248 P. 1049 | Cal. Ct. App. | 1926
THE COURT.
Appellants, as the Board of Trustees of Biggs Union High School in the County of Butte, filed their petition herein praying for a writ of mandate directed to the respondent as the Auditor of the County of Butte to levy a tax upon the property of the Union High School District sufficient in amount to produce the sum hereinafter stated. The petition sets forth the fact of the organization and existence of the Biggs Union High School District; the official capacity of the petitioners and also of the respondent; the fact that during the year 1925 and at the time specified in the code for taking such action the petitioners prepared and submitted a budget of the amount of money required for maintaining said High School District for the year beginning June 30, 1925, and ending on June 30, 1926; that said budget was submitted to the superintendent of schools; by him, after the performance of certain duties required by the law, approved and thereafter said budget was duly submitted to the board of supervisors of said county; that by the budget so submitted it was ascertained and set forth that the sum of $25,502.50 was the amount necessary to maintain said High School District during the period of time just herein mentioned; that after said budget was submitted to the board of supervisors of the County of Butte said board of supervisors failed and refused to levy a tax sufficient to raise the amount set forth in the budget so submitted by the Board of Trustees of said High School District as the amount necessary to be raised for the uses and purposes of said High School District and eliminated from said budget certain items, and thereafter said board of supervisors of Butte County levied a tax on the assessable property of said Union High School District sufficient only to raise the sum of $22,102.50. This action is prosecuted against the respondent as the Auditor of said County to compel said Auditor to immediately make a special tax levy against the taxable property located within said District sufficient to raise the sum set forth in the budget submitted by the Trustees of said District as necessary *4 for the maintenance of said Union High School during the year referred to. The respondent had judgment and the petitioners appeal.
It is not necessary for the purposes of this appeal to consider the particular items eliminated by the board of supervisors from the budget submitted by the Trustees of the District further than to state that the legality of the expenditures deemed necessary by the Trustees of the District appears to be unquestioned.
This action involves directly the consideration of section 1612a of the Political Code and section 6 of article IX of the constitution, as amended in 1920, and indirectly section 1 of article III and section 12 of article XI of the constitution.
It is insisted on the part of respondent that section 1612a is unconstitutional in that there is a delegation of legislative power to a ministerial officer, to wit, to the superintendent of schools; and, further, that if said section is not unconstitutional it is simply directory in its provisions and not mandatory as to the sum of money to be raised by taxes levied by the board of supervisors. On the part of the appellants it is insisted that the section of the code is constitutional and that its requirements, so far as accepting the amount of the budget as submitted by the Trustees is concerned, is mandatory upon the board of supervisors and that it is the bounden duty of the board of supervisors to levy a tax sufficient to raise the amount of money set forth in the budget as necessary for the maintenance of the high school in question. It may be stated that the amount of money to be raised by the budget so submitted and the tax levied upon the property of the District constitutes a special tax, as the budget sets forth the money needed by the District that will not be derived from the ordinary sources of revenue under the general tax levies provided for in the codes.
The section under consideration requires that the school board shall annually in the month of June make a budget showing all the purposes for which the School District will need money and the amount of money that will be needed for each of the purposes set forth in the budget. This budget is submitted first to the county school superintendent for his examination and for such changes as may be found necessary. After these changes are made, if any, the budget *5 is resubmitted to the Trustees of the district, who may either accept or reject the recommendations of the school superintendent. Thereupon the budget is again resubmitted to the county school superintendent, whose duty it is to approve the budget so made by the School Trustees and then calculate and determine the amount of money necessary to be raised by taxation as shown by the budget by deducting from the total sum of money necessary to be raised for the uses and purposes of the District the amount of revenue that will be obtained by the High School District during the current year from the sources otherwise provided for by general taxation and the laws of the state raising revenue for high schools, which we need not consider further than to state that it involves a calculation based upon the school attendance and matters of that kind which may be determined with reasonable accuracy by mathematical calculation and is the method provided for determining the amount of money that will be apportioned to the several high school districts from sources other than money raised by a special tax which we are considering.
