62 Wash. 445 | Wash. | 1911
Respondents brought this action as taxpayers to enjoin the city of Seattle and its officers from the issuance and sale of certain municipal bonds, authorized at an election held March 8, 1910. The defendants entered a general demurrer to the complaint, which was overruled and judgment
It is conceded that the issuance of these bonds would make the indebtedness of the city exceed the limitation fixed in art. 8, § 6 of the constitution, providing, so far as is here applicable, that no municipal corporation shall for any purpose become indebted to an amount exceeding one and one-half per centum of the taxable property, without the assent of three-fifths of the voters therein, voting at an election to be held for that purpose. The city of Seattle, as a city of the first class, is by general law given power to borrow money for corporate purposes in such manner as shall be prescribed in its charter, and may borrow money or contract indebtedness for municipal purposes exceeding one and one-half per centum of its taxable property, with the assent of three-fifths of the voters at an election held for that purpose and in the manner presented by the city council, not inconsistent with the general election law. The charter of the city provides for the issue of bonds for corporate purposes in- the manner prescribed in its charter and the constitution and laws of the
It will be noted that, while the power to create a municipal indebtedness within the constitutional limitation is conferred upon the city, both by general law and its charter, and while the city may by ordinance determine the manner of submitting any proposition seeking to incur such indebtedness to the voters, the ordinance providing for such submission to the voters, and the mode and manner adopted by the city council in submitting such proposition, shall not be inconsistent with the constitution and laws of this state. If, then, the method adopted in this instance of submitting these eight propositions to the voter and compelling him to assent to or dissent from each and all of them or lose his vote is inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the state, it must fail. The constitutional inhibition as to such indebtedness as is here sought to be created is that no city shall for any purpose become so indebted in any manner, without the assent of three-fifths of the voters, voting at an election held for that purpose. What is the meaning of this provision, if not that no city, whatever its pui’pose may be, however needful or meritorious may be the object, however necessary to the safety, good health, or general welfare of its citizens, may not incur an indebtedness beyond the one and one-half per cent of its taxable property, unless three-fifths of the voters shall assent? What is the public policy created by such a provision, if not that the voter shall freely, voluntarily, and with a full knowledge of the purpose of the election and the object to be attained thereby, consent to the laying of this additional burden of taxation upon his property? The assent of the voter here means more than his affirmative vote; it was intended to mean a vote cast with his approval of the object sought. “Assent”
How can a voter express his free and intelligent assent to such an additional burden of taxation when, in- order to so express it, he is compelled to express a like assent to other measures, with which he is not in sympathy nor accord, and against which, if given the opportunity, he would cast his vote. Here we have eight separate and distinct propositions upon which as a whole the voter must assent or dissent. Some he favors, others he is opposed to; and yet, in order to express his assent upon those he favors, and which in his judgment are needful for the city’s growth and prosperity, he must likewise express, not an intelligent nor free, but a controlled and compelled assent to measures he deems harmful. As is said in the case cited, “to declare an election of this kind valid would be to take from the people the right and power to control in this matter of additional taxation and vest it exclusively, practically, in those charged with the duty of calling the election, for they could defeat any measure, however beneficial and popular, by coupling with it a proposition ruinous and altogether objectionable, and they could secure many undesirable and vicious measures by coupling with them others necessary to the welfare of the community.” For these reasons, an election was there held void where two propo
The vice of this method adopted by the city to compel an affirmative vote on all eight measures is readily apparent upon an examination of the propositions submitted, propositions in which there is nothing in common, nor any such unity of interest as would lead any one to either favor or disfavor all eight measures. Illustrating this view is the proposition for the two bridges. One calls for a bridge over the west waterway at Spokane avenue in the south part of the city, a matter in which the people of West Seattle and those interested in the waterways to the south are particularly interested, and which they deem of great value in the opening up of the Duwamish waterway scheme. The other calls for a bridge over the government canal at Westlake avenue in the northern part of the city, a project in which the people along the north end of Lake Union and the advocatés of the government canal are deeply interested. There is nothing in common between these two propositions. One is a scheme for the development of the city to the north; the other a scheme for its development to the south. The people in these widely separated districts have no common interest in any local improvement. In fact, their interests from a selfish point, are as diversified and separate as the measures themselves; and-yet these people, in order to get an-improvement which they consider of great value and importance to their section of the city, must support another improvement in which they have
The charter provision providing that “the mode and manner of submitting such proposition to the voters shall be prescribed by ordinance,” does not confer upon the city council the authority to adopt a scheme which contravenes and destroys the safeguards which the constitution and public policy of the state, as announced in the constitution and general laws, have thrown around the voter, to guard and protect the purity of the ballot and to preserve inviolate, in so far as the law can, the freedom of individual choice. Neither do we have to find an- express constitutional provision that declares that such a submission as here made is forbidden,
A few other authorities will be referred to. In Gray v. Mount, 45 Iowa 591, it is said, in dealing with a similar question:
“If there be two objects and a specified amount of funds to be devoted to each, it is plain that there are two propositions submitted at the same election. If they are submitted to*452 gether, it is very clear that the voter cannot vote for one and against the other. He must vote against both, whereby he may defeat one, the success of which he desires, or he must vote for both, whereby he may cause the success of one which he desires to be defeated. If he fails to vote he may thus aid in causing the defeat of his favorite measure, and the adoption of the one he opposes. He has thus no liberty of choice .... The very letter as well as the spirit of our election laws condemns this plan.”
