People Ex Rel. Smith v. Wabash Railway Co.

35 N.E.2d 325, 377 Ill. 68
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedJune 17, 1941
DocketNo. 26147. Reversed and remanded.
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 35 N.E.2d 325 (People Ex Rel. Smith v. Wabash Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People Ex Rel. Smith v. Wabash Railway Co., 35 N.E.2d 325, 377 Ill. 68 (Ill. 1941).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Farthing

delivered the opinion of the court:

The appellants objected to the county collector’s application for judgment and sale of their real estate for delinquent 1939 taxes. The county court of Pike county overruled certain objections and since the revenue is involved, appellants have appealed directly to this court.

One objection was to the following item in the general corporate purpose levy for Pike county: “Courthouse, janitor supplies, water, lights, telephone, etc., $1600.” Appellants insist that this constituted the levy of a tax for separate and distinct purposes without specifying what amount was levied for each separate purpose, contrary to the provision of the Revenue act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1939, chap. 120, par. 637) as follows: “When for several purposes, the amount for each purpose shall be stated separately.”

This court held the following items in tax levies did not meet such statutory requirements: “For public grounds and buildings, repairs, upkeep and maintenance,” (People v. Wabash Railway Co. 374 Ill. 165) ; “County farm, $3600,” “Heat, light and water, courthouse and jail $2300,” (People v. Alton and Eastern Railroad Co. 359 id. 440) ; “County jail, $15,000, workhouse, $1200, and for courthouse, $35,000,” (People v. Bowman, 253 id. 234) ; “Public buildings account” and “County Jail Fund account” (People v. Cairo, Vincennes and Chicago Railway Co. 243 id. 217.) The item before us, contained in the levy ordinance adopted by the county board of supervisors of Pike county, at its September meeting in 1939, for the current year, cannot be distinguished from those just referred to, and is invalid.

Appellee claims that other items in the levy such as “Public grounds and buildings, repair, upkeep and maintenance” (to which the county court sustained an objection) “fuel for courthouse and jail,” “County home, upkeep and repairs,” “Insurance county buildings, etc.,” (giving the amount of each item), if considered with the item objected to, sufficiently inform the taxpayer as to that item. ■ This, however, does not cure the vice complained of, for “Courthouse, janitor supplies, water, lights, telephone, etc.,” are not related, incidental items which may properly be embraced in a general designation, as was held to be the case in one item objected to and passed upon in People v. Bowman, supra.

Appellee also relies on the holdings of this court in People v. Jackson, 272 Ill. 494, and People v. Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railway Co. 336 id. 506. The decision in the Jackson case misapplied the holding of this court in People v. Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Co. 266 Ill. 196. In this latter case the holding was an item in the levy, “For repairs upon and care, support and maintenance of courthouse, $4000,” was not objectionable because these items constituted a part of one general purpose and that a reasonable construction of the statutory requirement as to itemization did not require the cost of the component parts to be shown separately. In the Jackson case the item was “Public buildings, light, heat and repairs, $12,000,” and in the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railway Co. case, the item objected to was “Light arid water, Courthouse and jail, $1200,” “Courthouse and jail, supplies and repairs, $1500.” The holdings in these two cases are not consistent with the later decisions of this court and, in so far as they are not, they are not adhered to. The county court erred in overruling appellants’ objection to the $1600 item in the county levy.

Appellants also objected to a levy of $7250, $231.12 of which was extended against their, property, and was for tuberculosis sanitarium, which tax was in addition to the 25-cent county rate. This objection in part reads: “For the reason that said county board was without authority to make said levy in addition to the 25c limitation, without a vote of the people for such purpose,” etc. The appellee contends, but without merit, that the objection is limited to the question whether a tuberculosis sanitarium tax had been authorized by a vote of the People, and that the objection does not question the validity of the item because the 25-cent rate was exceeded.

It was stipulated that: “In the Supervisors’ record of the June Meeting 1918 appears the following: ‘Whereas, more than one hundred legal voters of Pike County have presented their petition to this body asking that an annual tax may be levied for the establishment and maintenance of a county tuberculosis sanitarium, and branches, dispensaries and other auxiliary institutions, connected with the same in the County of Pike and State of Illinois in accordance with An Act entitled ‘An Act to authorize County authorities to establish and maintain a County tuberculosis sanitarium and branches, dispensaries and other auxiliary institutions connected with the same, and to levy and collect a tax to pay the cost of establishment and maintenance,’ approved June 28, 1915, and in force July 1, 1915.

■ “Ordered, that the County Clerk of Pike County be, and he is hereby instructed to give notice that at the next regular general election to be held in such County on the 5th day of November, every elector may vote, ‘For the levy of a tax for a County tuberculosis sanitarium or against the levy of a tax for a County tuberculosis sanitarium,’ and it is further

“Ordered, that the County Clerk of Pike County, Illinois, be and he is hereby instructed to take the proper legal steps to have the said above proposition placed upon the ballot for the said next legal election to be held on the 5th day of November in the County of Pike and the State of Illinois.

“In the Supervisors’ record of the December meeting 1918 appears the following: ‘Whereas, there seems to be some misunderstanding relative to just what action should be taken by the Board in regard to the tuberculosis sanitarium which was voted for at the November election.’ ” It was also stipulated that there are no other records concerning the election or vote on this proposition. A tuberculosis sanitarium tax was levied from 1919 to 1928, inclusive, but not again until 1939. This resolution of the board of supervisors only authorized the county clerk to take the proper legal steps to have “the above proposition” placed upon the ballot “for the said next legal election to be held on the 5th day of November in the County of Pike and State of Illinois.” The recitals in this resolution show that the board only authorized the clerk to act under section 2 of the Tuberculosis Sanitarium statute. (Hurd’s Stat. 1917, chap. 34, par. 146.) The resolution says nothing about an addition to the county general corporate purpose tax rate. The county clerk’s authority in the matter was limited to what this resolution contained. In the absence of a showing to the contrary we must assume that the county clerk did his duty according to law and submitted to the electors of Pike county the proposition as stated in the resolution.

The stipulation also shows that the item objected to was levied in 1939, in addition to the levy of 25 cents per $100 assessed valuation of appellants’ property for general corporate purposes of the county. This court has held that when a vote is taken under section 2 and the tax mentioned in section 1 of the act is levied (Hurd’s Stat. 1917, chap. 34, par. 145) the tax is one for a general corporate purpose and must be included in the 25-cent rate. (People v.

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35 N.E.2d 325, 377 Ill. 68, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-ex-rel-smith-v-wabash-railway-co-ill-1941.