As amended in 1920, section 6 of article IX of the constitution requires first that the legislature provide a state high school fund from the revenues of the state for the support of day and evening secondary and technical schools and shall provide for the distribution of such fund. It is further set forth that the amount shall not be less than thirty dollars per pupil in average daily attendance in the day and evening secondary and technical schools, etc. It is then further specified that the legislature shall provide for the levying of a county and city and county elementary school tax by the board of supervisors of each county, etc., sufficient in amount to produce a sum of money not less than the amount of money to be received during the current school year from the state for the support of such schools and not less than thirty dollars per pupil in average daily attendance. It is then further set forth that the legislature shall provide for the levying of a county and city and county high school tax by the board of supervisors sufficient in amount to produce a sum of money not less than twice the amount of money to be received during the current school year from the state for the support of public day and evening secondary and technical *6 schools, etc., provided that the high school tax levied by the board of supervisors shall produce not less than sixty dollars per pupil in average daily attendance. Then follows the further requirement: "The legislature shall provide for the levying of school district taxes by the board of supervisors of each county, and city and county, for the support of public elementary schools, secondary schools, technical schools and kindergarten schools, or for any other public school purpose authorized by the legislature."
Section 1 of article III of the constitution relates to the distribution of powers between the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the government, but for the reasons hereinafter stated we do not think it necessary to comment at length upon the application of this section, as our determination is controlled by other sections of the constitution and code provisions.
Section 12 of article XI of the constitution reads as follows: "The legislature shall have no power to impose taxes upon counties, cities, towns or other public or municipal corporations, or upon the inhabitants or property thereof, for county, city, town, or other municipal purposes, but may, by general laws, vest in the corporate authorities thereof the power to assess and collect taxes for such purposes."
It will be observed that section 6 of article IX of the constitution as amended enlarges the power of the legislature in relation to taxation and constitutionally fixes a sum of money to be raised by taxation upon the property in the state for school purposes, and while it does not directly levy a tax in so many words, it does fix a minimum amount which must be raised by the corporate bodies of counties and cities and counties for school purposes and it also authorizes the legislature to increase the minimum amount stated in the constitution, and when the minimum amount raised by the state exceeds the sum of thirty dollars per pupil, it is mandatory upon the board of supervisors or corporate authorities of counties and cities and counties to raise a like sum and in certain instances twice the amount received from the state. These are mandatory provisions of the state constitution and eliminate entirely the legislative discretion theretofore vested in the board of supervisors as to the amount of money to be raised for school purposes in the particulars mentioned. *7
Basing her argument upon the paragraph of section 6 of article IX of the constitution which we have quoted, the respondent argues that the third paragraph of section 1612a of the Political Code is unconstitutional in that it delegates to the superintendent of schools the power to fix the minimum sum which must be raised by a special tax levy, and, therefore, that the legislative discretion ordinarily vested in the board of supervisors as a tax-levying power is transferred to the school superintendent. The third paragraph of the section of the code referred to, after directing the superintendent to make certain calculations, estimates, etc., of the amount of money that will come to the school district from other sources, to deduct the same from the budget submitted by the school trustees and that the remainder so obtained by such deduction "shall be the minimum amount of the school district tax to be levied by the board of supervisors for the particular district." Based upon this language, it is argued that the whole section is unconstitutional in that a ministerial officer is clothed with legislative powers contrary to the provisions of the constitution which we have cited.
In 36 C.J. 1032 we find that the word "levy" as applied to taxation is given a variety of meanings, according to how it is used. It may be used in reference to either the legislative or administrative functions of taxation. It is used to denote the legislative function of charging the collective body of taxpayers with the sum to be raised and also to the ministerial function of estimating the taxes upon the assessment-roll showing the amount charged to each individual taxpayer. As applied to the determination of the amount or rate of taxes to be charged to the collective body of taxpayers it is a legislative function to be exercised only by the state or by some inferior political subdivision thereof. The duty of the other officers in relation to the tax appears to be purely ministerial and when used in relation to their duties it would seem to be used with that meaning.
