| Show If CANT ISSUE WARRANTS 1 Applications For Writ of Mandate If Man-date Denied I i i LIMIT ALREADY EXCEEDED I I I BY ABOUT O2CE HUXDRED THOUSAND I i j THOUS-AND DOLLR5 I I I i I I j tg OTie Entire Liabilities antI Inflcbt I I I edncns For any Prose Contracted I 7 f I tracleO In Any Inner Sliall Kat I It Exceed he Income For the Two I Prcrions Years Sara the Sn I J I I prenie Coart jr i I i I 1est in Importance to the opinion handed down by the supreme court 1 the election cases was that rent ren-t t Cered on the application of S F Fen ton for n writ of mandate to compel I J the members of he county court to r issue a warrant for money dvte for 1 1j work done for the county The application ap-plication for the writ was denied Judge Smith delivered the opinion which was concurred in by Chief Justice Jus-tice Merrit and Associate Justices T Bartch and King I The Opinion In Full f The opinion as handed down In full Is as follows < t This Is a proceeding begun origlually In this court to obtain a writ of mandate against the defendants requiring them as the county court oC Salt lAke county to j issue to the plaintiff a county Tvarant forte for-te sum of JF4G456 alleged t be due the plaintiff for certain labor done and material mate-rial furnished to the county of Salt Lake on and after the 15th day of November 1834 and prior to the 17th day of Decem her 1531 Ji I Is alleged in substanca that the plaintiff made a contract with the defendants de-fendants predecessors in office then constituting con-stituting the county court of Salt Lake county to furnish and deliver certain I electrical appliances and do certain labor L for the sum of 46458 That he performed 1 Ibis labor prior to the 17th day of December Decem-ber 1S94 and ou the But day of January I Janu-ary 1S5 the defendants in the meantime meantme having qualified the plaintiff having presented I pre-sented his account duly verified as required I re-quired by law and prayed the allowance of the same It was rejected by the county I coun-ty court I I The defendants admit that the contract was made as alleged and that the plaintiff I plain-tiff performed the labor and furnished the material for which his claim was presented I pre-sented Admit that the county had not I paid the claim or any part or it and that on the 13th day of January 1S95 the I plaintiff made demand of the defendants I that they allow and pay the said amount I and that they refused to allow or appropriate I appro-priate for or pay the claim I is then I art out that the reason why such allowance allow-ance appropriation or payment Is not I made is that at the time the contract I Tvas male there were warrants outstand > lug and unpaid drawn on the treasurer of I A Salt Lake county under the direction of r tiie county court amounting in the aggregate I aggre-gate to the sum of 33375411 and in addition addi-tion thereto other liabilities incurred DV tJd county court amounting to 5125000 I yihltt the funds in the treasury of the I I county available for the pajinents or warrants on the date when the contract was made amounted to the sum or 524 30945 that the excess of warrants over the funds In the treasury to meet the fame was 32 56465 that this amount of indebtedness with that which had been i Incurred as aforesaid for which warrants I had not been drawn made the total Indebtedness In-debtedness against the county 4545WGG I The defendants further allege that the plaintiff presented his claim on the 31st I day of December 1S94 and that the I amount of warrants I and nnts outstanding unpaid un-paid at that time was 5427550 and that i t there were funds In the treasury available I avail-able for paying such warrants to the amount of 522715451 Defendants further albIno that the total revenue and Income of salt Lake county for the years 1832 and 1S93 amounted to S22G748 A stipulation of facts was agreed upon by counsel for the respective parties which shows the following facts which we deem ma trial On the 31st day of December 1S34 the I total outstanding warrants of Salt Lake I county unpaid were 427550SS the amount of moneys on hand was 5227154S the amount of taxes uncollected but I I which were admitted to be collectible for I the year 2894 was S1S1G739 The income I mid revenue for the county for the y ars 3SS2 and 1BS crcludinsr poll tax paId in I labor and excluding the county school I taxes amounted to 32674806 but of this amount 54377039 was for tax levied In I 1S91 and collected In itS I The poll tax paid In labor to the county I during 1892 and 3S33 was 51123430 that I the count school tax for 18Q2 and 1893 I amounted to t185t that 4 per cent I f of the entire > taxable property of the I k ounlv of f Lake In the ore 1S93 was I 133867410 that the total county ta assessed I as-sessed for 1S9J excluding poll tax paid In I Iafcor fend excluding school tax a 122 I I 72724 and the revenue from other sources I las 54333 that there was cash In the I 1and of the treasurer January 1 1834 r 16D216 Paler of thc County Court The case presents two Questions First uhethor or not the county court of Salt lake county has any power under existing exist-ing congressional and territorial laws to create Indebtedness against said county Second I such power exists what is the limit of indebtedness or what is the amount of Indebtedness that can be so created cretcA of the congressional and terrltoriel laws nowhere discloses any express authority to incur Indebtedness Indebted-ness The duties and powers of the county court are set out at large in section sec-tion 1S7 page 23 of the first volume of fie Compiled Las The county court f possesses the power to supervise the conduct of officers to divide the county Into school road and other districts to establish abolish and change election precincts to