138 S.E. 614 | N.C. | 1927
Cross Mill District New No. 4, known as Cross Mill District, is a local tax district in Marion Township, McDowell County. The district has no union school. At the session of 1927 the General Assembly passed an act (S. B. 616, H.B. 959) entitled, "An act to authorize the board of commissioners of McDowell County to issue bonds for school purposes ion and for Clinchfield Mill District and Cross Mill District in McDowell County." The act authorizes and directs the board of commissioners to issue $30,000 in coupon bonds, in denominations of $1,000 each, bearing interest from date at a rate not to exceed 6 per cent, for the purpose of acquiring and purchasing a site, and erecting and equipping a school building in Cross Mill District. It also provides that the board of commissioners shall annually levy on the taxable property and polls of the district a sufficient tax to pay the interest on the bonds and to create a sinking fund for the payment of the principal; that the bonds shall be payable exclusively out of the tax so levied and collected; and that authority to issue the bonds shall not be restricted by any debt limit or by the existence or nonexistence of a union school in the district. As condition precedent to the issuance of the bonds an election was held and the bonds were duly authorized after all the formalities and preliminary matters had been strictly complied with. The only question is whether the plaintiff has the right to issue the bonds in the name of the county. Judge Oglesby was of opinion that the plaintiff has such right, and gave judgment accordingly. The defendant excepted and appealed. *138 After the qualified voters of the district had approved the issuance of the bonds the board of commissioners judicially determined the result and resolved that the bonds should be known as the "Cross Mill District School Building Bonds," should be issued in the name of the county, and should be payable exclusively out of taxes to be levied on the polls and the taxable property of the district. The bonds were awarded to the defendant as the highest bidder, but were refused by it on the ground that they could not legally be issued in the name of McDowell County. Whether they can be issued in the name of the county is the only question for decision.
The special act authorizes and directs the board of county commissioners to issue bonds which shall be signed by the chairman of the board, attested by the clerk, and impressed with the corporate seal of the county, but it contains no express provision as to the name of the promissor. The bonds and the coupons are to be issued "for and on accounts of" the district; but the corporate seal of the county and the signature of the chairman and of the clerk, which are prerequisite to the validity of the bonds, seem to indicate the legislative intent to have the bonds issued in the name of the county. There is no provision that they shall be issued in the name of the district; and in the absence of specific authority conferred by the Legislature the district has no power either to issue bonds or to levy taxes. Brown v. Comrs.,
Our conclusion finds support in Brown v. Comrs., supra, and in McLeod v.Comrs.,
The judgment of the Superior Court is
Affirmed.