Crisci v. Bd. of Com'rs of Rartan

• Decision Date: 21 October 1937
• Docket Number: No. 228.,228.
• Citation: 119 N.J.L. 103,194 A. 445
• Parties: CRISCI v. BOARD OF COM'RS OF RARTAN.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

194 A. 445

119 N.J.L. 103

CRISCI

v. BOARD OF COM'RS OF RARTAN.

No. 228.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Oct. 21, 1937.

Certiorari proceedings by Angelo Crisci against the Board of Commissioners of Raritan.

Writ discharged.

Argued October term, 1937, before BODINE, HEHER, and PERSKIE, JJ.

Chiaravalli & Fioravanti, of Bound Brook (Edward Sachar, of Plainfield, of counsel), for prosecutor. John Macko, of Somerville (W. S. Angleman, of Plainfield, of counsel; John T. Trimble, of New York City, of the New York Bar, on the brief), for respondent.

PERSKIE, Justice.

Did the Board of Commissioners of Raritan have authority to enact the challenged ordinances relating to its sewage and garbage disposal? We think so.

Generally stated, the stipulated facts disclose that one of the ordinances in question, passed under date of April 9, 1937, authorizes the construction of a garbage incineration plant. The other ordinance, passed April 26, 1937, provides for the improvement of the sanitary sewer system of Raritan by means of an extension of the existing system plus the construction of a sewage treatment plant, a pumping station, and an intercepting sewer. Both enactments additionally provide for the acquisition of the necessary interests in land, and for bond issues in order to raise the required money. The projects are further financed by a grant from the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works of the United States of America.

The prosecutor seeks to set aside each ordinance on the grounds that the town of Raritan was incorporated for special and limited purposes only; that the challenged ordinances cannot be brought within these purposes; and, therefore, the Board of Commissioners had no authority to adopt the aforesaid ordinances.

In order to understand more clearly the problem before us, it becomes necessary to outline the history and development of the governmental affairs of Raritan. The Board of Commissioners, the elective body answerable for the passage of the challenged ordinances, was created by P.L. 1868, c. 333, p. 776. Further powers were conferred upon this body by two supplements to the original act. P.L. 1870, c. 282, p. 638 and P.L.1875, c. 409, p. 607. The geographical scope of the board's authority was determined by legislation in 1927 which fixed the boundary lines of the town of Raritan. P.L.1927, c. 62, p. 117. The conduct of the administrative and governmental functions of the town is vested in this board which has for many years controlled, inter alia, the surface drainage and storm sewers of the town. The present sewage system, by these ordinances sought to be improved, began in 1896 pursuant to an election of the inhabitants of the town who, by that election adopted the provisions of P.L.1890, c. 195, p. 310 (3 Comp.St.1910, p. 3573 et seq., § 435 et seq.). Ordinances creating and concerning the present system were passed on October 7, 1896, November 1, 1897, May 12, 1890 (probably May 12, 1898, is meant), June 14, 1898, August 6, 1917, and June 20, 1928. None of these ordinances, so far as is made to appear, has ever been questioned. The present sewage system was financed partly by general taxation, partly by special assessments, and partly by bond issues pursuant to P.L.1916, c. 252, p. 525, as amended and supplemented (Comp.St.Supps. § *136 —4600I(1) et seq.).

On March 17, 1930, the State Department of Health ordered the town of Raritan to cease polluting the Raritan river by discharging sewage therein. On April 13, 1937, another order from the same body directed the construction of the proposed sewage plant. The ordinance of April 26, 1937, now under attack, is the result of the compliance with this order. The plan as outlined in the ordinance has been approved by the State Board of Health, and, as hereinbefore observed, a federal grant has been received to help finance the undertaking. As a matter of fact, the projects contemplated under the ordinances are "now in process of construction"; respondent has received $39,000 on account of the federal grant, and has issued and sold $40,500 of bond anticipation notes which are to be retired and paid upon the issuance of the permanent bonds authorized by the ordinances.

Passing over the question of laches, it is not raised, we thus approach the meritorious issues here involved. Was there any authority to enact these ordinances one of which complies with the mandate of the State Board of Health, and the other of which may also be classified as a health measure? Is Raritan a separate municipal entity capable of acting in this respect for itself, or must Raritan, as is contended by prosecutor, await action by the township committee of the township of Bridgewater, which alone, according to prosecutor, has the authority to enact these ordinances? This latter contention is made to rest upon the fact that originally, and to a limited extent even now, for the purpose of collecting taxes, there is an interrelation between the town of Raritan and the township of Bridgewater; for it seems that prior to the passage of the Budget...