268 Pa. 585 | Pa. | 1920
Opinion by
The facts in this case are found in the opinion of the Superior Court, 73 Pa. Superior Ct. 61, and the only question that we are called upon to decide is whether defendant, an abutting property owner, is relieved from liability for original paving because a street railway company paid the municipality a portion of the cost thereof, as it was required to do under the condition it was subjected to on admission to the borough. It is the contention of appellee that this amount should be deducted from the entire cost, and the residue apportioned between the municipality on the one side and the property owners on the other.
The work was done under the Act of May 12, 1911, P. L. 288, and it permits the borough to collect two-thirds of the cost from the abutting property owners by equal assessment, according to the foot-front rule. The cost does not mean the contract price, but it does mean the actual outlay the borough is required to make in the construction of the street. It certainly was not intended that, if the contract price was for any reason reduced to the borough, the property owners should pay the contract price, notwithstanding the reduction. The property owner and the municipality do not deal on the theory of contract, but on that of cost, and two-thirds of this is all the former is required to pay.
From what has been said, it follows that the order of the Superior Court, reversing the court below and permitting the appellee to deduct the amount paid by the railway company, was correct, and we find no error in the question of practice therein decided.
The order of the Superior Court is affirmed.