layout maintain control and manage public roads turnpikes ferries fer-ries snd bridges to provide for the care and maintenance of tIe Indigene sick or otherwise dependent poor to provide a working farm and workshoos in connec bIt with the jaunty hospital or poorhouse poor-house to employ the Inmates thereof to provide suitable rooms for county ofli cert to purchase lease or hold real or personal property necessary lor the use or the counts to cause to be erected or rebuilt and furnished the coirt house Jail Hospital and such other public buildIngs build-Ings as mar be necessary to sell properly prop-erly belonging to the county to examine and audit the accounts or public officers to settle and allow all accounts legally chargeable against the county and order warrants to be drawn on the treasury thereof to levy taxes on taxable ron crtv of the county to maintain rgulate and govern public grounds and pound keepers to equalize assessments within their county to control and direct the prosecution and defense of aU suits to which the county is a party to insure the county buildings in the name and for te the benefit of tha county fix the price f of advertising 1o adopt n jeal for the court and enforce rules for the govern ment of that body to make annual reports re-ports of the financial condition of the county to provide for the destruction of svlld animals noxious weeds and Insects to eitablish county offices for the transaction trans-action of the business of the county to fill vacancies by appointment to nrovide for the preservation of the puWic health to prevent the bringing of inditrent persons per-sons into the county to provide for wo kIng k-ing prisoners under sentence in the count coun-t iatlt to provide for burying the Indigent Indi-gent dead and to nrake the necessary local police and sundry other regulations hot in conflict wIt the general she 9 s-he S < a < tt < < Ht au tlic Subject Section H2 provides S That no count I shall Incur any indebtedness or liability la any manner or lor any purpose to an I amount exceeding in any year the total amount of its income and revenue for the I two fiscal yearS Immediately preceding I the incurring of such Indebtedness Any Indebtedness or liability Incurred contrary I con-trary to tills provision shall be void Sec 17i provides All contracts authorizations auth-orizations payments and liabilities to pay I made or attempted to be made m VfolaI Ilion I ion of this act shall oe absolutely void and shall never be the foundation of adam I claim Against sueli county I dam See 135 page 3 provides The court must not for any purpose contract debts I or liabilities except In pursuance of law nor shall such Indebtedness or liability in i any manner or for any purpose exceed I nl In any fiscal year tho Income of such county for the two fiscal years Immediately 1 i Immedi-ately preceding the Incurring of such In I f 4btedness 1 ea 2 page 103 provides Warrants I drawn by order of the court on the county coun-ty treasury must specify the liabilities i t tot which they are arami and the funds t QI O > j p d1 a r r l from which they are to be paid The treasurer must pay the warrants in the order or their presentation 1C the fund teir presentton I Is Insufficient to pay any warrant it must be registered and thereafter paid in the order of its registration These are substantially all of the statutes stat-utes bearing upon the subject of the power pow-er of the county court to create an in debtedness and while nowhere they in express terms authorize the county court to Incur such indebtedness they nowhere expressly forbid it and it would seem from the nature of the duties imposed I upon the county court the limit of their power t levy taxes and the language of the sections we have cited above that the power to create tm indebtedness within certain limits is unquestionably implied and intended by the legislature We think there is authority under these authorty statutes to create an indebtedness Slat i the limit So the next question and the more dif I ficult one is what is the limit of indebtedness lmit edness Sea 1S page 576 First Vol Comp Laws in the fifth division provides among other duties of the county clerk That the county clerk must keep an accurate account of all receipts and expenditures ex-penditures of his county also of all debts payable to and by aid county At the frt cession of the court held in each year the clerk shall submit to the said court a statement showing the total amount received from each source during dur-ing the fiscal year en hlA on the 31st day of December last preceding the balance if any in the treasury at the close of the previous fiscal year the expenditures during the fiscal year just closed specifying tying separately the total amount paid to each officer and the total amount for each and every disbursement the bal ever dsburementj ance if any on hand together with a statement by the said of county all the debts payable to and The contention of the plaintiff Is In brief that the county court in each year may expect its revenue collected in that year and may Incur an Indebtedness In excess of the revenue equal to the revenue reve-nue for two years Immediately preceding and that this process may be repeated from year to year until the entire indebtedness indebt-edness should equal the 4 per cent limit fixed by the act of Congress I is Intimated mated in the brief of counsel for the plaintiff that the legislative powers of the territory could not be exercised to limit the power of the county court within the 4 per cent fixed by the Act of Congress that otherwise their actions would be In conflict with that act of Congress We think this does not necessarily follow fol-low The Act of Congress is simply a limitation upon the legislature