109 Wash. 196 | Wash. | 1919
This is a mandamus action, instituted by the Port of Seattle for the purpose of requiring the treasurer of King county to pay over to the relator certain sums of money which the respondent had collected as interest, resulting from the deposit by him
Tbe respondent claims that the interest collected by him belongs to tbe county expense fund by virtue of tbe county depositary act of 1907. Tbe act authorizing tbe creation of port districts provides:
“Tbat all funds of tbe port district shall be paid to tbe county treasurer, and all disbursements shall be made by sucb officer on warrants drawn by tbe county auditor upon order of or vouchers approved by tbe port commission.” Laws of 1917, p. 503.
Section 1 of tbe county depositary act (Laws 1907, p. 74, § 1; Rem. Code, § 5072 et seq.) provides tbat,
“Each county treasurer of this state shall on tbe first day of July, 1907, and annually on tbe second Monday in January thereafter, and at sucb other times as be may deem necessary, designate one or more banks in tbe state as depositary or depositaries of all public funds held and required to be kept by him as such treasurer. ... No county treasurer shall deposit public money in banks except as herein provided.”
“Before any such designation or designations shall become effectual and entitle said treasurer to make deposits as hereinabove provided, the bank or banks so designated shall also enter into a written contract with the county whose treasurer is to make such deposits, to pay to’ said county, to be credited to the county expense fund thereof, two per centum per annum on the average daily balances of all moneys so deposited by such county treasurer in said bank while acting as such depositary.”
Section 4 (Id., § 5075), provides that,
“The county treasurer shall deposit with any depositary or depositaries which have fully complied with all requirements any county moneys in his hands or under his official control, and for the purpose of making the quarterly settlement and counting the funds in the hands of the treasurer any such sums so on deposit shall be deemed to be in the county treasury.”
The appellant bases its contention chiefly on section four of the depositary act, and contends that the county treasurer had a right and is obligated to deposit in the depositary banks only “county moneys in his hands or under his official control,” and that, since the port moneys are, of course, not county moneys, the treasurer was under no obligation to deposit such money in the various depositaries designated by him, and that if he did so it was a voluntary act on his part and the interest derived by him therefrom belonged to the port district. Such a construction of § 4 would be out of harmony with the remainder of the
The appellant contends that § 4 of the act does not pretend to designate what moneys shall be deposited by the county treasurer in the various depositaries, but merely provides that, when the treasurer makes his quarterly settlement with the county, it shall not be necessary to actually count the funds, but that such deposits of county moneys shall, for the purposes of such settlement, be deemed to be in the county
The legislature has made specific provision for the banking of public funds held by city treasurers (Rem.
The port district is a public corporation and there cannot be any question but what the legislature had a perfect right to require its funds to be deposited with and kept by the county treasurer. The act nowhere undertakes to compensate the county for the expense of handling the port funds, and it may have been that the legislature had in mind that it would so compensate the county by allowing it to have the benefit of any interest it might collect on the port funds. In any event, the whole matter was within the power and discretion of the legislature.
It is contended by appellant, however, that, inasmuch as the act creating the port district was subsequent to the county depositary act, it will not be presumed that it was the intention of the legislature, in the passage of the depositary act, to include moneys belonging to the port district. We cannot agree with this argument. It must be presumed that, when the legislature provided that the port district moneys should be deposited with the county treasurer, it had in mind the provisions of the depositary act requiring that official to deposit in designated depositaries all public moneys in his hands.
We hold that it was not only the duty of the county treasurer to deposit the port moneys in the various depositaries, but also that it was his duty to credit the interest derived therefrom to the county expense fund.
Holcomb, C. J., Fullerton, Mount, and Mitchell, JJ., concur.