115 Ky. 437 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1903
Affirming.
The only question involved here is as to whether or not the cost of the improvement of Zane street, between Fifth and Sixth streets, by original construction of the carriageway by grading, paving, and curbing the same, should be apportioned in accordance with section 2835, Kentucky Statutes, 1899, or under the act approved March 19, 1898 (Sess. Acts 1898, p. 120, c. 48), which went into effect June 19,-1898, and which act is amendatory of the act of which the section to which reference is made is a part. Under the law before the passage of the act of 1898, the cost of curbing in. the improvement by original construction of the carriageway was to be charged only against the owners of lots in front of which the curbing was placed, except the owners of corner lots were chargeable with the cost of curbing their sidewalk intersections; and, if a corner lot had a 30-foot front, and extended back to the depth of the territory assessed, its owner was chargeable with 25 per cent, more than the owners of lots of the same size within the taxing district. By the amendment the cost of grading and curbing, when a part of the improvement by original construction of a carriageway, should be apportioned against the ownfers of lots in the quarter squares contiguous to the improvement, and according to the number of .square feet owned by each. The owners of corner lots in quarter sections are not required to pay for the intersections and the 25 per cent, more than other lot owners. In other words, under the amendment the curbing constitutes part of the cost of the construction of the street, not of the sidewalk. The ordinance under which the improvement was made was passed June 6, 1898, and reads as follows: “That the carriageway of Zane street, from the west line of Fifth or Pope street, to the east line of
The ordinance was passed with reference to the statute then in force. It did not provide how the cost of the improvement should be apportioned, but simply provided that it should be done in the manner- fixed by the statute. It is not the province of the general council by ordinance or otherwise to further prescribe the method for apportioning the cost of the improvement. When it ordered the improvement, the statute prescribed the method of apportionment. The ordinance was the basis for the contract for the improvement, the execution of it, and the apportionment of the cost. The ordinance and statute then in force fixed the liability on the owners of lot's fronting on the improve
The judgment is affirmed.
Petition for rehearing by appellant overruled.