72 S.W.2d 475 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1934
Affirming.
In the fall election of 1929, a proposition was duly submitted to the voters of the city of Ashland, a city of the second class, as to whether or not school improvement bonds should be issued by that city to the extent of $500,000 for the purpose of "enlarging and acquiring sites for school buildings and the erection, improvement, remodeling, rebuilding and restoring of buildings for school purposes" in that city. This proposed bond issue was approved by the electorate. The board of education, however, determined to expend at that time only $100,000, and to have issued and sold only $100,000 of the bonds authorized. This was done. No further bonds have been issued under this authorization. On February 27, 1934, the board of education of the city of Ashland, deeming it necessary that funds be procured for additional school improvements which could not be paid out of its annual income, called upon the city to pass the necessary ordinances to issue and sell another *792 $103,000 of the authorized bond issue of 1929. The board of commissioners of the city of Ashland declining to comply with the request of the board of education, the latter brought this mandamus suit against the board of commissioners to compel them to do so. The issues as presented by the pleadings are these: First. Is the board of education precluded by the lapse of time since these bonds were authorized from requiring the city of Ashland to now issue them? Second. Are these proposed bonds those of the city of Ashland or of the board of education of the city of Ashland? Third. May the proceeds of these bonds be used in part for the furnishings of the proposed buildings to be erected out of the bond issue; these furnishings being auditorium chairs, pupils' desks, teachers' chairs, teachers' desks, principal's desk and chair, and cafeteria equipment, the total cost of which amounts to $10,417? The court below decided the first of these two questions in favor of the appellee, and the third in favor of the appellants. From its judgment in so decreeing, the appellants have prosecuted this appeal, and the appellee a cross-appeal.
First. It is the settled rule that a county or municipality is not required to issue all the bonds voted at an election at one time, but may issue them as needed and a delay in issuing a part or all of the bonds, at least for a reasonable time, does not bar the right to issue them when necessity arises. Thus in the case of Sutherland et al. v. Board of Education of City of Corbin et al.,
Second. This question is important, because if these bonds are bonds of the board of education of the *793
city of Ashland, they exceed the debt limit prescribed by section 158 of the Constitution, but, if they are bonds of the city of Ashland, they together with the other indebtedness of the city of Ashland, are yet within the debt limit prescribed by the Constitution. That they are bonds of the city of Ashland is settled by the case of City of Lexington v. Board of Education of Lexington,
Third. The question propounded to the voters at the election of 1929, when these bonds were authorized, was whether or not the bonds should be issued for the purpose of "enlarging and acquiring sites for school buildings and the erection, improvement, remodeling, rebuilding and restoring of buildings for school purposes" in that city. This was the authority that the voters conferred by their affirmative vote on the question propounded. The authority thus conferred is not essentially different from the statutory authority under which school improvement bonds are issued in cities of the first class. See section 2978b-1, Ky. Stats. Construing that statutory authority, this court in the case of City of Louisville v. Board of Education of Louisville,
The judgment is therefore affirmed both on the original and cross appeals.
Whole court sitting.