61 A.2d 140 | N.H. | 1948
The contention of the defendants that by reason of the provisions of the city charter as to notice of claim quoted above the present petition should be dismissed, must be rejected. There is no reason to believe that this section was intended to change the well established rule in this jurisdiction, that equity may restrain the unlawful appropriation of public funds. Blood v. Company,
The contention of the plaintiff that the contract which the city proposes to make with the company is illegal because a reappraisal of all the property in the city of Dover has not been ordered by the Tax Commission, must likewise be rejected. While the Tax Commission may order a reassessment (R. L., c. 82, s. 12), there is nothing in our laws which prohibits municipalities from making re-appraisals of taxable property without an order of the Tax Commission.
It is also argued by the plaintiff that the proposed contract is unlawful since it deprives the city assessors of their authority to value all property to be taxed. A dictum in Hayes v. Hanson,
The plaintiff also argues that the contract violates section 31 of the city charter which provides as follows: "After the budget has been adopted, no money shall be drawn from the treasury of the city, nor shall any obligation for the expenditure of money be incurred, except pursuant to a budget appropriation unless there shall be a specific additional appropriation therefor." Section 7 of the proposed contract provides as follows: "Compensation and Terms. The City of Dover hereby agrees that in consideration of the services to be performed by the Company, the Cole-Layer-Trumble Company shall be entitled to receive the sum of Thirty-five Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($35,500), subject to the terms, conditions and provisions hereinafter set forth. Payment of said sum of Thirty-five Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($35,500) is to be made on the following basis: Fifteen Hundred Dollars ($1,500) on or before December 31, 1948; Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000) on or before December 31, 1949; Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000) on or before December 31, 1950;and the balance on or before December 31, 1951, with the privilege on the part of the City of (a) paying all or any part of the unpaid balance due at any time before said payments become due and payable, and (b) terminating *230 this agreement at any time upon fifteen (15) days' notice. The liability of the City for services to be rendered in 1948 shall not exceed Fifteen Hundred Dollars ($1,500)."
The only obligation presently imposed upon the city by the proposed contract is an obligation to pay fifteen hundred dollars during the year 1948. An appropriation in excess of this amount is already included in the current appropriations for the assessors' department. Therefore the above obligation for $1,500 does not violate the provisions of section 31. As to the balance of the payments coming due in the future, no obligation is incurred until the services of the company have been satisfactorily rendered and, under the terms of the statute, until an appropriation is made. The prohibition of the statute is against incurring obligation by contract in the absence of a sufficient appropriation. Its terms by implication become terms of the contract. In the absence of supporting appropriations in future years, no contractual obligation will arise. Such restrictions are not to be construed to prohibit a contract for a reasonable term of years when it is for the best interest of a municipality (Toomey v. Bridgeport,
We are not called upon to decide what the rights of the company may be in case of a cancellation of the contract by the city.
None of the grounds on which the injunction is sought being sustainable upon the record before us, the order is
Bill dismissed.
JOHNSTON, J., was absent.