170 Ky. 664 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1916
Opinion op the Court by
Affirming.
This suit was brought by two taxpayers who attack an election held to vote a tax for a consolidated school district established by the county board of education of Oldham county, and may be briefly disposed of.
The petition — there being no exhibits — to which a demurrer was sustained, charged, in substance, that the county board of education did on February 15, 1916, lay off a boundary, describing it as the boundary of Crest-wood consolidated subdivision number two of educational division number one, and order an election to be held in the district so laid off on March 18, 1916, for the purpose of taking the sense of the voters on the proposition whether a property tax of twenty cents should be voted in said boundary for the purpose of building a schoolhouse in the proposed consolidated district. It further appears that at the election a majority of the voters voted in favor of the proposition, and thereupon the board of education directed the tax to be levied and collected by the sheriff of the county.
The grounds upon which the election is assailed are: (1) That the boundary includes a part of the Pewee Valley district and places in the proposed district three persons, naming them, living in that district. These persons, however, are not the plaintiffs in this suit, nor are they complaining of the fact that they were placed in this consolidated district. Neither does it appear, that the boundary of the consolidated district does not properly include a part of the Pewee Valley district.
(2) That T. K. Barbee was permitted to vote at . the election although he was not a- legal voter in the district. It does not, however, appear that the vote of ■ Barbee affected the result of the election.
Under this statute we think the board of education has authority to’ submit to the voters in the proposed district the question whether they will vote a tax for the purpose of providing a schoolliouse alone without submitting to them the question of transporting the pupils to and from the school or the question of maintaining the school, and apparently it was the purpose of the board, in submitting the question of this tax, to use the money raised by the tax only for the purpose of providing a school building, and the money derived from this tax cannot be used by the board of education for any other purpose. When a sufficient fund has been raised by this tax to provide the school building for the district, then no further tax can be levied under authority of this election. The people in the consolidated district had submitted to them the specific question whether or not they were in favor of a tax for the purpose of providing a school' building, and this proposition they voted in favor of. They did not vote a tax for the purpose of maintaining the school, or a tax for the purpose of transporting the pupils to and from the school. Neither of these questions was submitted to them even in a general way and so no part of the money can be used for either of these purposes.
(4) It is said that no time was fixed ditring which this tax might be levied and collected and therefore it might be continued indefinitely. This objection, however," has been answered by what has been 'heretofore said.
Wherefore, the judgment is affirmed.