People ex rel. Correll v. Cleveland, C., C. & St. L.R. Co.

• Decision Date: 17 December 1907
• Citation: 83 N.E. 111,231 Ill. 209
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court
• Parties: PEOPLE ex rel. CORRELL, County Collector, v. CLEVELAND, C., C. & ST. L. R. CO.

231 Ill. 209

83 N.E. 111

PEOPLE ex rel. CORRELL, County Collector,

v.CLEVELAND, C., C. & ST. L. R. CO.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Dec. 17, 1907.

Appeal from Crawford County Court; J. C. Maxwell, Judge.

Application by Arthur A. Correll, as county collector, for a judgment and order of sale for taxes against the property of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company. From a judgment and order of sale, the railroad appeals. Reversed.

C. S. Conger and Callaham, Jones & Lowe, for appellant.

W. H. Stead, Atty. Gen., and William A. Thompson, State's Atty., for the People.

HAND, C. J.

This was an application to the June term, 1907, of the county court of Crawford county, by Arthur A. Correll, as county collector, against the property of the appellant, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company, for a judgment and order of sale for certain taxes extended by the county clerk of said county for the year 1906. The railway company appeared and filed objections to the rendition of judgment and order of sale against its property for the following taxes: County tax, $141.21; town tax of the town of Robinson, $41.71; village tax of the village of Hutsonville, $38.99; village tax of the village of Flat Rock, $39.82. The county court overruled said objections, and rendered judgment and order of sale against the appellant's property, and it has prosecuted this appeal.

The record shows a levy by the county board of Crawford county of $20,000 for county purposes, as follows: Pauper fund, $5,000; circuit court, $3,000; conty court, $2,000; courthouse, $1,000; county infirmary, $1,000; stationery, $1,000; county board, $1,000; county jail, $500; births and deaths, $500; general fund, $5,000. The appellant contends the last item of said tax levy, viz., ‘general fund, $5,000,’ is not sufficiently specific under the requirements of section 121 of chapter 120 of the Revised Statutes (Hurd's Rev. St. 1905, p. 1662), entitled, ‘Revenue,’ which section, after providing that the county boards of the respective counties of the state shall annually, at their September session, determine the amount of all taxes to be raised for county purposes, requires that, when taxes are to be raised for several purposes, ‘the amount for each purpose shall be stated separately.’ The question covered by this objection was considered by this court in Cincinnati, Indianapolis & Western Railway Co. v. People, 213 Ill. 197, 72 N. E. 774, Chicago,Burlington & Quincy Railroad Co. v. People, 213 Ill. 458, 72 N. E. 1105,Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad Co. v. People, 214 Ill. 23, 73 N. E. 310, and People v. Cincinnati, Indianapolis & Western Railway Co., 224 Ill. 523, 79 N. E. 657, where it was held that a tax levied under said section was illegal and void when levied for several purposes without stating the amount for each purpose separately. In Cincinnati, Indianapolis & Western Railway Co. v. People, supra, the levy was for ‘current expenses.’ In Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Co. v. People, supra, the levy was for ‘county purposes.’ In Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad Co. v. People, supra, the levy was for ‘county revenue.’ In People v. Cincinnati, Indianapolis & Western Railway Co., supra, the levy was ‘for payment of county claims (janitor's services, supplies, repairs, improvements, and current expenses), $12,000,’ and each of said tax levies was held to be illegal and void.

It is sought by appellant to distinguish this case from those cases on the ground that said tax levy sufficiently designates the different purposes for which said tax levy was made, in this: That the different items mentioned in said tax levy are sufficiently...