Board of Educ. of Town of Stamford v. Board of Finance of Town of Stamford

• Decision Date: 05 December 1940
• Citation: 127 Conn. 345,16 A.2d 601
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: BOARD OF EDUCATION OF TOWN OF STAMFORD v. BOARD OF FINANCE OF TOWN OF STAMFORD et al.

16 A.2d 601

127 Conn. 345

BOARD OF EDUCATION OF TOWN OF STAMFORD v. BOARD OF FINANCE OF TOWN OF STAMFORD et al.

Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut.

December 5, 1940

Appeal from Superior Court, Fairfield County; Robert L. Munger Judge.

Action by the Board of Education of the Town of Stamford against such town and its Board of Finance, for a declaratory judgment as to the respective powers and duties of the two boards concerning town expenditures for school purposes. From a judgment declaring the boards' respective powers and duties after trial to the court, plaintiff appeals.

Warren F. Cressy and Warren F. Cressy, Jr., both of Stamford for appellant (plaintiff).

George Wise and Sydney C. Kweskin, both of Stamford, for appellees (defendants).

Argued before MALTBIE, C.J., and AVERY, BROWN, ELLS, and BOOTH, JJ.

MALTBIE, Chief Justice.

In this action for a declaratory judgment brought by the board of education of the town of Stamford against the town and its board of finance, the plaintiff sought a declaratory judgment as to the respective powers of the two boards over expenditures in the town for school purposes. The action was brought in August, 1937. The complaint contained various allegations as to the actions of the two boards with reference to school budgets subsequent to the year 1925, and certain specific allegations as to the budget for the year 1937-1938; and to it was attached as an exhibit a copy of a form of contract made by the board of education with its teachers. The complaint ended with a prayer for a judgment determining five questions. One was as to the respective powers of the boards with respect to estimates submitted by the board of education to the board of finance another was as to the validity of the action of the board of finance in reducing the estimates submitted by the board of education for the year 1937-1938; another asked whether contracts which the board of education had made with teachers or others of its employees were valid and existing obligations of the town in the amounts of the salaries stated in them; another asked a like question as to contracts, generally, entered into by the board of education not in excess of the estimates it had submitted but in excess of the sums finally appropriated after the reductions made by the board of finance; and the last concerned the power of the board of finance to reduce specific items in the estimate submitted by the board of education or to direct, either directly or by implication, the method by which the amounts appropriated for school purposes should be expended. On September 16, 1938, a supplemental complaint was filed, which stated that since the action was commenced the budget for the year 1938-1939 had been adopted and made specific allegations as to that budget; but no further prayers for relief were added. The trial of the action began in December, 1938, and the judgment bears the date of March 28, 1939. The case comes before us at the October term, 1940.

We have hesitated whether we ought to entertain this appeal at all. The authority given to the courts of this state by the legislature to render declaratory judgments was not intended to broaden their function so as to include issues which would not be such as could be determined by the courts in ordinary actions. One of the conditions for rendering a declaratory judgment is that the person seeking it must have an interest, legal or equitable, by reason of danger of loss or of uncertainty as to his rights or other jural relations. Practice Book, 1934, p. 78, § 250. The controversy between the boards falls rather within the political aspects of government than the judicial. The town is seeking no relief. No contract or property rights of either of the boards and no contract, property or personal rights of any of their members as such will be affected by the decision; no justiciable right is involved. Moreover, in so far as a judgment is sought with reference to the powers of the board of finance to reduce the estimates of the board of education for the school year 1937-1938 it is not disputed that the latter operated its schools within the limitation of the appropriations submitted by the board of finance and approved by the town. The power of the board of finance to reduce the estimates of the board of education for the school year 1938-1939 is not strictly before us because no question as to it is included in the prayers for relief. It may be that had the trial court properly sustained the contention of the plaintiff with reference to this budget the board of finance might have submitted to a town meeting a supplemental budget during the course of that year; but more than a year since its expiration has now passed. It does not appear that a decision by this court that the board of finance was without power to reduce the estimates of the board of education in either of these years would produce anything but confusion. The passage of time has apparently made these issues academic. If under the contracts made with the teachers and employees of the board of education less was in fact paid to them than they would have received had its estimates not been reduced, any teacher or employee so affected might have an interest in the issues presented as to the budgets for particular years; but that fact is not found, and if it were, any teacher or employee so affected would be a necessary party to the determination of those issues. The same considerations would prevent us in any case from answering the question as to the extent the town became obligated to pay contracts entered into by the board of education not in excess of the estimates it submitted to the board of finance but in excess of the amount finally appropriated. The determination of the question as to the respective powers of the two boards with reference to the estimates submitted by the board of education involves nothing more than an application of the principles of law which we have already determined in an action properly before us. We have decided therefore to entertain the appeal so far as that issue is involved but not to consider the other...