Coggeshall v. City of Des Moines
| Decision Date | 07 July 1908 |
| Citation | 138 Iowa 730,117 N.W. 309 |
| Parties | COGGESHALL ET AL. v. CITY OF DES MOINES ET AL. (ROGERS ET AL., INTERVENERS). |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from District Court, Polk County; Hugh Brennan, Judge.
Upon hearing the petition was dismissed. The plaintiffs appeal. Reversed.Grace H. Ballantyne and Wm. H. Baily, for appellants.
W. H. Bremner and W. L. Read, for appellees.
Bowen & Brockett, for interveners.
The council of the city of Des Moines, in pursuance of the authority conferred by chapter 34, Acts 32d Gen. Assem. (Laws 1907, p. 27), caused to be submitted at an election called for that purpose the question: “Shall the city of Des Moines erect a city hall at a cost, not exceeding $350,000?” No provision whatever was made by the officers of the city for the casting or receiving the ballots of women, and when two of the plaintiffs and another appeared at the proper polls they were refused ballots and denied the right to vote. The result of the election was a majority of 629 votes in the affirmative. The council thereupon procured plans and specifications for a building, purchased a site, directed the board of public works to contract with a firm of architects to superintend the construction, levied taxes, and intended to issue and sell bonds to raise funds to pay the contract price. The demand of plaintiffs that further action by the council be enjoined is based on the alleged denial of the right of women to vote at the election. This is met by the defendants, contending: (1) That the question submitted was not one upon which the statute authorizes women to vote; (2) that the statute authorizing women to vote on certain specified subjects is inimical to section 1 of article 2 and section 6 of article 1 of the Constitution; (3) that the statute, or a part of it, has been repealed by subsequent legislation; and (4) that, even if some women were refused the right to vote, the election was not invalidated thereby.
The privilege of voting is limited to males in this state, save on certain questions clearly pointed out in section 1131 of the Code, which reads: This was a city election, and as we think the vote was both on the question of issuing bonds and on the question of increasing the tax levy. The vote of the people never operates as a levy nor the execution of bonds. It merely empowers the proper officers to do these things, and this may be accomplished by a direct expression on the issuance of bonds or increase of taxation, or indirectly by instructing the officers to make improvements or erect buildings which necessarily have this effect. Statutes in this state are to be liberally construed, to the end that the object had in their enactment be effectuated, and from a reading of this section the intention to allow women to participate in local elections directly involving the expenditure of large sums in improvements is manifest. It is immaterial whether the question specify the precise amount of bonds to be issued or tax levied, or authorize the construction of an improvement involving the raising of money in one or both of these methods with which to pay the cost. The consequence of the election is the same in either event. What practical difference is there between voting a tax to be levied at so many mills a year until $350,000 is raised, or the issuance of that amount in bonds, the proceeds to be paid for the cost of a building, and voting for the erection of a building at that cost, thereby authorizing the expenditure of that amount to be raised by the city in one or both these methods? In either event the question of the issuance of bonds or increase of taxation is directly involved, and on that the voice of the women can no longer be silenced in this state, save by the repeal of this statute. If, then, the question submitted to the voters involved the issuance of bonds or increase of taxation, women having other qualifications requisite should have been provided with ballots at the special election. Chapter 34 of the Acts of the 32d General Assembly, except the last section, which relates to the procedure of submitting the question, is as follows:
“Section 1. Cities having a population of fifty (50) thousand or over shall have the power to erect a city hall and to purchase the ground therefor.
Sec. 2. For the purpose of paying for the construction of such building and the purchase price of such ground, such cities shall have the power to levy upon all the property within the corporate limits of such cities and towns subject to taxation for said purposes in addition to all other taxes now provided by law, a special tax not exceeding in any one year two mills on the dollar for a period of years not exceeding twenty.
Sec. 3. Any city desiring to construct such a building or to purchase ground therefor may issue bonds in anticipation of the special tax authorized in the preceding section. Such bonds shall be known as city hall bonds and shall be issued and sold in accordance with the provisions of chapter 12 of title 5 of the Code of Iowa, and acts amendatory thereto. In issuing such bonds, the city council may cause portions of said bonds to become due at different, definite periods, but none of such bonds so issued shall be due and payable in less than five (5) or more than twenty (20) years from date.
Sec. 4. No building shall be erected under the provisions of this act unless a majority of the legal voters voting thereon vote in favor of the same at a general city election or at a special election.”
The design of the Legislature was to enable a city of the population stated to acquire a building commensurate with its needs in which to transact the business incident to so large a corporation. The several sections are to be construed as having been enacted to accomplish this object. To this end the council is given plenary power in the selection and purchase of a suitable site and may levy taxes or issue bonds for its payment; but, before any building may be erected thereon, the approval of a majority of the “voters, voting thereon,” is essential. It matters not whether we denominate this a limitation on the first section or the source of authority to build; the power cannot be exercised without the approval of the voters. Nor do we think that prior to such approval the council have any authority to levy taxes or issue bonds to meet the cost of the erection of the hall. These are authorized only “for the purpose of paying for the construction of such building.” Surely the council may not lawfully raise funds to pay for something for which it is forbidden to expend the money. If, as appellees contend, section 4 of the act merely prevents the council from proceeding with the erection without the sanction of the voters, but does not interfere with raising of funds, then the council might anticipate the uncertain outcome of an election, or even the uncertainty of it being called, and load the people with the burden of debt without prospect of the expenditure of the money raised in the construction of the building. Funds might be accumulated in unlimited amounts from the levying of taxes, or sale of bonds in anticipation that at some time indefinitely in the future the council might conclude to call an election and the voters authorize the construction of a hall. Manifestly such was not the design of the Legislature, for this would authorize the council to fix upon the cost of the structure, whereas, by the language of the question to be submitted, that is to be determined by the voters. Of course, the sole object of the courts in construing acts of the Legislature is to ascertain the intent with which enacted. To arrive at this the several sections of an act are to be considered as parts of a connected whole and harmonized if possible so as to aid in giving effect to the intention of the lawmakers. District Tp. of Dubuque v. City of Dubuque, 7 Iowa, 262;Minneapolis & St. Louis R. Co. v. Cedar Rapids, G. & N. W. R. Co., 114 Iowa, 502, 87 N. W. 410;Goerdt v. Trumm, 118 Iowa, 210, 91 N. W. 1067;State v. Forkner, 94 Iowa, 733, 62 N. W. 683. These different sections are interdependent, and were enacted with a view to the accomplishment of a single object, and none of the accepted canons of construction lend support to the contention of appellees that each of the first three should be held to confer separate powers each independent of the other; only the first being limited by the fourth. We are of the opinion that they should be construed together, and that an affirmative vote by a majority of those voting is essential as a condition precedent to the levying of the special tax or issuance of bonds for the payment of the building. Possibly, as suggested, a city hall might be erected from the general funds of the city, a point we do not decide, because not material. It is enough that the question submitted involved the granting of power to the council of the city of Des Moines to make a special tax levy or to issue bonds, and that is the only matter ever determined by the voters of an election called to pass on such a question. As said before, the majority vote does not operate as a levy or the execution of the bonds; it merely confers upon the proper officers the authority to do so, and it is immaterial, so far as this case is...
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