88 Ky. 562 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1889
delivered the opinion of the court.
These two actions involve the right of the trustees of the town of Parkland to issue bonds to the amount of $25,000, to be paid by the levy of taxes on the property within the town boundary. The facts of this case show .that this town was incorporated many years since,- and
The appellee, Brown, lives or owns property within the actual town. The legislature, in extending the town limits, provided for the collection of an annual tax for municipal purposes, and, by the fourth section of the act, for the purpose of building a school-house and establishing a school for the benefit of the town, and for the purpose of grading, making and repairing streets, sidewalks and alleys, the trustees were empowered to contract certain liabilities, the ordinance evidencing the action of the board to be first approved by a majority of the qualified voters of the town. The seventh section of the act,
It is urged that the title of the act by which the charter of the town of Pai’kland was amended, extending the boundary of the town, is misleading and delusive, and,
The difficulty in regard to the title of the act arises from the construction given it by counsel for the appellant, who maintains that it is constitutional. It is conceded that thedand of Gaines can not be taxed .for a municipal purpose, and, hence, the argument made by counsel sustaining the right of taxation is, that the act in ■question, purporting to be an amendment to the town charter, is, in fact, an act creating a road district, in which both town and country property is included, and as local taxation may be resorted to for such a purpose, the act in question is constitutional. If the views of counsel are to prevail, then we have an act to create a road district entitled, an act “ to amend the charter of the town of “ Parkland.” Such a title would certainly be misleading, and to prevent such legislation section 37 of article 2 of the constitution was adopted. *
That the legislature might create a road district, including a town within its boundary, is not controverted, but even then the question might arise as • to whether or not such legislation was obtained for the mere purpose of taxing farming lauds in order to aid in the construction of streets and alleys within the town. This would he tested by the usual burdens imposed on farming lands for the ordinary improvement and construction of roads. The system of taxation resorted to in cities and towns for the construction of ways can not well be applied to the
It can not be maintained, from the facts of this record, that this legislation was for any other purpose than municipal. The several provisions of the amendment looking to the improvement of the streets and alleys of the town, connected with the large extension of the .boundary, manifests a plain purpose of adding to the revenues of the town by including within its boundary these farming lands. If intended as a road tax for a road district the title is misleading, and if intended as an (amendment to the charter of the town, then the tax on these farming lands is clearly unconstitutional. The reported cases of Courtney v. City of Louisville, 12 Bush, 419; Preston v. Roberts, 12 Bush, 570, and MS. opinions, .several in number, settle this question against the .appellant. There is no city population near the land of . the appellee, Gaines, or necessity of taxing him t'o build .these streets, or any reason for extending the municipal .government over his lands except to tax him. ITe can not and does not have the advantages or benefits that the citizens of the town proper enjoy from their local government; and the attempt to exercise the taxing .power in this ease, if carried out, would be taking his .private property for public use, without first making constitutional compensation.
In the case of City of Henderson v. Lambert, 8 Bush, 607, the territory embracing the city of Henderson, including the land pf Lambert, was incorpo
Can this tax be enforced against the appellee, Robei’ts, and the entire burden placed on the town of Parkland proper? If the tax was separable, so as the burden might be imposed on the town alone without oppressing its tax-payers, we would hold the appellee, Roberts,, liable; but in this case greatly more than one-half of the property is released from taxation, and the legislature’ never intended that the measure of liability on the tax- • payers should be determined by the extent to which the-act would be held constitutional. The intention was to^ impose the burden on all, and as-much of the property has been released, the entire act in reference to the issuab of these bonds must fail. While the limits of the town may be extended,'it does not follow that taxation for-municipal purposes can be imposed on farming lands, included within the boundary.
Judgment affirmed in each case.