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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS

FILED
November 19, 1997 CITY OF ATHENS, TENNESSEE, ) ) ) Plaintiff-Appellee ) ) ) ) ) ) vs. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ROBERT CALLAWAY, ) ) Defendant-Appellant ) Cecil Crowson, Jr. McMINN CIRCUIT Appellate C ourt Clerk C.A. NO. 03A01-9707-CV-00256

HON. EARL H. HENLEY JUDGE

AFFIRMED AND REMANDED

ROBERT CALLAWAY, Athens, pro se Appellant. H. CHRIS TREW, Appellee. Higgins, Biddle, Chester & Trew, Athens, for

O P I N I O N

McMurray, J.

This action originated when the appellee, City of Athens, cited Robert Callaway for his failure to pay the city's service charges for refuse collection and disposal. The Athens Municipal

Court ordered Callaway to pay a total of $156.26 in trash collection and disposal charges. Callaway appealed to the Circuit Court

for McMinn County, arguing that the bills from the city were not

due and payable. judgment.

The Circuit Court granted the city summary

This appeal resulted. We affirm the judgment of the

trial court.

Callaway is a veterinarian who practices his profession in a building within Athens' city limits. In 1995, the city passed an The new 17-113

ordinance rewriting municipal code section 17-113. provides:

(1) Institutional, professional, industrial, fraternal, commercial or business establishments operated within the City of Athens shall pay a minimum monthly fee as determined by city council and adopted through its annual budget, plus an additional amount for receipt of services as determined by the supervisor of the city's sanitation department. However, businesses operating out of their residences or vehicles may be eligible for a credit of one hundred percent (100%) for the service as determined by the supervisor of the city's sanitation department. On June 22, 1995, the city's director of finance sent Callaway a letter which cited the above section and stated that his minimum monthly fee "rate has been set at $15 per month and will be reflected on a quarterly statement from the City of Athens." Callaway replied with a letter stating that he did not want to be "a customer of the Athens trash disposal system." He also

inquired, on several different occasions, as to whether the minimum monthly fee was properly identified or classified as a "user fee" or a "tax." Upon Callaway's continued refusal to pay the charges

for trash pickup and disposal, this litigation ensued.

Callaway enumerates three issues in his brief, stated as follows: "(1) whether [he] was denied due process by way of a summary judgment; (2) whether the money in question was legally

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due; (3) whether the plaintiff did not act in good faith because the city failed to answer the defendant[']s question as to the nature of the invoices, thereby making the bills invalid."

Regarding the first issue, Callaway does not present any argument, nor cite any authority, in his brief for the proposition that his due process has been denied under the facts of this case. We find this assertion to be without merit.

Regarding the issue of whether the bills were legally due, Callaway presents no cognizable reason as to why they would not be. The thrust of the argument in his brief turns on whether the assessment for garbage collection and disposal was properly

characterized as a "fee," or, as he contends, a "tax."

T.C.A.

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Tennessee Law