36 N.E.2d 925 | Ill. | 1941
The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Company objected to the 1939 county general corporate purposes tax levy of Adams county on the grounds that the county board failed to itemize properly the purposes and amounts, contrary to section 156 of the 1939 Revenue act. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1939, chap. 120, par. 637.) It also objected to the following specific items in that levy: "Circuit Clerk for official services, $2000; County clerk for official services, $2000; Sheriff for official services, $6300; Sheriff per diem attending county and circuit courts, $5500" * * * "for the reason each of these officers was paid a stipulated salary for `official services' and the constitution provides that their salaries, deputy hire and office expenses must be paid out of fees earned and collected." The objection to the items "Salary of Deputy coroner, $300" and "Salary for coroner and expenses, $1400", as stated, was that they were void for the reason that "the coroner and deputy coroner are paid out of fees and not salaries." As to the last three items named, "Supplies county offices, Legal Blanks, $2000"; "Record Books, $2000" and "Stationery, $2000", the objector says they were payable only "out of fees earned and collected by county officers."
The railroad company also objected to the 1939 levy for the Tri-Township Fire District for the reason that from the certificate of levy it appeared that the levy ordinance was passed and certified to the county clerk after the second Tuesday in August, 1939, which was August 8, contrary to the provisions of section 157 of the 1939 Revenue act, above cited. A stipulation in the record shows that this levy ordinance was adopted Friday, August 11, 1939, and filed with the county clerk four days later. The county court of Adams county overruled these objections and the railroad company has appealed. *473
The parties stipulated that the county board of supervisors adopted the appropriation ordinance, September 13, 1939, and the levy ordinance December 13, 1939. The former was carried into the latter verbatim, and no other itemization was made in the levy ordinance. The stipulation sets out the specific items above enumerated and shows the aggregate amount of the appropriation items was $164,775 from which was deducted $30,000 designated "Amount estimated of receipts from earnings of officers, and from all other sources $30,000", and that this was true of both ordinances. The balance of $134,775 was designated "Totals General Fund $134,775". It is also stipulated that a resolution was adopted December 13, 1939, which reads in part: "And be it further resolved and ordered, that the County Clerk of said County of Adams be, and he is hereby empowered and directed to extend upon the Collector's books of said County against the taxable property of said County the said amounts hereinbefore by this Board so appropriated and levied."
Appellant's first contention is that the levy for county general corporate purposes was void because, first, the $30,000 was not subtracted from the total amount of the appropriations ($164,775) and the balance itemized in the levy ordinance so that the sum of its items would be $134,775 without any subtraction being made from the last named total; and, second, that the several items listed above which are objected to and which total $27,000, coupled with the claimed improper itemization in the levy ordinance, made it impossible for taxpayers to determine what part of the $134,775 was levied for any specific purpose. By the second part of this objection, appellant assumed that the particular items, above set out, were absolutely void, although there had been no such adjudication. Naturally, the collector's application for judgment and sale was filed long after the levy ordinance was passed. Objections could not be filed and adjudicated until the application *474
was on file. Whether it finally develops that appellant's objections to specific items are well taken or are overruled, the assumed invalidity of those items could not be made the basis of its claim that the whole levy for general county corporate purposes, of which they were a part, was void. To permit this would be equivalent to allowing an objector to make matters that happened subsequent to the adoption of the levy ordinance, a basis for tax objections. In People v. Scott,
Let us suppose that appellant's objections to the specific items are sustained. Through its own diligence and its efforts to protect its property from an illegal tax levy a computation will have to be made. But taxpayers who made no objection to those items, or who did not make the same objections, would obtain no benefit whatever through the order of court which sustained appellant's objections.
This computation has no effect whatever upon the one the appellant claims it was required to make in the first instance to determine what part of the tax levied was to be used for any particular purpose. The computation that must be made where tax objections to items in the general corporate purposes levy are sustained, must be made to determine what rate of tax results when the invalid items are subtracted from the total amount levied. If this is not done the objector would win an empty victory and the fruits of his labors would be lost. The value of his property for taxation purposes must be multiplied by the reduced rate and this amount must be subtracted from the *475 original amount levied against his property, so that it can be known what part of that original amount of tax is to be abated.
The views just expressed are not consistent with what was said with reference to the general corporate purpose county levy inPeople v. Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Co.
In further support of this view, we call attention to our holding in People v. Diversey Hotel Corp.
After distinguishing the case from those involving county, city, village and township tax levies it was held that there was nothing in that record showing any defect in compliance with the statute and that the presumption is that all officers have properly discharged their duties. It might be said that the narrow point decided was that the levy ordinance was not required to be itemized, but the holding is broader than that. It holds that the appellant's contention that it could not tell because it was not sufficiently advised by the steps taken, just what was levied for any particular purpose, was not a sound objection, even though the three reductions in the aggregate amount in the appropriation ordinance made it necessary for it to resort to the budget and the appropriation ordinance of the sanitary district in order to determine the facts as to the matters objected to.
In Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis Railway Co. v. People,
Returning to the objection to the items enumerated, neither it, nor the notice of appeal, contained any reference *479
to the county judge and State's attorney items in the levy ordinance. The State's attorney has been held not to be a county officer within the meaning of section 10 of article 10 of the constitution, (Hoyne v. Danisch,
The maximum compensation to be paid county officers is fixed by section 10 of article 10 of the constitution. Their compensation is paid only out of fees actually collected and shall in no instance exceed the fees actually collected. The "compensation" may be fixed in a lump sum in the appropriate ordinance, in which case the county officer may retain as his compensation the whole amount out of fees collected, (Kilgore v. People,
It is no answer that circuit clerks and county clerks are allowed a per diem for days spent in court, for "official services" conveys no idea what they consisted of other than official duties generally.
The objection to the item "Salary of Deputy coroner $300," was properly overruled. This office was created by the General Assembly in 1881, and it is not a county office within the meaning of section 10 of article 10 of the constitution. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1939, chap. 31, par. 27, p. 822.
The last of these items to be considered is "Sheriff, per diem attending County and Circuit Courts, $5500". In People v. Foster,
As to the tax for the fire district, the stipulation shows the levy ordinance was enacted August 11, 1939. The proper authorities of the fire district were required by statute to certify, on or before the second Tuesday in August, to the county clerk the amount they required to be raised by taxation. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1939, chap. 120, par. 638.) Since the amount required to be raised by taxation had to be certified by the second Tuesday in August, it follows that the levy from which the amount was ascertained had to be enacted by that date. (People v.Bowman,
The judgment of the county court of Adams county is affirmed in part, reversed in part, and the cause is remanded, with directions to proceed in accordance with the views herein expressed.
*482Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded, with directions.