Atlantic Oil Co. v. Town of Steele
| Decision Date | 12 September 1968 |
| Docket Number | 7 Div. 783 |
| Parties | ATLANTIC OIL COMPANY, Inc. v. TOWN OF STEELE. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Roy D. McCord and J. D. Pruett, Gadsden, for appellant.
Gerald C. Swann, Ashville, and Fred Blanton, Birmingham, for appellee.
The appellant filed a bill in the Circuit Court of Etowah County which in effect sought to enjoin the Town of Steele, its officers, agents, or employees, from enforcing an ordinance levying a license tax on sellers of gasoline within the corporate limits of the town, and those without the corporate limits but within the police jurisdiction of the town.
The ordinance, among other things, imposed a license tax of one cent per gallon on the sellers of gasoline selling within the corporate limits of Steele, and one half cent per gallon on sellers within the police jurisdiction.
At the hearing below evidence was introduced tending to show that the corporate limits of the Town of Steele are within St. Clair County, and that appellant's filling station is in Etowah County, but well within the police jurisdiction of the Town of Steele.
The appellant's evidence shows that his filling station obtains no sewerage, garbage, or water services from the Town of Steele, and it is appellant's contention that he receives no benefit from the revenue collected under the license tax.
The evidence presented by the Town of Steele tends to show that police protection is furnished by a constable elected from a precinct which includes the town and also extends to areas of Etowah County including the area in which appellant's filling station is located.
The Town of Steele has a volunteer fire department and owns a fire engine. On at least one occasion the fire department answered a call to extinguish a grass fire in the neighborhood of the filling station. Water and gas facilities were available to appellant on terms offered to other users.
This was substantially all of the evidence presented material to the issues. There was no evidence showing the revenues realized from the license taxes, nor of the costs of regulation and protection of the businesses.
Under the provisions of Section 733, Title 37, Code of Alabama 1940, cities and towns may levy and collect licenses on business carried on within the police jurisdiction. The validity of the Section 733, supra, has been upheld. City of Prichard v. Harold, 28 Ala.App. 235, 186 So. 499.
Where such license taxes are levied the presumption is that such levy is a valid exercise of police power, Walden v. City of Montgomery, 214 Ala. 409, 108 So. 231, and is not made as a source of general revenue, Alabama Power Company v. City of Carbon Hill, 234 Ala. 489, 175 So. 289. The action of a municipal governing body in fixing the amount of such licenses will not be disturbed unless there is a manifest abuse of such power, and county lines are no barrier to the exercise of this police power over areas within the police jurisdiction of a municipality. White v....
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