26 Wash. 231 | Wash. | 1901
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The question involved in this action is the validity of a warrant drawn by (he city of Olympia upon its sewer fund in payment for certain sewer pipe purchased by the city for, and used by it in the construction of, a city sewer. It is claimed by the appellant that the city was indebted at the time it purchased the material for which the- warrant was issued beyond the limit permitted by the constitution and statutes, and therefore incapable of entering into a valid contract creating further indebtedness.
The constitution of this state (art. 8, § 6) prohibits a city from becoming indebted in any manner to an amount exceeding one and one-half per centum of its taxable property as shown by its last assessment for city purposes, without the assent of three-fifths of the voters therein voting at an election to he held for that purpose, and, in cases where such assent is obtained, to an amount exceeding- five per centum in all. From the facts disclosed by the record it appears that at the time the contract was entered into which gave rise to the issuance of the warrant in question the city of Olympia had outstanding obligations amounting to $243,561.78; that of these obligations $200,000 consisted of bonds issued with the assent of the voters (with the exception hereafter noted),
The real inquiry, then, is, was it intended-that the debt evidenced by the bonds in question should form any part of the first limitation? These bonds represent two several issues. The first was for $45,000, and was assented to in part by the requisite number of the voters of the city of Olympia, at an election held on the 28th day of April, 1890, voting upon a “proposition to allow the city council to incur an indebtedness for general municipal pur
The intent as to the second issue seems equally clear, bio assent of .the voters is required by a municipality to enable it to incur a debt within the first limitation. This it may do without such assent, and it may cause such indebtedness to be evidenced by warrants drawn upon its treasurer, or by bonds issued, pursuant to the requirements of the statutes. The assent of the voters is required only in cases where it is sought to incur a debt within the second limitation. Whenever, therefore, a municipality asks and obtains the assent of its voters to the incurring of a debt, the presumption arises from the very act itself that it is the intent to incur a debt within that limitation within which a debt can not be incurred without such assent; and, although this presumption is not conclusive in every instance, it must be so where it is not overcome either by an express declaration to the contrary or such a state of facts as will leave the question equally free from doubt. In the case before us there is no express declaration of the intent. It is shown, however, that the combined issue of bonds is greater than three and one-half per centum of the value of the taxable property as shown by the last assessment preceding the second issue, and from this it is argued that it could not have been the intent to put them alone within this limitation. But this over-issue occurred at the time of the first issue. The value of the taxable property of the city at that time — the one and one-half per centum limitation being full — permitted a further indebtedness of only $40,062.43%, while the bond issue was for $45,000. If this difference be deducted from the total amount, the remainder is well
We conclude, therefore, that so much of the debt evidenced by the bonds in question as was properly incurred under the authority conferred by the assent of the voters belongs to the second limitation, and that the warrant in question is a valid obligation of the city of Olympia, which must be paid, in the order of its issuance, out of the fund set apart for the payment of obligations belonging to its class.
The judgment of the lower court is affirmed.
Reavis, O. J., and Dunbar and Anders, J.I., concur.