48 P. 286 | Idaho | 1897
By an act of the legislature of the territory of Idaho, approved February 7, 1889 (Acts 15th Sess., p. 35), the county of Elmore was created out of a portion of the theretofore existing territory of Alturas county, the county of Logan created out of another portion, and still another portion was added to Bingham county. Sections 7 and 8 of said act are as follows:
“Sec. 7. The indebtedness of Alturas county at the date •of the passage and approval of this act shall be apportioned between the counties of Alturas, Elmore, Logan and Bingham counties, in the same proportion that the taxable property of the three counties have acquired from Alturas county, and that the four counties bear to each other as shown by the assessment-roll of the year 1888 in Alturas county, and at their regular meeting in April, 1889, the boards of commissioners ■of the four counties mentioned shall, respectively, appoint each a competent accountant who shall meet at the town of Hailey and proceed to audit and ascertain the amount of indebtedness to be paid by each of the aforesaid counties to Al-turas county, and they shall apportion all moneys in the treasury of said Alturas county in the same proportion that they apportion the debt, but in apportioning the debt and bonds, they shall make no apportionment of the bonds issued for the erection of the courthouse or other public buildings in Alturas county, nor of any. cash on hand to pay said bonds •and interest, and they shall make out four certificates, one to be delivered to the board of commissioners for each county, showing the total indebtedness of Alturas county, its character, whether bonded or otherwise, and also the proportion to be paid by each county, and such accountants shall be allowed a reasonable sum for their services, to be paid by the county ■appointing each respectively.
“See. 8. Immediately after filing of the certificate of the proportion of the indebtedness named in the preceding section 7, the auditors of Elmore and Logan and Bingham counties, under the supervision of their respective boards of eommis-
It appears that the officers of Alturas county utterly disregarded the duty enjoined upon them by' said act, and failed for more than three years to appoint such accountant, and that in 1894 the counties of Elmore, Logan and Bingham (defendant county) united in a proceeding in this court, and procured, in this court, in May, 1894, a writ of mandate compelling the appointment of said accountants to apportion said indebtedness. (See Elmore Co. v. Alturas Co., 4 Idaho, 154, 37 Pac. 349.) Pursuant to the requirements of said writ of mandate, each of said counties appointed its accountant, and the four accountants met at Hailey on the sixteenth day of August, 1894, and ascertained and apportioned said indebtedness, their report being in words and figures as follows:
“We, the undersigned, accountants for the counties of Al-turas, Bingham, Elmore and Logan, duly appointed in accordance with an act of the legislative assembly of the territory of Idaho entitled ‘An act creating and organizing the counties of Elmore and Logan and defining the boundaries of Bingham and Alturas counties/ approved February 7, 1889, and in ae-
"1. That the total valuation of all assessable property in-the county of Alturas for the year 1888, as appears from the assessment-roll of said county for said year, is $3,787,533; that the value of said property lying within the limits of the county of Bingham after division is $85,770; that the value of said property lying within the limits of the county of Al-turas, after division, is $890,433; that the value of said property lying within the limits of the county of Elmore, after division, is $881,660; that the valuation of said property lying within the limits of the county of Logan, after division, is $1,939,671.
“3. That the amount of moneys in the treasury of the county of Alturas on the seventh day of February, 1889, is $36,338.39. Of this sum there was apportioned during the year 1889 the following amounts: To the territorial fund, $3,371.66; to the school fund, $8,997.09; to the bond tax fund to meet July interest, $7,817.98=$19,096.73; leaving a iret balance to be apportioned, $17,351.66. Of this amount Alturas’ portion is $4,055.80; Bingham’s portion is $390.65; Elmore’s portion is $4,015.83; Logan’s portion is $8,789.38.
