92 P. 840 | Idaho | 1907
On the twenty-seventh day of December, 1905, the estate of W. M. Jack, deceased, entered into a contract with the city of Grangeville, through its mayor, whereby said estate agreed to sell, and said city agreed to buy, a certain water system owned by said estate. It was provided in said contract that the purchase price should be $32,000, and that the question of issuing bonds for the purchase of said system should be submitted to the electors of said city for approval. The contract provided that the amount of bonds to' be issued should be of such part of $32,000 as might be issued under the laws of the state. On the fifth day of February, 1906, the city council of said Grangeville passed Ordinance No. 51, providing for the issuing of municipal coupon bonds for the purpose of providing funds for the “acquisition, construction and maintenance of a system of waterworks for said city, in the sum of $30,000.” Said ordinance provides in section 3 that the estimated cost of the said system of waterworks and the supplying the same with water is the sum of $32,000, and that it is deemed advisable to issue coupon bonds for the sum of $30,000 of the said estimated cost of said system of waterworks. Section 6 of said ordinance provides that there shall be levied annually by the council of the said city, upon all taxable property within said city, a sufficient sum to pay the interest on said bonds and create a sinking fund to pay the same at maturity. An election was held under said ordinance which resulted in favor of issuing bonds as provided in said ordinance. On April 2, 1906, notice was given of the intention to issue and sell municipal bonds of said city in the sum of $30,000, as authorized by said Ordinance No. 51. On June 4,1906, Ordinance No. 55 was passed by the city council of said city, making an appropriation for the general expenses of said city. On January 7, 1907, Ordinance No. 60' was passed by the city council, providing for the issuing of' coupon bonds of said city in the sum of $30,000 for the construction and- maintenance of necessary waterworks, and supplying same with water in accordance with the election previously held in said city, and providing for the form and
The defendants answered and admitted that the plaintiff was a resident taxpayer of said city; that the defendant is a municipality and the officers therein named were the officers of said city, and that John M. Jack was the duly qualified and acting administrator of the estate of W. M. Jack, de
The plaintiff specifies as error of law on the part of the trial court “the rendering judgment denying plaintiff’s application for an order restraining the sale of said bonds and dismissing said action.” The view we take of the ease requires, first, the determination of the validity of said contract; second, the validity of the bonds to be issued to raise funds to meet the obligations of said contract.
Was the contract made between said estate of W. M. Jack and the said city valid? This contract on behalf of the city was made by Fen'Batty, mayor of said city, without any authorization by the city council or any approval or ratification on the part of said city. Under the provisions of an act of February 10, 1899, in relation to the organization, government and powers of cities and villages, the mayor of cities is given certain powers, which are fully set forth in section 10 of said act, but it nowhere appears that the mayor of a city has power to enter into a contract of the character set forth in the complaint, without the authorization or ratification of the city council of said city. In this case, without said contract having been authorized by the city, or having been ratified by the city, the mayor would have no authority to enter into the same as a binding obligation of said city. The contract provides for the sale of said Grangeville waterworks to said city for the sum of $32,000, while it is admitted by the pleadings and the briefs the city had no authority to issue bonds to meet such payment. It is admitted that under the' provisions of section 1 of an act providing for the issue and sale of municipal coupon bonds, approved February 2, 1899 (Sess. Laws 1899, p. 29), said city could not issue municipal bonds to exceed at any time, in the aggregate, fifteen per cent of the real estate value of said city or town, according to the assessment of the preceding year, for any or all of the following purposes (naming such purposes).
The real estate valuation of said city for the year 1905 was $240,452. In this connection we call attention to the fact that upon the oral argument there was a dispute between
We cannot escape the conclusion, therefore, that the contract and the proposed bonds were part of one and the same transaction, and that if the contract was void, and the bonds were voted for the purpose of complying with the terms of said contract, that the bonds necessarily must fall with the contract.
The judgment is reversed, and the lower court is directed to enter judgment in accordance with this opinion. Costs are awarded in favor of appellant.