McLean v. White
| Decision Date | 28 October 1913 |
| Citation | 216 Mass. 62,102 N.E. 929 |
| Parties | McLEAN v. WHITE, Mayor. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
C. T. Callahan, of Holyoke, for petitioner.
Thos J. O'Connor, of Holyoke, and Wm. H. McClintock, of Springfield, for respondent.
This is a petition for a writ of mandamus to compel the mayor of the city of Holyoke to affix his approval to a contract executed with the plaintiff by the school committee of that city. The contract provides for the purchase of desks and chairs for a school building at a cost of $1,885.50. The material facts are that the school committee in making up the annual estimate for expenses for schools for the current year did not have in mind the furniture in question, although fairly needed for the accommodation of pupils, and later sent a communication to the board of aldermen (which is the legislative body of the city) asking a sufficient appropriation for this purpose. That request has not been acted upon. Later the school committee voted to award the contract for this furniture to the petitioner. The mayor vetoed this vote when presented to him for approval and thereupon the school committee passed it over his veto by the requisite majority. The contract in question then was prepared and executed, but for its validity the approval of the mayor is required. This he refuses, on the ground that there is no sufficient appropriation. The unexpended balance of the appropriation for school supplies, at the time the school committee passed the vote and signed the contract, was largely in excess of the amount required to pay for the furniture, but it will be needed in large part for the absolutely necessary school supplies for the year, and if the expense of this contract is charged against that account the appropriation already made will be insufficient for the needs of the year by $1,200 to $1,400.
All parties are acting in good faith. The governing provisions of the charter of the city of Holyoke are found in St. 1896, c 438. Sections 29 and 32 provide that the management and control of the public schools shall be vested in the school committee, which shall exercise the powers and discharge the duties imposed by law upon school committees. The school committee, among other boards, is required by section 47 to furnish to the mayor annually in January an itemized and detailed estimate of the moneys needed for its department during the ensuing financial year. A board of apportionment composed of three city officers is directed, after examination, to submit the same with an itemized and detailed apportionment to the legislative board which then votes the appropriations. Section 49 provides that 'no sum appropriated for a specific purpose shall be expended for any other purpose, and no expenditure shall be made nor liabilities incurred by or in behalf of the city until an appropriation has been duly voted * * * sufficient to meet such expenditure or liability, together with all prior unpaid liabilities which are payable out of such appropriation,' with exceptions not now meterial. Section 52 provides that no contract like that here in question 'shall be deemed to have been made or executed until the approval of the mayor is affixed thereto.'
The appropriation for 'school supplies' for 1913 was the gross sum of $18,500, without further itemization. It is...
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