Mr. Justice Brewer, in Lewis v. Commissioners of Bourbon County, 12 Kan. 186, at page 214, in discussing such a double submission, adds his disapproval in saying:
“It needs no argument to show the rank injustice of such a mode of submission. By it several interests may be combined, and the real will of the people overslaughed. By this combination an unpopular measure may be tacked on to one that is popular and carried through on the strength of the latter. A necessary matter may be made to carry with it some private speculation for the benefit of the few. Things odious and wrong in themselves may receive the popular approval, because linked with propositions whose immediate consummation is deemed essential. It is against the very spirit of popular election. That aims to secure freedom of choice, not merely between parties, but also in respect to every office to be filled, and every measure to be determined.”
Like reasoning is employed by the courts in many cases to which we cannot refer without unnecessarily extending this opinion. Among such cases are Rea v. La Fayette, 130 Ga. 771, 61 S. E. 707; Supervisors of Fulton County v. Mississippi & W. R. R. Co., 21 Ill. 338, 373; City of Denver v. Hayes, 28 Colo. 110, 63 Pac. 311; City of Leavenworth v. Wilson, 69 Kan. 74, 76 Pac. 400; Cain v. Smith, 117 Ga. 902, 44 S. E. 5; State ex rel. Bethany v. Allen, 186 Mo. 673, 85 S. W. 531; Garrigues v. Commissioners, 39 Ind. 66, and a large list of others collated in Stern v. Fargo, supra.
Counsel for the city contend that this court has approved this method of submitting like propositions in Metcalfe v. Seattle, 1 Wash. 297, 29 Pac. 1010; Yesler v. Seattle, 1
“Whenever the city council . . . shall deem it advisable that the city . . . shall exercise the authority hereby conferred upon them in relation to either or both such waterworks or system of sewerage or plants or works for lighting purpose, the corporation shall provide therefor by ordinance.”
This statute, it was held, clearly authorized an ordinance providing for both waterworks and sewers. In the Seymour case the court had before it the validity of an election under an ordinance providing for the issuance of bonds for the purchase of waterworks and an electric light plant, submitted as one proposition, and it was held that, under the act of 1890 referred to in the Yesler case, the two questions might be submitted as one proposition; the attack being made, not on the form of the submission, but that the power conferred by the act of 1890 as amended by the act of 1891 was a power to construct and not a power to purchase, and that the ordinance failed to specify the works and plant with sufficient detail to enable the voter to determine the expediency of purchasing the property at the price named; and other like attacks in no way analogous to the question here submitted. An examination of the Metcalfe, Yesler, and Seymour cases discloses that the same member of this court wrote all three opinions, the last one being filed June 2, 1893. On July 25, 1893, the same judge filed an opinion in the case of McBryde v. Montesano, 7 Wash. 69, 34 Pac. 559, which case
“Clearly the intention was, that whereas such works are likely to demand large and unusual expenditures, the wisdom of which, in some cases, may be doubtful, the people who would have to furnish the means should be fully apprised of the whole scheme, and that there should be a definite, well considered, and practicable scheme presented for their rejection or adoption.”
These views are in support of, rather than antagonistic to, the position we have taken.
For these reasons, we believe the scheme adopted by the city of Seattle to submit these eight propositions as one is in violation of the public policy announced in our constitu
The judgment is affirmed.
Dunbar, C. J., Chadwick, Mount, Parker, and Crow, JJ., concur.