157 Minn. 200 | Minn. | 1923
The county auditor of Hennepin county has appealed from an order overruling a demurrer and denying his motion to quash an alternative writ of mandamus by which he was required to do the acts hereinafter mentioned.
Minneapolis has a home rule charter, adopted November 2, 1920. Chapter 16 requires the board of park commissioners to transmit to the county auditor annually, on or before the first day of October, an estimate of the amount of money necessary to pay the interest on bonds issued by the board and to maintain the city parks for the next year. Upon receiving it, the auditor determines what per
Chapter 15 of the charter creates a board of estimate and taxation composed of five designated city officials. Section 2 requires every board and city department having power to levy taxes to submit annually to the board an estimate of its financial needs for the following year. On or before October 15, the board must determine the maximum amount of money which may be raised by general taxation, and no taxes can be levied in excess thereof. Section 7 of chapter 15 reads thus:
“All taxes may be levied and collected within the maximum fixed by statute and within the maximum fixed by the Board of Estimate and Taxation for the various purposes of said taxation and without regard to the maximum rate of taxation fixed from time to time by any board other than the boards and departments governed by this chapter.”
It is identical with section 7, chapter 252, Laws 1919, save that the words “so long as this act continues in force” are omitted.
Chapter 338, Sp. Laws 1879, created a board of tax levy for Henne-pin county, composed of the chairman of the county board, the county auditor, and five designated officials of the city of Minneapolis. It required the board to meet annually on the*second Monday in September and complete its work not later than the first Tuesday in October. The board was authorized to determine the maximum rate of taxation which the county board, the city council, the board of education, the board of park commissioners and the library board of the city might severally levy. It was the duty of the board to reduce the maximum rate of taxation to the lowest practicable limit and no levy could be made in excess of the maximum so fixed. This act has never been expressly amended, nor has there been an express repeal of any of its provisions. Whether any portion of it has been repealed by implication is another question.
• In August of this year, the board of park commissioners adopted an estimate of expenditures for the year 1921, submitted it to the
The court held that chapter 252, p. 250, Laws 1919, repealed by implication so much of the special act of 1879 as empowered the board of tax levy to fix maximum rates of taxation in the city of Minneapolis and lodged the power in the board of estimate and taxation. Appellant asserts that this was error for the following reasons: (1) The special act is indivisible and cannot be repealed in part; (2) if a partial repeal was intended, chapter 252, p. 250, Laws 1919, is invalid because it is not in harmony with that portion of section 33, article 4, of the state Constitution, which reads as follows: “The legislature may repeal any existing special or local law, but shall not amend, extend or modify any of the same;” (3) the city could not withdraw from the operation of the special act by incorporating section 7, chapter 252, in the home rule charter; (4) if the legislature intended to repeal that ¡portion of the special act which related to city taxation and to leave in effect so much as related to county taxation, chapter 252 is invalid because it attempts to confer power on city officers to regulate county affairs.
However this may be, one thing is certain. The legislature has created two boards, and if both have power to fix the maximum rate of taxation in the city and they chance to disagree, one or the other must recede from its position or there can be no tax levy. It is not to be supposed that the legislature contemplated the situation which has arisen in the instant case. The language of section 7, quoted above, compels the conclusion that the board of estimate and taxation has exclusive authority, since taxes may be levied and collected at the maximum rate it fixes without regard to the rates fixed by any hoard not governed hy chapter 252.
Granting that, by the act of 1879, a single taxing district was established and a board created to control and equalize the tax rates therein, the plan the legislature had in mind was abandoned in 1919 and the city was made a single taxing district with a separate board in control. At the same time the legislature declared that it should be a misdemeanor for any city officer knowingly to vote for any contract or appropriation, or order any work, or make any purchase, or issue or sign any warrant or check which would have the effect of exceeding the available appropriation or fund, but authorized the board to permit the transfer of moneys from one fund or appropriation to another. See section 4, chapter 252. These provisions clearly indicate an intention to change from the system adopted in 1879 to one better suited to the needs of a large and growing city. The powers and duties of the board of tax levy may
It is well settled that on subjects of a purely municipal character the provisions of a home rule charter must be given full force and effect. The constitutional amendment directed the legislature to prescribe by law the general limits within which charters shall be framed, and that body has said that a charter may provide for the regulation of all local or municipal functions as fully as the legislature might have done before the amendment was adopted. In other words, as to matters of municipal concern the people of a city, in adopting a charter, have all the power possessed by the legislature save as such power has been expressly or impliedly withheld. Park v. City of Duluth, 134 Minn. 296, 159 N. W. 627.
Taxation for municipal purposes is purely a matter of municipal character. It is a subject which may be dealt with in a home rule charter. It is in the same category as special assessments to meet the expense of local improvements, the division of a city into assessment districts to provide funds for the construction of sewers, and the imposition of a wheelage tax upon vehicles. It has been held that each of these subjects may be covered by the provisions of a home rule charter. Turner v. Snyder, 101 Minn. 481, 112 N. W. 868; State v. City of Ely, 129 Minn. 40, 151 N. W. 545, Ann. Cas. 1916B, 189; In re Delinquent Taxes, Polk County, 147 Minn. 344, 180 N. W. 240; Park v. City of Duluth, supra, and in the case last cited it is broadly intimated that a city may provide in its charter for its own system of local taxation. Summing up the decision dealing with municipal home rule in 7 Minn. Law Rev. 306, 313, Professor William Anderson says:
“Upon reading these cases * * * one gets the impression that the supreme court has been no less liberal than the legislature toward the principle of local self-government. Within the field of true municipal functions, which is a rapidly growing domain, cities are given substantially the same power to confer authority upon themselves by home rule charters as the legislature formerly exercised. The fact that the cities charter themselves instead of receiving their powers directly from the legislature is a distinction without a real difference.”
Order affirmed.