Bell v. School Dist. No. 84

• Decision Date: 27 November 1950
• Docket Number: No. 31723,31723
• Citation: 407 Ill. 406,95 N.E.2d 496
• Parties: BELL v. SCHOOL DIST. NO. 84 et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 496

95 N.E.2d 496

407 Ill. 406

BELL v. SCHOOL DIST. NO. 84 et al.

No. 31723.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Nov. 27, 1950.

Richard F. Locke, Glen Ellyn, for appellant.

Osborn & Hershman, Franklin Park (Jack W. Osborn, Franklin Park, of counsel), for appellees.

THOMPSON, Justice.

This is an action in chancery filed by Edmond A. Bell, a taxpayer and resident of School District No. 84, Cook County, Illinois, in his own behalf and in behalf of all other taxpayers within the district similarly situated. He seeks to enjoin the school district, its board of education and the members and officials thereof, from issuing bonds of the district in the principal amount of $80,000, for the purpose of creating a working cash fund under the purported authority of article 20 of the School Code, with respect to sections 20-1 to 20-8, both inclusive. IllRev.Stat. 1949, chap. 122, art. 20.

The complaint alleges that notwithstanding there was filed, in conformity with the provisions of section 20-7 of [407 Ill. 408] the School Code, a petition requesting the board of education to submit to the voters of the district the proposition to issue said bonds, the board of education is nevertheless proceeding with and intends to issue said bonds without first submitting the proposition to the voters of the district at a special election called for that purpose. As further grounds for the injunction, the validity of sections 20-1 to 20-8, inclusive, of the School Code is attacked, the contention being that section 20-8, which was added to the School Code in 1949 by House Bill No. 495 of the Sixty-sixth General Assembly and which provides that a school district might abolish its working cash fund and transfer any balance in such fund to its educational fund, is so inconsistent with other provisions of the School Code that sections 20-1 to 20-8, both inclusive, should be held null and void. It is alleged that section 20-8 is wholly inconsistent with section 20-4, in that said section 20-8 permits the transfer of the moneys in the working cash fund to the educational fund without requiring the same to be repaid to such fund, as is required by section 20-4, and that by reason of such inconsistency, the said sections 20-1 to 20-8, both inclusive, are rendered vague, indefinite and uncertain and should be held null and void.

It is further alleged that by the enactment of House Bill No. 495, the provisions of article 20 of the School Code were rendered wholly inconsistent with article 17, which provides maximum tax rates for levies by school districts for educational purposes, in that said sections contained in article 20 permit the levy and collection of taxes for educational purposes in excess of the maximum limits specified in article 17, and that therefore the said article 20, containing sections 20-1 to 20-8, both inclusive, should be held null and void.

The answer filed by the defendants denied all the material allegations of the complaint and further alleged that the instrument purportedly filed as a petition, mentioned in the complaint, was not signed by twenty percent of the voters of the district.

Evidence was heard and the court entered a decree in favor of defendants, finding that the petition requesting a referendum vote on the proposition to issue the bonds was not filed in apt time nor signed by the requisite number of voters, and further finding that the provisions of section 20-8 of the School Code are not inconsistent with the other sections of article 20 of said Code or with the provisions of article 17 thereof, and that by the enactment of House Bill 495, sections 20-1 to 20-8, both inclusive, were not rendered vague, indefinite or uncertain in any way. The decree, upon the basis of such findings, dismissed the complaint for want of equity. The cause is before us on direct appeal, the validity of a statute being necessarily involved.

The appellant has made fourteen assignments of error, which, in substance, resolve themselves into two, namely, that the statute in question is invalid, and that the petition was properly signed and filed.

It will be first necessary to pass on the question as to whether the provisions of the sections of article 20 of the School Code are so vague and indefinite that they are null and void. A determination of the question raised as to the validity of the statute is necessary to a correct decision of the case, regardless of whether or not the petition for referendum was sufficient to require a vote upon the proposition to issue the bonds.

Article 20 of the School Code provides for the creation and operation of a working cash fund in school districts having a population of less than 150,000 inhabitants, and prior to 1949 consisted of 7 sections numbered 20-1 to 20-7, both inclusive. In 1949, House Bills 495 and 503 were enacted amending sections 20-4, 20-5 and 20-7 in certain respects not material to the issue here, and adding section 20-8. Section 20-1 authorized, in each school district, the creation, maintenance and administration of a working cash fund for the purpose of enabling the district to have in its treasury at all times sufficient money to meet demands thereon for ordinary and necessary expenditures for corporate purposes. Section 20-2 provides that bonds may be issued for the purpose of creating such fund, and section 20-3 provides that taxes may be levied for the purpose of providing moneys for the fund. Section 20-4 pertains to the use and reimbursement of the fund. Its provisions, in part, are as follows: 'Moneys in the fund shall not be regarded as current assets available for school purposes and shall not be used by the school board in any manner other than to provide moneys with which to meet ordinary and necessary disbursements for salaries and other school purposes and may be transferred in whole or in part to the general funds or both of the school district and disbursed therefrom in anticipation of the collection of taxes lawfully levied for educational or building purposes, or both such purposes.' This section also provides that moneys so tranferred from the working cash fund shall be reimbursed to such fund from the taxes received by the district in anticipation of the collection whereof such moneys were transferred, and in case the fund is not completely reimbursed therefrom prior to the first day of the eighth month following the month in which due and unpaid real-property taxes begin to bear interest, that the said working cash fund shall be reimbursed for the amount of the deficiency therein from any other revenues accruing to the educational fund, and the school board shall make provisions for the immediate reimbursement of the amount of such deficiency in its next annual tax levy.

Section 20-5 provides that moneys shall be transferred from the working cash fund to the educational or building fund of the district only upon the authority of the school board, which shall from time to time, by separate resolution, direct the school treasurer to make transfers of such sums as may be required for the purposes authorized by the statute. It is further provided that the resolution shall set forth the taxes in anticipation of which such transfer is made and from which the working cash fund is to be reimbursed. It is further provided that at any time moneys are available in the working cash fund, they shall be transferred to the educational fund and disbursed for the payment of salaries and other school expenses so as to avoid, whenever possible, the issuance of administration tax warrants.

Section 20-6 provides a penalty for wilful violation of any of the provisions of article 20 by a member of the school board or any other person holding any office under the school district.

Section 20-7, insofar as material here, provides as follows: 'No school district may issue bonds under this Article unless it adopts a resolution declaring its intention to issue bonds for the purpose therein provided and directs that notice of such intention be published at least once in a newspaper published and having a general circulation in the district, if there be one, but if there is no newspaper published in such district then by publishing such notice in a newspaper having a general circulation in the district. * * * If within ten days after the publication a petition is filed with the recording officer of the district, signed by not less than 20% of the voters of the district requesting that the proposition to issue bonds as authorized by this article be submitted to the voters thereof, then the district shall not be authorized to issue such bonds until the proposition has been submitted to and approved by a majority of the voters voting on the proposition at a special election to be called by the governing body for that purpose. If no such petition is so filed, the district may issue the bonds.'

Section 20-8, added by House Bill 495 to the School Code in 1949, is, in its entirety, as follows: 'Any school district may abolish its working cash fund, upon the adoption of a resolution so providing, and directing the transfer of any balance in such fund to the educational fund at the close of the then current school year. Thereafter, all outstanding taxes of such school district levied pursuant to Section 20-3 of this Act shall be collected and paid into the educational fund. Any obligation incurred by such school district pursuant to Section 20-2 of this Act shall be discharged...