163 S.W.2d 588 | Mo. | 1942
In May, 1942, the City of Lebanon instituted this proceeding by filing in the circuit court its petition, pursuant to Sections 3312-3316; Revised Statutes Missouri 1939 [Mo. R.S.A., secs. 3312-16, pp. 495-497], praying for a pro forma decree authorizing the issuance of water revenue bonds in the principal sum of $200,000.00 and adjudicating the validity thereof. Notice was duly given and *717 intervener filed his petition attacking the constitutionality of the statute under which the city is proceeding, and questioning certain provisions of Ordinance No. 1035 of the city authorizing the bonds. After a trial, the circuit court decided all the issues in favor of the city and intervener has appealed.
The bonds are being issued under the National Defense Cooperation Act (hereinafter called The Act), enacted by the Missouri General Assembly in 1941 and found in the session acts for that year at pages 493 to 505.
Pursuant to an ordinance an election was duly held in said city on March 24, 1942, submitting a proposition to issue said bonds for the purpose of financing a part of the cost of improving and extending the existing waterworks system of the city, resulting in a vote of 875 for and 22 against the bonds. It was provided that the bonds are not to be a general liability of the city, nor payable from taxes, but to be payable solely from the income from the waterworks system as provided by The Act. Afterward the city passed Ordinance No. 1035 authorizing the issuance of the bonds, prescribing the details of sale and certain covenants by the city to safeguard payment.
It is conceded that Lebanon is located in a "defense area" as defined in The Act, being forty miles from Fort Leonard Wood where about 35,000 soldiers are usually stationed. The Federal census of 1940 gave the city's population as 5,025, while the sugar rationing registration in May, 1942, shows a population of about 8,000. Nearly 400 residences have been constructed in the city since 1940, besides a twenty-nine family apartment house and some thirty-five new business houses. The water and sewer systems are grossly inadequate and fire protection is likewise deficient. The State Board of Health has notified the city that its water supply "represents a serious hazard to the health of the citizens." To aid in correcting these conditions, the Federal government has offered the city two grants: One of $91,000.00 to aid in the waterworks improvement [590] to cost $291,000.00; the other of $276,000.00 to pay the entire cost of increased sewer facilities.
[1] First, appellant says The Act is a local or special law in violation of Section 53, Article IV, and Section 7, Article IX, of the Missouri Constitution. Said Section 53 lists a number of subjects about which the General Assembly shall not pass a local or special law and contains a general provision that "in all other cases where a general law can be made applicable, no local or special law shall be enacted; and whether a general law could have been made applicable in any case is hereby declared a judicial question, and as such shall be judicially determined, without regard to any legislative assertion on the subject." Said Section 7 provides for the organization and classification of cities and towns in not to exceed four classes so that *718 municipal corporations of the same class shall possess the same powers and be subject to the same restrictions.
The Act authorizes the issuance of revenue bonds for specified purposes by municipalities located within "defense areas," defined as the territory within the radius of fifty miles of a camp, fort, etc., within which not less than 10,000 persons are stationed, except the territory contained in any county now or hereafter having a population of not less than 200,000 nor more than 400,000 inhabitants, or any municipality located in such a county.
Appellant says The Act is a special or local act because the attempted classification is arbitrary and unreasonable; that it does not apply to every community in the State where the same conditions exist, but only to municipalities located in "defense areas" and not to them if located in a county now or hereafter containing a population of not less than 200,000 nor more than 400,000.
Diligent counsel on both sides of this case have cited many cases in which this court has considered the above mentioned constitutional provision. In those cases we have upheld, or denied the validity of, legislative acts in accordance with our view as to whether they were based upon reasonable or unreasonable classifications. In State ex rel. Daily Record Co. v. Hartmann,
The Act purports to be a general law. By its express terms it is applicable to all municipalities now or hereafter located in "defense areas" except in counties of a certain population. This gives rise to two questions: First, do cities located in such areas have problems *719 peculiar to them which do not usually pertain to cities not so located? Second, does the exception as to cities in counties containing from 200,000 to 400,000 destroy The Act?
The Act contains a declaration to the effect that the sudden expansion of camps and other governmental establishments due to the National emergency has resulted in rapid and large concentration of civilian population within such areas, and that the sewage collection and disposal, water and other facilities of such cities, except within counties now or hereafter having a population between 200,000 and 400,000, are not adequate to meet the extraordinary demand caused by such concentration of civilian population, with the result that the health, safety and welfare of those within and close to such environments are in grave danger.
We are not bound by the legislative declaration, but it is entitled to great weight. [Laret Investment Co. v. Dickmann,
[2] The exclusion from The Act of territory in counties containing between 200,000 and 400,000 inhabitants now affects only St. Louis County, but will apply to any county which hereafter attains that population. We do not know what evidence the General Assembly had before it which impelled it to make that exception. Existing statutes applicable to the excepted counties or other conditions may have made it unnecessary to include them in The Act. The presumption is always in favor of constitutionality. In Hull v. Baumann, supra, and Roberts v. Benson, supra, we held that the exclusion from the Jones-Munger law (relating to the collection of taxes), of counties between 200,000 and 400,000 population did not make the law unconstitutional.
[3] Appellant says that The Act violates Section 12 of Article X, of the Missouri Constitution, by permitting a city of less than 75,000 inhabitants to issue revenue bonds, the argument being that said section expressly grants the power to all cities having a population of 75,000 or more and impliedly prohibits all cities having less than that population from issuing such bonds.
This question was suggested, but not decided, in State ex rel. Blue Springs v. McWilliams,
[4] Appellant contends that certain provisions of Ordinance No. 1035 make the revenue bonds an indebtedness of the city and therefore invalid because not submitted to a vote in the manner provided by said Section 12 of Article X of the Constitution. The ordinance provides that income derived from the existing waterworks system, as well as from any extensions, shall be placed in a special fund and used to pay the principal and interest of the bonds, after payment of operation, maintenance, etc.; also that, in the event the income shall at any time become insufficient to make the necessary payments, the city is authorized to make a fair and reasonable payment into the fund for all water or water service furnished to it or any of its departments. *721
In Bell v. City of Fayette,
The instant case comes squarely within the cases last cited for the testimony shows that the proposed extensions are necessary to make the system function.
The obligation of the city to pay into the special fund the reasonable cost of water and water service used by it, in the event the income from the system shall be insufficient, is a contingent liability which may or may not come to pass. In State ex rel. City of Hannibal v. Smith,
[5] Appellant cites certain other provisions of Ordinance No. 1035 which he claims are so unreasonable as to make the ordinance void. They are: that the entire revenue from the waterworks, after payment of operation, maintenance, etc., are devoted to the payment of the bonds for the twenty-five years they shall remain outstanding; that the city shall establish and maintain such rates for water as will cover the necessary payments; that the city shall not mortgage the plant during the life of the bonds and any future bond issue shall be subordinate to the bonds; and that, under certain conditions, a receiver may be appointed to operate the plant.
All these provisions are expressly authorized by The Act. We see nothing unreasonable in them and, being in conformity with the express terms of the statute, they are presumed to be valid. [City of St. Louis v. United Railways,
[6] Finally, appellant says that the bonds were not advertised for sale as required by The Act, because the advertisement failed to state the exact amount of bonds that would become due each year.
The Ordinance contained a detailed schedule of maturities and this schedule was furnished to each bidder. The advertisement was in substantial compliance with The Act and is sufficient.
We find no error and the decree should be and is hereby affirmed. All concur.