134 Ga. 358 | Ga. | 1910
An election was held in the Town of Loganville on May 18, 1909, wherein was submitted the question of levying a special tax for the maintenance of a public-school system for the town. More than two thirds of the votes cast therein were favorable to the levy of the special tax. A. M. Brooks and other citizens and taxpayers of the town filed their petition, praying that the town and the mayor and council be enjoined from levying and collecting the tax claimed to have been authorized by the election. The complaining taxpayers assert that the act of 1905 incorporating the Town of Loganville did not confer upon that municipality any power to establish and maintain a public-school system by local taxation. The constitution, as amended by the proposal of 1903 (Acts of 1903, p. 23), declares that “authority may be granted to
The constitutional permission to the General Assembly to delegate to municipalities the power to establish and maintain a public-school system by local taxation is not self-executing. This clause of the constitution does not purport to establish a public-school system by local taxation, but does delegate such power to the General Assembly. The General Assembly has enacted a general law anfti prizing counties and school districts to establish and maintain public schools by local taxation (Acts of 1906, p. 61), but has not passed any general law conferring such authority on municipalities. The act of 1905 undertakes to give plenary authority to the mayor and council of the Town of Loganville to establish and maintain a public-school system by local taxation, with the proviso that in the levy and collection of the tax the municipality must comply with the provisions of the general law. What general law? Necessarily the reference must be to a general law authorizing municipalities to submit to the qualified voters a proposal to establish and maintain a public-school system, when approved by a two-thirds vote of persons qualified to vote at such election. There is no general law upon this subject. The constitution contemplates that the General Assembly may pass a law conferring upon
As the act of 1905 did not confer upon the Town of Loganville the power to submit to the voters the question of the maintenance of a public-school system by local taxation, it is unnecessary to discuss the criticisms made upon the general provisions of the act relative to the registration and qualifications of voters for municipal elections, further than to call attention to the provisions relating to the registration of voters, which would seem to allow the registration of voters ineligible to vote for members of the General Assembly. Judgment reversed.