. 2584, however, which was not considered by the district court, is not an integral part of the analysis and will not be considered by this court. Thus, there may be some question of whether the district court's decision was a final decision as to Contemporary. See K.S.A. 60-2102. However, no claim or argument to that effect is made, and Contemporary and Renaissance Festival both limit their arguments to the validity of Ordinance No. 1791. Thus, our consideration will be limited to the validity of that ordinance.
In 1961, the home rule amendment to the Kansas Constitution took effect and empowered cities to determine their local affairs. Kan. Const. art. 12,

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