186 N.E. 487 | Ill. | 1933
This appeal by the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad Company is from a judgment of the county court of Shelby county against its property for $1103.02, the amount of a delinquent county highway tax for the year 1931. The appellant's objection to the judgment was that there was no valid levy of the tax.
By section 14 of "An act in relation to State highways," approved June 24, 1921, (Laws of 1921, p. 793,) power was conferred on the county board to levy an annual tax to be known as "county highway tax," for the purpose of improving, maintaining and repairing the State aid roads required to be improved, maintained and repaired by the county, such tax to be in addition to the maximum of all other county taxes then or thereafter authorized to be levied upon the aggregate valuation of all taxable property within the county, and not to be subject to reduction by the county clerk, as are certain other taxes under the provisions of the act of May 9, 1901, "concerning the levy and extension of taxes." (Laws of 1901, p. 272.) All money derived from the "county highway tax" was required to be placed in a separate fund to be known as the "county highway fund" and to be used for no other purpose. The act did not fix any limit to the amount of the levy, and has since been amended to limit this amount to twelve and a half cents on the $100 of the assessed valuation of the taxable property in the county. It has been amended in other particulars also, which do not require notice. (Cahill's Stat. 1931, p. 2458, par. 212; Smith's Stat. 1931, par. 304, p. 2565.) The question to be decided is whether the power of the county board under this section must be *605 exercised only by a levy of a fixed amount of money, or may it be exercised by the levy of a certain rate per cent of the assessed valuation of the taxable property in the county.
The county board levied both the county tax for general county purposes at the rate of twenty-five cents on the $100 valuation and the county highway tax at the rate of twelve and a half cents on the $100 by the same resolution shown by the record of the board of supervisors. The portion of the resolution referring to the county highway tax is as follows:
"Mr. Sarver presents the following resolution:
"Resolution for tax levy of a county highway tax for Shelby county, State of Illinois, for the year 1931.
"To the board of supervisors of Shelby county, State of Illinois, at the September term of said board, in the year of 1931:
" 'Be it resolved by the board of supervisors of Shelbycounty, State of Illinois, That there is hereby levied a county highway tax of twelve and one-half cents on the hundred dollars assessed value of all property in Shelby county, State of Illinois, for the year of 1931, and that the county clerk of said Shelby county, State of Illinois, be and is hereby directed to extend said tax on the tax books of the various tax books of Shelby county, State of Illinois, together with the railroad and corporation tax books of said county, as other taxes are extended, as provided by law.' (Page 533.)
J.E. SARVER, DEFOREST BAIRD, CHAS. F. HIMES, J.H. EDDY, E.S. COMBS, Finance Committee.'
"Mr. Eddy moves the resolution be adopted; seconded by Tressler.
"Mr. Craycroft calls for aye and nay vote.
"Aye 24, nay o, one absent. Motion carried."
The county board is the governing body which exercises the powers of the county, has the care and custody of all its real and personal property, the management of its funds and business, and the authority to cause to be levied and collected, annually, taxes for all purposes for which money *606
may be raised by the county by taxation. Section 121 of the Revenue act directs the county board, at its September session in each year, to determine the amount of all county taxes to be raised for all purposes, and requires that where the taxes are to be raised for several purposes the amount for each purpose shall be stated separately. The county highway tax authorized by the statute is a county tax for a single purpose — the improvement and maintenance of the highways required by sections 12 and 13 of the act in question to be improved, maintained and repaired by the county. People v. New YorkCentral Railroad Co.
It was decided in People v. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicagoand St. Louis Railway Co.
In People v. Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Western Railway Co.
After the decision of the above cases the case ofPeople v. Chicago, Indiana and Southern Railroad Co.
In People v. New York Central Railroad Co.
The resolution of the county board of Shelby county for the levy of a county highway tax, by reason of its failure to state the amount of the tax for that purpose, was insufficient to authorize the extension of the tax, and the objection of the appellant should have been sustained.
The judgment of the county court is reversed.
Judgment reversed. *610