In the case of McCabe v. Carpenter,
Based upon the case of McCabe v. Carpenter, supra, and others cited, we find the statement in 24 California Jurisprudence, 54, that "the legislature may not vest power to determine the rate of levy or amount of tax in an executive officer of a public corporation; and an act by which the amount of a tax is left wholly to the discretion of an executive officer, there being no discretion in the local board, is invalid. If a board of education is regarded as a purely executive or administrative body, it is incapable of imposing taxes." In the case of City of Coronado v. San Diego,
Whether a high school district is considered a quasi-public corporation or an agency of the state or is a corporation coming within the terms used in section 12 of article XI of the constitution and may be charged under that section with the power of levying taxes is wholly immaterial, in view of the language found in section 6 of article IX of the constitution, as amended in 1920. It is therein specified that the legislature shall provide for the levying of school district taxes by the *9 board of supervisors of each county, etc. This language takes away from the school trustees of the school district the power of levying taxes and vests that power irrevocably in the board of supervisors. But it does not vest that power arbitrarily in the board of supervisors. The language of the section is that the legislature shall provide for such levy, that is, it shall outline a method or procedure to be followed in determining the tax levy and the amount thereof to be made by the board of supervisors of each county. If this were not true the section would simply read that the board of supervisors of each county shall levy a school district tax, etc. The providing for the levy being vested in the legislature, the legislature has a right, we think, to direct in what manner the board of supervisors shall be advised as to the amount of money to be raised for the support of any particular high school district and as to the necessities and requirements of such district and that the necessities and requirements of such district may be inquired into by the trustees of a high school district and set forth in the budget submitted by them.
In the case of McCabe v. Carpenter, supra, the court had under consideration the act of March 20, 1891, entitled, "An Act to provide for the establishment of high school districts," which, after setting forth the manner in which the amount of the tax should be ascertained, contained the following language: "And it shall be the duty of such authorities to levy such rate as will produce the amount estimated to be necessary for such purpose." It was there contended that this language in the statute was violative of section 1 of article III of the state constitution and it was so adjudged. This case refers to Hughes
v. Ewing,
In People v. Lodi High School District,
The questions which we are considering here were also before the supreme court in the case of the Board of Education of theCity of Woodland v. Board of Trustees,
The next case elucidating the principle governing taxation in school districts and the relative duties of the different boards is that of MacMillan v. Clarke,
We do not find any special difference in the language used in section 1612a of the Political Code, where it is stated that the amount of the budget submitted by the school trustees, less the amount ascertained that the district will receive from other sources, shall be the minimum amount of the school district tax to be levied, and the language used in section 1757 of the Political Code upheld in the MacMillan case, which reads: "shall levy a tax on the property of the high school district sufficient in amount to carry out the purposes legally specified in the said estimate." It is hardly necessary to state that the items included in the budget to be presented by the Board of School Trustees of the Union High School District must, necessarily, be legal items in order to be binding upon anybody, as the board of supervisors could not be called upon to approve or levy a tax for any illegal purpose. It therefore follows that the language used in the different sections is practically of the same legal meaning and effect, i.e., that whenever such a budget so prepared is presented to a board of supervisors it is the legal duty of the board of supervisors to levy a tax upon the assessable property of the high school district involved sufficient to meet all the purposes legally specified in the budget. The board of school trustees of the high school is charged with the legal duty of presenting such a budget as the basis for the tax levy to be made by the board of supervisors. The board of supervisors, we think, possesses the legislative discretion to determine whether the different *16 items making up the budget presented by the school trustees are for items of expenditure which the board of trustees may legally make or incur during the school year. The policy or wisdom of making the expenditures in the maintenance of a high school is, we think, a matter which the legislature intended to refer to the trustees of the high school district as being the representative or governing body of the high school district to which the electors have entrusted such responsibility in the conduct and supervision of the high school district for which they have been elected. This leaves to the board of supervisors the legislative discretion of determining the legality of the several requirements of the budget and also the amount of the levy necessary to meet such requirements. If such is not the case then the constitutional provision which authorizes the legislature to provide for the levying of school district taxes by the board of supervisors has no meaning whatever further than to say the board of supervisors may levy a tax without any direction or control or supervision of the legislature whatsoever, and we think the determination of the question here presented comes back to the language of the section which says that the legislature shall provide for the levying of the school district tax and means that the manner and method of levying the tax and collecting the data which shall constitute the basis for the levying of the tax may be set down in explicit language by the legislature and the procedure to be followed set forth in detail. As further bearing on the same subject, we may call attention to one of the subdivisions of section 1764 of the Political Code relating to county high school taxes as it now reads, as amended in 1921 [Stats. 