58 Iowa 384 | Iowa | 1882
Sections 996 and 997 of the Code provide: “The supervisors are required to meet the township trustees at the meeting on the first Monday in October, in each year, at which time there shall be a settlement of the accounts of such supervisors connected with the highway fund; for putting up guide boards, and for any other services; and after payment of the supervisors, the trustees shall order such distribution of the funds in the hands of the township clerk, as they may deem expedient for highway purposes, and the clerk shall pay the same .out as ordered by’ the trustees.
These sections authorize, or at least section 997 authorizes, the creation of a debt due the supervisor, to be paid out of the general township fund. See Tobin v. Township of Emmetsburg, 52 Iowa, 81. A debt is authorized, therefore, to which section 969 of the Code may refer, and it is not necessary, in order to give force to its provisions, that it refer to an indebtedness created for the purchase of tools and machinery. Section 970 of tlie Code, provides: “The trustees shall set apart such portions of the tax specified in the preceding section of this chapter as they may deem necessary for the purpose of purchasing the tools and machinery, and paying for the guide boards mentioned in said section, and the same shall constitute .a general township fund.” The language of this section is very significant. The tax shall be set apart for the purpose of ¡purchasing tools and machinery, and ¡paying for guide boards. Section 994 of the Code requires the supervisor to place 'guide boards at cross-roads, and at the forks of highways in his district. These he must provide and the township trustees must set aside a portion of the tax to pay for them. But as to tools and machinery the statute contemplates a different course. After the tax has been levied, the township trustees must set aside such portion of the tax as they may deem necessary for the future purchase of tools and machinery. The setting apart of the tax precedes the purchase. They may, after the tax is levied and set apart, anticipate the collection of the tax, and purchase tools and machinery upon credit. But we find no warrant in the statute for their making such purchases upon credit, in the advance of the levying and setting apart of the tax. If they may do so, then there is no limit upon the indebtedness
Eevebsed.