Goswick v. City of Durham

• Citation: 191 S.E. 728,211 N.C. 687
• Decision Date: 09 June 1937
• Docket Number: 746.
• Parties: GOSWICK et al. v. CITY OF DURHAM.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of North Carolina

191 S.E. 728

211 N.C. 687

GOSWICK et al. v. CITY OF DURHAM.

No. 746.

Supreme Court of North Carolina

June 9, 1937

Appeal from Superior Court, Durham County; Clawson L. Williams Judge.

Suit by C. B. Goswick and others, for themselves and on behalf of all other citizens and taxpayers of the City of Durham who may desire to join in the action, against the City of Durham. From a judgment, plaintiffs appeal.

Modified and affirmed.

Taxpayers' suit to restrain the City of Durham from expending tax derived funds for the construction of a municipal airport.

The plaintiffs allege that the City of Durham on June 22, 1936 expended the sum of $40,000 for the purchase of land near the city for the purpose of constructing thereon an airport, or landing field for airplanes and aircraft, and that the city plans to expend large additional sums of money for the equipment and maintenance of said landing field; that the expenditures for this purpose were and are unlawful, in that the city used funds derived from ad valorem taxes for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1936, and intends to continue to use funds obtained from taxation for the development of said airport, and that said expenditures were not for the necessary expense of, nor approved by the qualified electors of the city. Plaintiffs prayed that defendant be restrained from spending public funds for the development of said land as an airport, and from entering into any contract with the Federal Works Progress Administration, or in anyway incurring obligation or pledging the credit of the city, for that purpose.

The City of Durham, in its answer, admitted that it had purchased the land for the purpose of constructing and developing a municipal airport, and alleged that the expenditures therefor had been made out of the surplus funds of the city, and that the proposed expenditure of additional sums for the equipment of said property as a practical landing field for aircraft was for a public purpose in accordance with chapter 87 Public Laws of 1929, and that no expenditure of the funds of the city would be made except as authorized by law. The defendant admitted that it had secured an allotment of funds from the Federal Works Progress Administration for this purpose, but that in the agreement with the federal agency it did not pledge the faith of the city beyond its lawful ability. It was further set forth in the answer that Durham is a city of substantial and expanding growth, with a present estimated population of 65,000, and total taxables in excess of seventy-one million dollars. It was admitted that the construction of a municipal airport constituted a public purpose though not a necessary expense within the meaning of article 7, section 7, of the Constitution of North Carolina and that no vote of the people had been had thereon, nor was one contemplated.

The trial judge, upon consideration of the pleadings and affidavits and exhibits offered, made full findings of fact setting out in detail the condition of the finances and revenues of the City of Durham as of the close of the fiscal year ended June 30, 1936, and, among other things, found that the expenditure for the purchase of the land for this airport was from available surplus revenues and in all respects valid, and that the sum of $4,923 then in the treasury and derived from sources other than ad valorem taxes and sale of cemetery lots was available for use in connection with the construction and equipment of the airport.

It was held by the court below that the City of Durham did not have legal authority...