1921, p. 779]: "The board of supervisors of such county, or city and county, must, annually, at the time and in the manner of levying other county taxes, levy and cause to be collected for the county, or city and county, high school fund, a tax to be known as the county high school tax, the minimum rate of which shall not be less than sufficient to raise the minimum amount estimated to be raised by the county superintendent as hereinbefore provided." And also one of the subdivisions of section 1891 of the Political Code relating to school districts in different counties, which reads: "The board of supervisors of each county shall thereupon determine *17 the rate of taxation necessary to be levied upon the property in said district situated in the county, such rate to be sufficient to meet the proportion of taxes necessary to be raised in the county for the purpose of paying the principal and interest of the bonds of the district and all other expenses of the district as shown by the estimate of the county superintendent of schools having jurisdiction over such district." In these subdivisions the minimum amount to be raised is set forth in almost identical language with that used in section 1612a of the Political Code.
[1] The conclusion to be drawn from the foregoing resume of the cases and constitutional sections considered is that the budget presented by the school trustees of a high school district constitutes the basis for the levying of a special tax by the board of supervisors of the county in which the high school district is situated; that it is the legal duty of the board of supervisors to levy a tax at such rate upon all the taxable property situated within the high school district sufficient in amount to meet all the legal requirements set forth in the budget; [2] that the express language of section 6 of article IX, as amended, authorizes the legislature to prescribe the method of collecting the data upon which the tax levy is to be based, and that the board of supervisors is limited in levying the taxes which are to be raised by such special assessment to the determination of the legality of the different items of expenditure proposed to be made, the legality of the purposes for which the money is sought to be raised and the necessary rate of taxation upon the property within the district in order to raise such amount. This includes as well the determination of the value of the assessable property in the district in order to fix a rate that will raise the required sum to maintain the high school involved. [3] We think that the constitutional provisions which we have been considering and section 1612a of the Political Code place the duty of levying a special tax upon boards of supervisors in about the same situation as when a special tax will be directed by mandamus to be levied for the purpose of meeting interest upon bonds or similar obligations; that the legislative discretion vested in the board of supervisors is limited in the manner in which we have herein set forth and does not extend to the determination *18 of either the policy, the wisdom or the expense of maintaining a high school, but that such matters devolve upon the board of school trustees and that it was the purpose both of the amendment to the constitution and of the act of the legislature to vest in the school trustees of district high schools both the policy and the wisdom of incurring expenses in the conduct and maintenance of high schools.
The conclusions which we have reached do not, however, authorize a reversal of the judgment entered herein. The board of supervisors has levied a special high school tax upon the assessable property within the territorial limits of the Biggs Union High School District. The objection is that the rate was too low. But this objection comes too late. A somewhat similar situation is presented in the case of Bell v. Fee Title Co.,
[4] Section 6 of article IX of the constitution limits the legislature in providing for the levying of taxes to the board of supervisors, while without this provision it might be argued that some other portion of the county machinery might be seized upon for the purposes of levying a special high school tax. The people of the state have seen fit to adopt the amendment in such form as to limit the legislature in making provision for the levying of taxes to the boards of supervisors of the respective counties and such function cannot, therefore, be exercised by some administrative officer.
[5] The facts before us show that the time has long since gone by when any authority exists to order any change in the tax levy already made. The different sections of the Political Code relating to the levying of county taxes, the making out of the assessment-rolls by the different ministerial officers having to do therewith show that the power to make any other assessment has ceased to exist and that any levy, if it were possible in this proceeding for this court to so order, would but lead to confusion, and that, under such circumstances, mandamus will not issue. As stated in the case of Board of Education v.Common Council,
We are, therefore, limited simply to affirming the judgment, and it is so ordered. *20