“3. That the floating indebtedness of Alturas county on the seventh day of February, 1889, is as follows: Outstanding general road and bridge warrants and interest to February 7, 1889, $10,104.94; outstanding district road and bridge warrants, being drawn on road districts lying outside the boundaries of Alturas county after division and interest thereon to February 7, 1889, $6,697.31; outstanding current expense fund warrants and interest to February 7, 1889, $36,049.44; outstanding hospital indebtedness $363.50; total floating indebtedness, February 7, 1889, $43,114.09. The total floating indebtedness is apportioned as follows: To Alturas, $10,135.93; to Bingham, $976.33; to Elmore, $10,036.10; to Logan, $31,-965.75=$43,114.09.
“5. That bonds of Alturas county, illegal and void, as we are advised by the attorneys of our respective counties, were issued and were extant on the seventh day of February, 1889, as follows: Nineteen bonds, numbered 1 to 19, inclusive, bearing date July 1, 1887, for $1,000 each, at the rate of six and one-half per cent interest, said interest payable semi-annually on January 1st and July 1st of each year, making a total issue of $19,000, and all mature on July 1, 1897. If it should ultimately be determined that said bonds are legal and valid, then the same should be paid by said counties as follows: Alturas county should pay $4,466.81; Bingham county •should pay $430.26; Elmore should pay $4,422.82; Logan ■county should pay $9,680.11; total, $19,000. Six bonds, numbered 1 to 6, inclusive, second series, bearing date July 1, 1887, for $1,000 each, seven per cent interest, said interest payable semi-annually on January 1st and July 1st of each
“Dated at Hailey, August 16, 1894.
(Signed) “I. W. GABBET, “Accountant for Alturas County.
“GEO. F. GAGON,' “Accountant for Bingham County.
“E. C. HELFBICH, “Accountant for Elmore County.
“WM. E. HEABD, “Accountant for Logan County.”
By an act approved March 9, 1895 (Sess. Acts 1895, p. 87), section 8 of the act of February 7, 1889, set forth above, was amended to read as follows:
“Sec. 8. Immediately after the filing of the certificate [of the proportion of the-indebtedness] named in the preceding section [7] the auditors of Elmore and Logan and Bingham counties, under the isupervision of their respective boards of commissioners, must draw and issue warrants in favor of Alturas county, to the full amount of the indebtedness apportioned to their respective counties, such warrants to bear date July 1, 18894 to be issued in sums of $500 each (but one warrant may be drawn for a less amount in order to pay a fractional part of the debt), and to be not transferable, and to bear interest at the rate of seven per cent per annum, payable on the first day of January and first day of July in each year at the office of the county treasurer of Alturas county, or at such bank in the city of New York as may be designated by the board of county commissioners of Alturas county. Such warrants are to, and shall, be redeemed by each respective county in the following manner: Ten per cent of the total amount issued shall be paid in eight years from the date of issue and ten per cent 'annually thereafter, until all of said warrants are paid, making the last of said warrants redeemable eighteen years from the date of issue. The money so received from the counties of Elmore, Logan and Bingham by Alturas county shall be by it applied only to the payment of the present indebtedness of Alturas county, and the securities into which it has been funded. The board of county com-
By act of March 5, 1895 (see Sess. Acts 1895, p. 31), the counties of Alturas and Logan were abolished, and the county of Blaine created, and under the last-named act the plaintiff, Blaine county, became the successor of Alturas county, and assumed the liabilities and succeeded to the rights of Alturas county. The plaintiff applies for a writ of mandate to compel the officers of Bingham county to take such steps as will result in the payment of that portion of the indebtedness of Alturas county aforesaid payable from Bingham county to the plaintiff-county, in accordance with said recited acts of the legislature. In its petition the plaintiff avers the appointment of said accountant by the several counties interested; avers the findings of said accountants, and avers that Bingham county is indebted to the plaintiff in the sum of $7,033.68, with interest from July 1, 1889; that the defendants liobert H. Smith, Milen D. Andrus, and James L. Bumgarner are the duly elected, qualified and acting commissioners of Bingham county; that the defendant George F. Gagon is the duly elected, qualified and acting clerk and ex-officio auditor of said Bingham county;, that the defendant IVilliam N. Woodin is the duly elected,, qualified and acting treasurer of said Bingham county, and-that Wilford D. Huffaker is the duly elected assessor and tax collector of said Bingham county; the failure of the auditor of Bingham county to issue, under the supervision of the board of commissioners of said county, warrants to plaintiff for said sum of $7,033.68, drawing interest from July 1, 1889; the failure of the treasurer to pay plaintiff moneys alleged to have been raised to pay accrued interest on said indebtedness; and that the said defendant commissioners of Bingham county fail and refuse to levy special taxes to pay said indebtedness.
