Palmer v. City of Danville

• Citation: 154 Ill. 156,38 N.E. 1067
• Parties: PALMER et al. v. CITY OF DANVILLE.
• Decision Date: 26 November 1894
• Court: Supreme Court of Illinois

154 Ill. 156

38 N.E. 1067

PALMER et al.

v.CITY OF DANVILLE.¹

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Nov. 26, 1894.

Error to Vermilion county court; John G. Thompson, Judge.

Petition by the city of Danville for confirmation of a special tax. Levin T. Palmer and others filed objections. There was judgment of confirmation, and the objectors bring error. Reversed.D. D. Evans and E. R. E. Kimbrough, for appellants.

Wm. J. Calhoun, for appellee.

This was an application in the county court of Vermilion county for the confirmation of a special tax levied by authority of the city council of the city of Danville to pay the cost of providing and putting in sewer and water service pipes for house connections with the main sewer and water pipes in Main street, of that city. Sections 1, 2, 4, and 5 of the ordinance are the principal ones having any bearing on this case and are as follows:

‘Section 1. That Main street from its intersection with Park street to the intersection thereof with Pine street, be provided with sewer and water connections, and be improved and prepared for paving the same in the following manner.

‘Sec. 2. That there shall be laid on the foregoing part of said street for each business house, residence and vacant lot along the line thereof, except where the same are already provided, the following service pipes to be respectively connected with the water mains now laid on said streets; said sewer connections to be laid in accordance with the plans and specifications therefor prepared by George W. Warring, on file in the office of city clerk for each of said business houses, residences and vacant lots on the north side of said street of four-inch vitrified service sewer pipe for house drainage, forty-four feet long. For each of said business houses, residences and vacant lots on the north side of said street, except where the same are already provided, a five-eighths inch lead service pipe for water, fourteen feet long, with stopcock and box at the north end thereof. For each said business houses, residences and vacant lots on the south side of said street a four-inch vitrified service sewer pipe for house drainage, ten feet long. For each of said business houses, residences and vacant lots on the south side of said street except where the same are already provided, a five-eighths inch lead service pipe for water, forty two feet long with stopcock and box at the south end thereof.’

‘Sec. 4. That the cost of excavating for said sewer and water pipes, the connecting and laying of the same, and the setting of said boxes and stopcocks for the water pipes, and the cost of all the labor and material for the same, shall be paid for by special taxation of the cost of the same upon the respective tracts or parcels of real estate and property for which each of said pipes, stopcocks and boxes are provided and which abuts or fronts upon the same.

‘Sec. 5. A special tax is hereby ordered to be assessed upon the respective tracts, pieces or parcels of real estate and property for which said sewer and water service pipes, together with such stopcocks and boxes, or any or either of them, shall be respectively provided, and which abuts upon said service pipes, equal to the entire cost of furnishing and laying the same, which special tax shall be levied and collected in accordance with article IX, of an act of the general assembly of the state of Illinois, entitled, ‘An act to provide for the incorporation of cities and villages,’ approved April 10th, 1872, in force July 1st, 1872, and said special taxes shall also include the cost of all necessary court proceedings for assessing and collecting the same.'

Under section 6 of the ordinance, a committee be levied and collected in accordance with said improvement, estimatingseparately the cost of said sewer pipe, the laying and connecting the same and the water service pipes, stopcocks and boxes, and laying of the same, together with the costs and expense of assessing and collecting the said tax, and that they report their estimates in writing' to the council. The ordinance also required the engineer in charge of the construction of the sewers to report to the city council the number of the said sewer and water connections. The committee reported the cost of the said several sewer and water service pipes, and the cost of assessing and collecting the tax therefor, as follows:

+-------------------------------------------------+
                ¦For each sewer-service pipe on the      ¦        ¦
                +----------------------------------------+--------¦
                ¦south side of Main street               ¦$ 12 00 ¦
                +----------------------------------------+--------¦
                ¦For assessing and collecting the same   ¦60      ¦
                +----------------------------------------+--------¦
                ¦For each sewer-service pipe on the      ¦        ¦
                +----------------------------------------+--------¦
                ¦north side of street                    ¦42 00   ¦
                +----------------------------------------+--------¦
                ¦For assessing and collecting the        ¦        ¦
                +----------------------------------------+--------¦
                ¦same                                    ¦2 00    ¦
                +----------------------------------------+--------¦
                ¦For each water-service pipe and stopcock¦        ¦
                +----------------------------------------+--------¦
                ¦and box on south side of Main           ¦        ¦
                +----------------------------------------+--------¦
                ¦street                                  ¦17 07   ¦
                +----------------------------------------+--------¦
                ¦For assessing and collecting same       ¦85      ¦
                +----------------------------------------+--------¦
                ¦For each water and service pipe, etc.,  ¦        ¦
                +----------------------------------------+--------¦
                ¦on the north side of Main street        ¦7 69    ¦
                +----------------------------------------+--------¦
                ¦Cost of assessing and collecting same   ¦38      ¦
                +----------------------------------------+--------¦
                ¦Total cost of 170 sewer pipes, etc      ¦4,641 00¦
                +----------------------------------------+--------¦
                ¦Total cost of 170 water-service pipes   ¦        ¦
                +----------------------------------------+--------¦
                ¦etc.                                    ¦2,209 83¦
                +-------------------------------------------------+
                

The report was approved by the council, and this proceeding was instituted in the county court, by order of the city council, for the appointment of commissioners, and for assessing and collecting the special tax, under the statute relating to local improvements. The commissioners appointed by the county court made and reported the assessment on the several lots and parcels of land substantially as provided in the ordinance, and as in the report of the committee. Plaintiffs in error filed 12 objections to the confirmation of the assessment, all of which, except three, were, on motion of counsel for the city, stricken from the files, and the assessment confirmed as made, except as to certain parcels of land of two of the objectors, and as to them modified by reducing the amount, and confirmed as modified. The sewer in Main street with which the sewer-service pipes were to connect was laid along the south side of the street, 10 feet north of the south curb and 40 feet south of the north curb. The water main was laid along the north side of the street. The center of the street was occupied by the street-railway track. It was stipulated in the case by the parties ‘that the Danville Water Company is a private corporation, and that the water main on Main street with which said water connections were made was the property of the said private corporation, and that said company maintains its mains under ordinances giving it such right, for the use of said city and the inhabitants thereof.’ Tow of the objections stricken from the files were as follows: ‘(8) That the city council of the said city has no power to levy a special tax upon the said real estate of the objector, and collect the same for the proposed improvement, by virtue of or in accordance with article 9 of an act of the general assembly of the state of Illinois entitled ‘An act to provide for the incorporation of cities and villages,’ approved April 10, 1872, in force July 1, 1872.'‘(12) That the said ordinance embraces more than one improvement; is double; and that the said special tax sought to be levied by the said commissioners has not, by the said commissioners, been levied by any rate of equality upon the real estate situated on the said Main street, by or in proportion to frontage value, area, or otherwise, but has been unequally and unjustly levied.’

CARTER, J. (after stating the facts).

This writ of error is prosecuted to reverse the judgment of the county court of Vermilion county, confirming a special tax levied to pay the cost of certain sewer and water service pipes laid for house connectionswith the sewer and water mains in Main street, in the city of Danville. Numerous objections were filed and insisted on in the county court, and are renewed here by plaintiffs in error, but it will not be necessary to consider them all in the disposition of the case.

It is urged in the objections, among other things, that the several water and sewer-service pipes were intended for the use of the individual lot owners, and that the public could have no access to, use of, or interest in them whatever, and that, therefore, they did not constitute a ‘local improvement,’ within the meaning of the law. We do not regard this objection as well taken. All of the several water and sewer connections must be considered together, as one entire work, and, when taken in connection with the use of the mains which had already been provided, a local improvement especially useful and beneficial to the residents on the contiguous property and generally useful and beneficial to the city, was provided for. At least, the city council must have so regarded it in passing the ordinance, and we do not think there was any lack or abuse of power in the respect mentioned. Warren v. City...