Johnson v. Middleton, County Judge

• Decision Date: 25 March 1932
• Citation: 243 Ky. 251
• Parties: Johnson v. Middleton, County Judge, et al.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky

243 Ky. 251

Johnson v. Middleton, County Judge, et al.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

Decided March 25, 1932.

1. Counties. — Valid floating indebtedness of county may be funded by bond issue without vote of people (Ky. Stats., sec. 1857, Constitution, sec. 158).

2. Constitutional Law. — Constitutional provision to effect nothing therein shall prevent issuance of bonds to fund floating indebtedness of cities, towns, or counties is self-executing, permitting issuance of funding bonds thereunder without specific statutory authority (Constitution, sec. 158).

Appeal from McCracken Circuit Court.

C.C. GRASSHAM for appellant.

H. WARREN MIDDLETON for appellees.

OPINION OF THE COURT BY JUDGE CLAY.

Affirming.

E.B. Johnson, a citizen and taxpayer of McCracken county, brought this suit against W.A. Middleton, county judge, and G.R. Davis and others, county commissioners, to enjoin a bond issue of $185,000. The chancellor upheld the validity of the bonds and denied the relief prayed. Johnson appeals.

The chancellor found that the indebtedness which it was proposed to fund was a valid floating indebtedness of the county. That being true, it has to be paid at all hazards, and the substitution of bonds therefor does not add to the indebtedness, but merely changes its form. Therefore, under the repeated decisions of this court, the debt may be funded by a bond issue without a vote of the people. Vaughn v. City of Corbin, 217 Ky. 521, 289 S.W. 1104; City of Covington v. O.F. Moore Co., 218 Ky. 102, 290 S.W. 1066; Wilson v. City of Covington, 220 Ky. 795-798, 295 S.W. 1069; Welch v. Nicholasville, 225 Ky. 312, 8 S.W. (2d) 400; Wilson v. Board of Education, 226 Ky. 476, 11 S.W. (2d) 143; Masonic Home v. City of Corbin, 229 Ky. 375, 17 S.W. (2d) 215; City of Frankfort v. Fuss, 235 Ky. 143, 29 S.W. (2d) 603; Hogan v. Lee Fiscal Court, 235 Ky. 100, 29 S.W. (2d) 611; Pike County v. Day and Night National Bank, 236 Ky. 202, 32 S.W. (2d) 969; Elliott v. Fiscal Court of Pike County, 237 Ky. 797, 36 S.W. (2d) 619; Hall v. Fleming County Fiscal Court, 239 Ky. 425, 39 S.W. (2d) 656; Davis v. City of Newport, 239 Ky. 610, 40 S.W. (2d) 281; Pace v. City of Paducah, 241 Ky. 569, 44 S.W. (2d) 574; Bond v. City of Corbin, 241 Ky. 663, 44 S.W. (2d) 576.

Section 1857, Kentucky Statutes, reads in part as follows: "That power and authority is hereby granted to the court of claims or fiscal court of the several counties of this commonwealth owing money or debts contracted in the construction, repair or building or remodeling of any courthouse, jail or other public building, or bridges or turnpikes, to fund such debt or any part of it, and to issue the bonds of such county for the purpose of taking up and cancelling such debts; but this act shall not be so...