of the territory ter-ritory Is not a grant of power to the legislature much less to the county court I forbids the legislature to authorize a greater Indebtedness than 4 per cent and being directly applicable to the territory of course forbids the municipal corporations corpora-tions in the territory rom incurring for any purpose an indebtedness in excess of 4 per cent The question Is what is the limit that the territorial legislature has fixed An examination of the statutes we have cited including that in regard to the duty of the county clerk together with the provision requiring the county court to publish a statement of the indebtedness in-debtedness of the county at the end of each year as provided in subdivision 2 orS or-S c 187 indicates pretty clearly what the intention of the legislature was as to the limit of Indebtedness The language of the first section fixing the limit is that no indebtedness or liability shall be incurred in-curred in any manner or for any purpose in any amount exceeding in any year the total amount of its income and revenue for the two fiscal years immediately preceding pre-ceding The other section 3f > 5 is almost in the same language The language is Tha court must not contract any debts or liabilities except in pursuance of law Nor shall such Indebtedness or liability in any manner or for any purpose exceed in any fiscal year the income and revenue of such county for the two fiscal years immediately I preceding I Should Not Exceed Two Years Revenue Rev-enue I will be observed that the provision is not that the amount of indebtedness or liabilities created in any fiscal year shall not exceed the income for the two preceding pre-ceding years but the entire liabilities and Indebtedness for any purpose contracted con-tracted in any manner shall not exceed that amount Taken in connection with the provisions which require the financial condition of the county to bo made up at the end of each fiscal year the statement to be rendered ren-dered at that time our conclusion is that the Intention of the legislature was to limit the power of the county court to issue warrants at any time for any purpose pur-pose or in any manner or to contract any debts of I or liability beyond the revenues I the current fiscal year in excess of the I revenue and Income for the two years immediately preceding TVe agree1 with counsel for the plaintiff that the allowance of claims against the county equal to the revenues for the current cur-rent year is not I creation or Incurring of any indebtedness or liability While the taxes for the current year are not collected until the end of the year they I are undoubtedly after they are levied regarded I re-garded as a legal certainty and are to I be treated as if already collected and allowances may be made against such taxes t the extent of the levy The question may be presented as to the power of the county court to make allowances prior to the time of making the tax levy for the current year even to pay the current expenses of the county coun-ty We are not called upon to decide that question in this case although it was somewhat argued before us upon the hearing The stipulation of facts shows that at the time plaintiff presented his claim to the count the total amount of outstanding warrants of the county was 47JoOS tat the total revenue including includ-ing poll tax of the county for the years 1892 and 1893 was 527982 I is very clear to our mind that the school tax should not be reckoned a any part of the county revenues in fixing the limit of indebtedness in-debtedness Nor do we think it material that n considerable portion of the warrants war-rants outstanding on the Slat day of December De-cember 1833 or rather of those issued during the year 1894 was for work and labor done and contracted lor during the I year 1S93 I we are right as to the limit I of Indebtedness it is wholly immaterial I when the Indebtedness accrued When it I reaches the limit the power to contract further indebtedness ceases I In our opinion all warrants drawn upon up-on the county treasurer during the year 1SS4 at any time when the amount of warrants outstanding exceeded 533738256 were absolutely void and that Inasmuch as that amount and a great deal more of of the warrants were in existence when the plaintiff presented his claim for allowance al-lowance ive have no authority to direct the county court to Issue I warrant for the sum Sec 175 page 291 of the County Govern ment Act provides expressly that member mem-ber of the county court shall be liable in person for any yiolation of the provisions provi-sions of the act In regard to allowances Suggestion as < y tILe Future A great deal of apprehension was expressed ex-pressed in the argument as to the conduct con-duct of the county government for the future until the revenues for the year 1805 were available I is not perhaps necessary to the decision of this case that we should make in make any suggestion regard to those future claims However we are of the opinion that as fast as the county court redeems any outstanding warrants that have been legally issued they may Issue an equivalent amount of warrants and if the revenues for the years 1893 and ISSi exceed those of the years 1S92 and 182 1S93 the difference might be allowed dur ins the year ISIS but we are clearly of the opinion that by no means of juggling jugglng with the figures and the financial statement state-ment of the county can the debt limit be increased at any time in any year ex caedfng the entire revenue for the two years immediately preceding the time tme such debt is created It results from these I views that the application of the plaintiff in this case must be denied and the proceeding cse mi ped and it is so ordered Merrltt C J Bartch J King J |
