Board of Trustees of Erlanger Graded Common School Dist. v. Tate

• Decision Date: 15 October 1913
• Citation: 159 S.W. 777,155 Ky. 296
• Parties: BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF ERLANGER GRADED COMMON SCHOOL DIST. v. TATE.
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

159 S.W. 777

155 Ky. 296

BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF ERLANGER GRADED COMMON SCHOOL DIST. v. TATE.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

October 15, 1913

Appeal from Circuit Court, Kenton County, Common Law and Equity Division.

Action by Zerah Tate against the Board of Trustees of Erlanger Graded Common School District. From a judgment in favor of plaintiff, defendant appeals. Affirmed.

Charlton B. Thompson, of Covington, for appellant.

O. M Rogers, of Covington, for appellee.

MILLER J.

In 1903 the appellant, a graded common school district, was established in the manner provided in section 4464 of the Kentucky Statutes, and an ad valorem tax of 25 cents on each $100 worth of property in the district was voted by the people for the purpose of maintaining the graded school.

In 1907, under the authority of the general graded school law an election was held, and bonds were issued by the board of trustees for the purpose of raising a fund to procure a site and erect a suitable school building, and an ad valorem tax of 25 cents on each $100 worth of property in the district was levied for the purpose of paying the interest on and creating a fund for the redemption of the bonds. Thereafter until 1912, an ad valorem tax of 50 cents was levied and collected for the purposes indicated. In June, 1912, the board of trustees adopted a resolution levying an ad valorem tax of 75 cents on all property in the district subject to taxation, and provided that 50 cents of the tax should be used for the purpose of maintaining the school, and 25 cents should be used to pay the interest on and to redeem the bonds. When the sheriff undertook to collect the tax levied by this resolution, the appellee, Tate, on behalf of himself and other taxpayers in the district, brought this suit to enjoin the collection of the tax in excess of 50 cents, upon the ground that the board of trustees exceeded their authority in levying a tax in excess of the statutory limit. The lower court sustained the contention of Tate, and the board appeals.

From what has been said it will be noted that a property tax of 25 cents was voted by the people in the graded school district for the purpose of maintaining the school, and an additional property tax of 25 cents was voted for the purpose of paying the interest on and redeeming the bonds that were issued to pay for a school building; and so the authority of the trustees to levy an additional tax for the purpose of maintaining the school is not to be found in any vote of the people of the district, as the question of the levy of this 25 cents was not submitted to the people. But the trustees claim that the right to impose this additional tax was conferred upon them by an act of the Legislature approved March 14, 1912, and entitled "An act to empower the board of trustees of graded schools operating under special charters, known as Special Act Schools, to levy tax for maintenance." Acts 1912, p. 235.

Section 1 of said act, reads as follows: "That those graded schools in this commonwealth operating under special charters granted by the General Assembly, and known as Special Act Schools, which do not now levy as much as fifty cents on each one hundred dollars worth of taxable property within their respective districts, shall have the power, and their charters are hereby so amended so as to empower them to levy any rate of tax for operating expenses not to exceed fifty cents on each one hundred dollars worth of taxable property within their respective districts and all other graded schools of this Commonwealth, and that their boards of education be, and same are hereby authorized to exercise this power when in their judgment, the demands of the school make it expedient." The decision of the lower court that the board of trustees was without authority to levy the additional property tax of 25 cents for the purpose of maintaining the school was put upon the ground that the title of the act of 1912 was not broad enough to authorize the imposition, in the body of the act, of a tax for the benefit of graded schools established under the general laws of the state, and consequently so much of the body of the act as empowered boards of trustees of graded schools, not organized under special acts of the Legislature, to impose a tax authorized by the act was invalid because it violated section 51 of the Constitution. Whether this construction of the act is correct presents the only question raised on the appeal.

So much of section 51 of the state Constitution as is pertinent to the inquiry, reads as follows: "No law enacted by the General Assembly shall relate to more than one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title. ***" It appears from the act, as well as from the general school law, that there are in the state two classes of graded schools; one being established and operating under special acts of the Legislature, and the other class being established and operating under the general laws of the state, found in sections 4464--4500a of the Kentucky Statutes. It is also quite evident from the wording of the act that, as originally drawn, it was only intended to apply to those graded schools described in the title and in the body of the act as "Special Act Schools," and that the words "and all other graded schools of this commonwealth" were...