Show IIo issuE EJfflNEO Supreme Court to Pass on its Legality QUESTION OF DEBT LIMIT W P OMcara Filed in the Supreme Court a Petition Praying That the City bo Enjoined from Issuing the 250000 Waterworks Bondc Temporary Tem-porary Injunction Issued Made Ite turnable for Argument on December Decem-ber 3rd Speedy Adjudication of the Point Desired Tho question raised by Shepard Co as to the legality of the issue of 250 000 waterworks bonds purchased by that llrm will be brought before the Supreme court for adjudication the preliminary steps to that end having been taken yesterday by W P OMeara the agent of Shepard Co Mr OMeara as a citizen and taxpayer filed in the Supreme court by his attorneys at-torneys Krebs Iloppaugh a petition praying that the Mayor and the City Council be enjoined from issuing and selling the bonds In question for the reason that by the Issue the legal debt limit of the city would be exceeded Owing to the rather pressing nature of the case and In order not to delay tho Improvement to the water system the Supreme court consented to take original Jurisdiction of the proceedings and a temporary Injunction was issued made returnable for argument December Decem-ber 3rd and soon thereafter a decision may be expected GROUNDS OF THE PETITION In the petition of OMeara it is alleged that the city ofliclals should be re j I strained from Issuing the bonds mainly because that to do so would be In con 1 traventlon of section 1 article 11 of the State Constitution which provides that no city shall become Indebted to an amount Including existing indebtedness indebted-ness exceeding 1 per cent of the value of the taxable property therein provided pro-vided that any city may incur a larger indebtedness not exceeding i per cent additional for supplying such city with water artificial light or sowers By this section of the Constitution the petitioner pe-titioner contends that the total indebtedness Indebt-edness is limited to S per cent of the value of the taxable property TAXABLE VALUATION It is then alleged that the taxable value of the property In the city of Salt Lake Is 531050210 and that the total existing Indebtedness of the municipality mu-nicipality is 2518000 which with the contemplated bond Issue of 250000 would make a total Indebtedness of 2 708000 somewhat in excess of the S percent per-cent limit The point raised here is that the city has exceeded its debt limit of 1 per cent for general purposes and whether whatever amount it has exceeded that limit must be deducted from the 1 percent per-cent It may Incur for water purposes sons so-ns to keep the total indebtedness within the S per cent limit or whether the 4 per cent for water purposes may be incurred in-curred Irrespective of any excess of the debt limit for general purposes OTHER OBJECTIONS 1 Another objection to the validity of the Issue Is that the statute provides that the City Council shall canvass time returns of the bond election on the Monday following the election whereas it Is alleged the Council made the canvass can-vass on the Friday following A third and last objection is that the statute Imposes upon the City Council LIIV Mui > VI smuuiiiJi puiiing places 1OI the bond election and It is alleged that Instead of dolnpr so the Council delegated dele-gated that duty to Its Committee on Elections which committee selected the polling places but did not report Its action to the Council and consequently the action was not approved by the Council Shepard Co have sent a notification notifica-tion to the Mayor in reply to his urgent demand that they will take the bonds without insisting on the legality point raised by them This however is merely a formality as If Citizen OMearas prayer for an Injunction preventing pre-venting the city from issuing the bonds Is granted it would relieve Shepard Co of any responsibility and throw the blame for breach of contract on the city |