People ex rel. Morse v. Orvis

• Decision Date: 13 December 1934
• Docket Number: No. 22345.,22345.
• Citation: 358 Ill. 408,193 N.E. 213
• Parties: PEOPLE ex rel. MORSE, County Collector, v. ORVIS.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

358 Ill. 408

193 N.E. 213

PEOPLE ex rel. MORSE, County Collector,

v.ORVIS.

No. 22345.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Oct. 24, 1934.

As Modified on Denial of Rehearing Dec. 13, 1934.

Proceeding by the People, on the relation of Jay B. Morse, County Collector, for judgment and order of sale against the property of E. R. Orvis for delinquent taxes, wherein objections were filed. The objections were overruled, and judgment for sale was entered, and objector appeals.

Reversed and remanded, with directions.

Appeal from Lake County Court; Perry L. Persons, Judge.

D. T. Smiley, of Woodstock, for appellant.

Charles E. Mason, State's Atty., and Okel S. Fuqua, both of Waukegan (Charles E. Jack, of Waukegan, Richard F. Locke, of Glen Ellyn, and Edward P. Madigan, of Chicago, of counsel), for appellee.

JONES, Chief Justice.

The county court of Lake county overruled the objections of E. R. Orvis, appellant, to certain taxes levied on his property for the year 1932 on account of bonds issued without a vote of the people by the board of education of Grant Community High School District No. 124, in the sum of $55,000. Judgment for sale was entered, and Orvis has prosecuted an appeal to this court.

The only question presented is the validity of the bond issue. In December, 1929, a special election was held in the district to vote upon three propositions; i. e., building a schoolhouse, purchasing a site, and issuing bonds in the amount of $72,000. All three propositions carried and the bonds were issued. A site was purchased and contracts were let for the construction of a schoolhouse, including part of the equipment. The board of education ascertained that the proceeds of the $72,000 bond issue would not be sufficient to complete the building and equipment, and, after the fund was exhausted by payments and contracts covering that amount, the board let additional contracts for extras to an amount in excess of $53,000. On February 16, 1931, it passed a resolution reciting that, whereas the district ‘has outstanding and unpaid certain binding and subsisting legal obligations to the amount of $55,000’ and no funds with which to pay the same, bonds to that amount dated March 1, 1931, be issued, and ‘that simultaneously with the issuance of these bonds there be paid and canceled a like amount of binding and subsisting obligations now outstanding.’ The bonds were issued without submitting the proposition to the voters of the district.

Out of an aggregate of $53,572.33 of indebtedness, the W. M. Welsh Manufacturing Company had a claim of $1,694.89 for equipment furnished. On April 27, 1931, it instituted suit in the circuit court against ‘the Grant Community High School District No. 124’ for $55,000. A narr. with common counts was filed. An attached affidavit of claim in the amount of $53,572.33 recited that the demand was for ‘goods, wares and merchandise sold and delivered, money lent and advanced, money paid out and expended,’ without stating to or by whom the goods were sold or the money lent or advanced. On the same day, judgment for $53,572.33 was entered upon the confession of the defendant. On May 8, 1931, the board authorized the payment of the claims out of the proceeds of the $55,000 bond issue. The claims were paid, and on May 13 the judgment was satisfied of record.

The validity of the bonds is challenged by appellant on the ground that they are based on illegal and void debts which the board had no authority to contract, and because they were issued without submitting the proposition to the legal voters of the district. Appellee contends there is no evidence of the invalidity of the claims funded by the bonds, and that the bonds were issued pursuant to an act of April 30, 1931 (Smith-Hurd Ann. St. c. 122, § 406s, Cahill's Rev. St. 1933, c. 122, par. 446(10), which made an election unnecessary. The first section of that act provides that, ‘where, prior to March 15, 1931, any school district has provided for the issue of bonds for any purpose now authorized by law,’ and such bonds, including existing indebtedness, exceed 2 1/2 per cent. of the value of taxable property therein, then any such bonds may be executed and delivered to a purchaser notwithstanding such excess. All prior acts and proceedings for the issue of any such bonds are validated, provided no district shall become indebted in excess of any constitutional limitation.

Appellee further relies upon the so-called validating act of May 1, 1933 (Smith-Hurd Ann. St. c. 122, § 406u, Cahill's Rev. St. 1933, c. 122, par. 446(13). The pertinent part of section 1 of the act provides: ‘In all cases where the governing body of any School District * * * has issued bonds for the purpose of funding and paying * * * any legal claims duly audited and allowed by the governing body, with or without an election, and the * * * legal claims so funded, have been paid and canceled, each such * * * funding bond issue is hereby validated and recognized as a valid and binding obligation of the school district issuing the same.’

The resolution calling the special election on the question of building a schoolhouse and issuing bonds for $72,000 did not limit the cost of the building to that amount. It provides for...