54 So. 2d 383 | Miss. | 1951
Carl N. Craig, State Auditor, instituted this suit against John B. Wheat and others comprising the Board of Supervisors of Hancock County and the surety on their bonds
On March 9, 1946, the legislature of this state enacted Chapter 219, General Laws of Miss. 1946, authorizing the repair, improvement, and construction by the supervisors of roads and bridges in the respective counties of this state and appropriating money to be paid to them by the state for such purposes. Under this act, Hancock County was entitled to the amount of $53,305.40, which sum was duly paid to it. The supervisors of Hancock County paid to one Chester Lee $37,187.50 of this sum. This amount was paid to Lee under an oral contract with the Board of Supervisors whereby Lee was to be paid the sum of $2.00 per yard .for gravel placed by him upon the roads at points to be designated by the supervisors. When Lee’s claim for gravel was presented for payment, the Chancery Clerk of Hancock County, prompted by his conception of the law, requested that the claim be broken down as follows: (1) the price of the gravel at the pits, (2) dragline hire, and (3) hire for trucks and labor in hauling the gravel. This was done and the accounts were duly allowed upon the minutes in the manner thus indicated. The total of the accounts so allowed aggregated the contract price of $2 per yard for the gravel placed by Lee upon the roads. The State Auditor, on the assumption that the sums thus paid to Lee were paid and appropriated to an object not authorized by law, brought this suit under Secs. 2944 and 2872, Miss. Code of 1942, to recover decrees against the supervisors and their surety for the total amount paid to Lee, which was the sum of $37,187.50, together with interest, damages, and attorneys’ fees.
The sole question for decision on this appeal, in view of the conclusions we have reached, is whether this money was appropriated to a lawful or unlawful object. No fraud or wrongdoing is charged, nor is it claimed that the county did not get the full adequate benefit from the money so expended. We are of the opinion that this
Is this prohibition restricted to the purchase of machinery, equipment, or tools, or does it extend the power to hire or rent these in the repair or improvement or construction of rural roads? We think the restriction applies only to using the funds in the outright purchase of these articles. This is the natural meaning of the
If the legislature had intended this limitation to apply to rentals, hire, etc., in addition to the prohibitions against purchase, it very easily could have so stated in the act. The primary purpose of the act was the repair and improvement of the roads and bridges of the county — not to purchase machinery for the counties. In construing the power conferred by said Chapter 219, it may be helpful to have in mind that Sec. 170 of the constitution of this state vests in the supervisors ‘ ‘ full jurisdiction over roads, ferries, and bridges,” subject to regulation by the legislature. Sec. 2890, Code of 1942, provides: “The boards of supervisors shall have within their respective counties full jurisdiction over roads, ferries, and bridges * * *”, subject to legislative regulation as set out in Sec. 170 of the Constitution. Again, Sec. 8330, Code of 1942, confers upon supervisors the power and authority, among- others, to hire teams and implements and pay for labor, etc., “and may do any and all things necessary to be done to work, construct, reconstruct and maintain the-public roads * * Keeping-in mind then the comprehensive powers vested in the supervisors by said section of the constitution and the statutes discussed above, and constrains' these with Chap. 219 and the wording of Sec. 11 of said chapter it is our conclusion that the supervisors here had the power to pay for the hire of draglines, tracks, etc., as shown by the accounts presented by Lee to the supervisors, although the clerk was mistaken in his request that they
Affirmed.
PER CURIAM.
This opinion is adopted as the opinion of the Court, and for the reasons therein indicated, the judgment of the court below is hereby affirmed.