To the petition of plaintiff the defendants demurred on the following grounds, to wit: 1. That a misjoinder of parties defendant appears on the face of said petition, in this, to wit: That the defendants, William N. Woodin and Wilford D. Huf-faker, are unnecessary and improper parties to this proceeding;
The answer admits the official capacity of the defendants j denies that said accountants found the sum of $7,033.68, or any sum greater than $443.84, due from Bingham county to Blaine county; and specifically denies the other allegations of the petition; and avers affirmative matters which need not, for the reason that such matters are not material to the issues in this cause, be mentioned. A stipulation of facts and certain documentary evidence was introduced on the trial.
We are of the opinion that that portion of the report of said accountants reciting that they were advised that certain bonds mentioned, issued by Alturas county, are void, is surplusage, and of no effect. When, as in the case under consideration, a board of accountants whose appointment is provided for by law, and whose duty it is to ascertain the amount of indebtedness of a certain county, at a certain time, and apportion such indebtedness among such and other named counties, on a given basis, are called upon to and only perform clerical acts, such board of accountants cannot defeat the object for which it was constituted by attempting to pass, directly or indirectly, on the validity of such indebtedness. Notwithstanding the sur-plusage interjected into the report of said accountants, said re-* port was sufficient, and complied with the requirements of the act of February 7, 1889, and found the proportion of the sum to be paid by Bingham county to plaintiff to be sums aggregating the sum of $7,033.68. And it was the duty of the board of county commissioners of Bingham county to direct and supervise the issuance of warrants of said Bingham count3r, by the auditor of said Bingham county, to the county of Al-turas while in existence, or afterward to the plaintiff, for said
The defendants contend that a portion of the bonds mentioned in said accountants’ report were issued in violation of the act of Congress of July 30, 1886, limiting the amount of indebtedness to be thereafter incurred by any county or other subdivision of any of the territories. The record in this case shows that pursuant to section 3603 of chapter 6 of title 13 of the Bevised Statutes of Idaho, as amended by act of March 8, 1895 (Sess. Acts 1895, p. 57), the board of county commissioners of Blaine county did, on the twenty-ninth day of April, 1896, ascertain the indebtedness mentioned in said accountants’ report to be valid and legal obligations of said Blaine county, and so ordered; that from said order of said board of commissioners an appeal was taken to the district court of the fourth judicial district, in and for Blaine county, and the said order of the board of commissioners was, by judgment of said district court, affirmed.
We think that Bingham county, owing to the relations that are hereinbefore shown to have existed between it and Blaine county, was charged with notice of the action of the board of commissioners and the said district court in the premises, and should not be permitted in this proceeding to make a collateral ’ attack on the said order of the board of commissioners, or upon the judgment of said district court affirming the said order. If said order of the board of commissioners and the judgment of said district court were erroneous, the proper remedy should have been pursued. In making said order the board of commissioners were acting in a quasi judicial capacity, and within the jurisdiction vested in the hoard by positive law; and by reason of the appeal to said district court said court acquired jurisdiction in the premises and having jurisdiction to act, the correctness or incorrectness of said order of the board of commissioners and the judgment affirming same cannot be questioned in a collateral proceeding.
The first ground of defendants’ demurrer to the petition is not well taken. The action of the board of commissioners,
The second ground of defendants' demurrer to said petition is not well taken. While it is true that Bingham county has lost much of its territory by reason of the formation of Fremont and Bannock counties out of the same, yet Bingham county is primarily liable to plaintiff for the indebtedness in question,, and plaintiff can only look, or be required to look, to Bingham county therefor, and for these reasons Fremont and Bannoclv counties are neither proper nor necessary parties to this ac