73 P. 754 | Or. | 1903
delivered the opinion..
This suit involves the constitutionality of an act of the legislature of 1903 for the relocation of the county seat of Union County (Laws 1903, p. 104), declaring that a special election shall be held on the first Monday in November, 1903, for the purpose stated, defining the duties of the county clerk in connection with such election, and prescribing the qualifications of voters thereat, and the manner of conducting the same. It is also provided that no place shall be voted for except the cities of Union and La Grande; that, if La Grande shall receive 55 per cent of all the votes cast, it shall be the county seat of the county from and after the 1st day of January, 1905, otherwise the county seat shall remain at Union, its present location; that in the event La Grande shall receive the requisite number of votes, and be selected as the county seat, the county court shall, within sixty days after the election, acquire in La Grande, by purchase or otherwise, a suitable site for a courthouse, and within ninety days adopt plans and specifications for such a building, to be constructed of brick,
The plaintiffs, who are residents and taxpayers of the county, bring this suit to restrain the clerk from giving notice of and providing necessary supplies for such special election, or incurring any expenses on account thereof, on' the ground that the county is indebted in the sum of $200,000, contracted since the constitution took effect, evidenced by outstanding warrants, more than $5,000 of which was voluntarily incurred, and it is therefore incapable of complying with the provisions of the act in question in case the county seat should be changed from Union to La Grande, because of the constitutional provision that “no county shall create any debts or liabilities which shall
The constitutions of most of the western states contain provisions restricting within certain limits the right of a county to incur indebtedness, and wherever they have been brought in question the general tendency of the courts has been to give them force and effect, and to construe them so as to protect the taxpayers against the unauthorized expenditures. In many of the states the provisions are that no county “shall be allowed to become indebted,” or “shall become indebted,” exceeding a certain amount, or “shall be authorized or permitted to become indebted” beyond a certain sum, or that “the aggregate debts for all purposes” shall not exceed a certain amount. In all such states the decisions are uniform in holding that any liability, not
The Constitution of Colorado provides that the aggregate debts of any county, for all purposes, exclusive of debts contracted before the adoption of the constitution, shall not at any time exceed a certain per cent of the assessed values, unless the taxpayers vote in favor of such excess at some general election. One of the counties of the state issued warrants in excess of the constitutional limit for the ordinary expenses of the county, such as witness and juror fees, election costs, charges for board of prisoners, county treasurer’s commission, etc., and afterward refused to pay them. In an action brought in the federal courts on the warrants it was insisted that they were not within the provisions of the constitution, because issued in payment of involuntary or compulsory obligations of the county, which it could not avoid. The difficulty, if not impossibility, of maintaining county organizations under any other construction of the constitution,
Such are also the decisions under similar constitutional provisions of the courts of Illinois (City of Springfield v. Edwards, 84 Ill. 626; City of Bloomington v. Perdue, 99 Ill. 329; Culbertson v. City of Fulton, 127 Ill. 30, 18 N. E. 781); Indiana (Sackett v. City of New Albany, 88 Ind. 473, 45 Am. Rep. 467; City of Laporte v. Gamewell Fire Alarm Tel. Co. 146 Ind. 466, 45 N. E. 588, 35 L. R. A. 686, 58 Am. St. Rep. 359); Kentucky (Beard v. City of Hopkinsville, 95 Ky. 239, 24 S. W. 872, 23 L. R. A. 402, 44 Am. St. Rep. 222); Wyo
The constitution of this state, as well as those of California and Washington, does not provide, as in many other states, that a county shall not “be allowed or permitted to become indebted” beyond a certain sum, but simply prohibits it from “creating” such an indebtedness. It has, therefore, been construed not to apply to involuntary indebtedness thrust upon the county by operation of law, such as fees of witnesses and jurors, salaries of officers, expenses of election, costs of conducting courts, and such other outlays as the law imposes upon the county, and which it is powerless to prevent or postpone : Grant County v. Lake County, 17 Or. 453 (21 Pac. 447); Burnett v. Markley, 23 Or. 436 (31 Pac. 1050); Municipal Security Co.v. Baker County, 33 Or. 838 (54 Pac. 174); Lewis v. Widber, 99 Cal. 412 (33 Pac. 1128); Rauch v. Chapman, 16 Wash. 568 (48 Pac. 253, 36 L. R. A. 407, 58 Am. St. Rep. 52); Gladwin v. Ames, 30 Wash. 608(71 Pac. 189). It does, however, apply to debts incurred for the construction of county bridges, building of courthouses and jails, putting shelves in county
There are decisions holding that where, at the time a contract is made by a county, a fund is on hand and appropriated to its payment, or where one has been provided for, although not yet collected, or where an appropriation has been made of anticipated revenues, and the contract is payable out of such fund or revenue, it does not create an indebtedness within the meaning of the constitution: Law v. People, 87 Ill. 385; Koppikus v. State Capitol Com’rs, 16 Cal. 248; People v. Pacheco, 27 Cal. 175; People v. May, 9 Colo. 404 (12 Pac. 838); Swanson v. City of Ottumwa, 118 Iowa, 161 (91 N. W. 1048, 59 L. R. A. 620); Beard v. City of Hopkinsville, 95 Ky. 239 (24 S. W. 872, 23 L. R. A. 402, 44 Am. St. Rep. 222, 237, note). But where, as here, no such provision is made, and a liability is incurred payable in the future, it is obviously no less a debt because the municipality is required by special law thereafter to levy a tax for its payment when it becomes due than if no such
We are therefore constrained to hold, for the reasons given, that the act under consideration is unconstitutional and void, in that it undertakes to compel and require the County of Union to create an indebtedness in violation of the constitution. The decree of the court below is therefore reversed, and one will be entered here as prayed for in the complaint. Reversed.