Berrien County v. Paulk

• Decision Date: 13 January 1921
• Docket Number: (No. 1949.)
• Citation: 150 Ga. 829,105 S.E. 491
• Parties: BERRIEN COUNTY et al. v. PAULK et al.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

150 Ga. 829

105 S.E. 491

BERRIEN COUNTY et al.

v.PAULK et al.

(No. 1949.)

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Jan. 13, 1921.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Certiorari from Court of Appeals.

Proceedings by Berrien County and others to issue bonds, opposed by J. J. Paulk and others. An order validating the bonds in part was reversed by the Court of Appeals (102 S. E. 172), and the County and others bring certiorari. Affirmed.

The board of commissioners of roads and revenues of Berrien county on April 10, 1919, ordered an election to be held in that county on May 14 thereafter—

"to determine the question whether bonds should be issued by the county to the amount of $500,000 for the purpose of the permanent building and improvement of roads and bridges in said county, the bonds to bear date of July 1, 1919, and to bear interest at 5 per cent. per annum, payable annually on the 1st day of January in each year, and beginning with January 1, 1920, and to be issued in denominations of $1,000 each principal, and the total thereof to mature and be paid off as follows: $12,000 on the 1st day of January in each year from 1921 to 1925, both inclusive, being $60,000 in the aggregate; $14,000 on the 1st day of January in each year from 1926 to 1935, both inclusive, being $140,000 in the aggregate; $20,000 on the 1st day of January in each year from 1936 to 1945, both inclusive, being $200,000 in the aggregate; so that the last of said bonds shall mature and be paid off in full on January 1, 1949:"

The election was duly held, and the vote was declared to be in favor of the issuance of bonds to the amount of $500,000. On the hearing before" the judge of the superior court thereafter had, in a proceeding to validate the bonds for that sum, it appeared that the sum of $500,000 exceeded 7 per cent. of the assessed value of all of the taxable property in the county of Berrien at the time such election was ordered, when it was held, and at the time of the hearing. Certain citizens and taxpayers of the county there objected to the validation of the bonds for this reason. The board of commissioners of roads and revenues, in response to the petition filed for validation of the bonds, conceded in their answer that the taxable valuation of all the property in the county was not sufficient to authorize the issuance of bonds to the amount of $500,000 which had been voted for, but alleged that the taxable value of the property in the county at the time of the calling of the election, when it was held, and at the time of the hearing, would authorize the issuance of bonds to the amount of $350,000; and they prayed that the judge of the superior court on such hearing should grant an order conferring upon them the power to issue bonds in pursuance of such election to the amount of $350,000, stated amounts of such principal and interest to be paid annually. The judge thereupon granted the order prayed for. The parties objecting to the validation excepted to such order and sued out a writ of error to the Court of Appeals, which court reversed the judgment of the trial judge. The case is in this court by certiorari to the Court of Appeals.

King & Spalding, of Atlanta, and W. D. Buie, of Nashville, for plaintiffs in error.

Quincey & Rice, of Ocilla, for defendants in error.

FISH, C. J. (after stating the facts as above). The Constitution of this state (article 7, § 7, par. 1; Civil Code of 1910, § C563) limits the amount of bonded indebtedness to be incurred by a county to not more than 7 per cent. of the assessed value of all of the taxable property therein. The statute providing the manner of incurring such indebtedness, embodied in Civil Code 1910, § 440 et seq., declares that, when any county shall desire to incur any bonded debt as prescribed in the Constitution above noted— "the officers charged with levying taxes, contracting debts, etc., for the county, municipality, or division shall give notice for the space of thirty days next preceding the day of election in the newspaper in which the sheriff's advertisements for the county are published, notifying the qualified voters that on the day named an election will be held to determine the question whether bonds shall be issued by the county, municipality, or division. In said notice he shall specify what amount of bonds are to be issued, for what purpose, what interest they are to bear, how much principal and interest to be paid annually, and when to be fully paid off."

"The policy of the law of this state is, and has been since the adoption of the present Constitution, opposed to...