People ex rel. Prindable v. Cent

• Court: Illinois Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: FULTON
• Citation: People ex rel. Prindable v. Cent, 389 Ill. 474, 59 N.E.2d 798 (Ill. 1945)
• Decision Date: 19 March 1945
• Docket Number: No. 28407.,28407.
• Parties: PEOPLE ex rel. PRINDABLE, County Collector, v. ILLINOIS CENT, R. CO.

389 Ill. 474

59 N.E.2d 798

PEOPLE ex rel. PRINDABLE, County Collector,

v.ILLINOIS CENT, R. CO.

No. 28407.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Jan. 17, 1945.

Rehearing Denied March 19, 1945.

Appeal from St. Clair County Court; J. E. Fleming, Judge.

Proceeding by the People, on the relation of D. A. Prindable, County Collector of St. Clair County, against the Illinois Central Railroad Company to recover delinquent taxes. From an order sustaining defendant's objections to taxes extended against its property, relator appeals.

Reversed and remanded, with directions.

Louis P. Zerweck, State's Atty., and Farthing, Farthing & Feickert, all of Belleville, and Kevin Kane, of East St. Louis, for appellant.

Kramer, Campbell, Costello & Weichert, of East St. Louis (Vernon W. Foster, R. C. Beckett, and John W. Freels, all of Chicago, of counsel), for appellee.

FULTON, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from an order of the county court of St. Clair county, sustaining objections of the appellee, Illinois Central Railroad Company, to taxes extended against its property. The taxes involved are the road and bridge tax of the township of Centreville in said county. The villages of Monsanto and Cahokia lie wholly within the said township. The case was submitted upon an agreed statement, so that no dispute arises over the facts involved.

On June 30, 1942, the highway commissioner of the town of Centreville adopted a budget and appropriation ordinance for the fiscal year beginning March 31, 1942, and ending March 29, 1943, pursuant to section 3 of the Illinois Municipal Budget Law. Ill.Rev.Stat.1941, chap. 120, par. 365.3. It was prepared upon a form furnished by the Illinois Tax Commission. On September 1, 1942, the highway commissioner made a certificate of levy for the 1942 road and bridge taxes for said township amounting to $68,000, which was later approved by the board of supervisors.

The ordinance showed that the township of Centreville operated on a cash basis whithout anticipation warrants. It further showed that the estimated receipts, including cash on hand, balance due from others to be collected during the year 1942, money to be received from the 1941 levy, when collected, rental of machinery and closed bank dividends, amounted, in all, to the sum of $58,783.56. This amount was arrived at after the highway commissioner had deducted $25,000, which amount went to the two villages above mentioned. Therefore, the net amount of $58,783.56 was available for appropriation for the fiscal year of the township, beginning March 31, 1942, and ending March 29, 1943. The total amount of the estimated expenditures and of appropriations for that period was $58,000.

The foundation for the objections filed by the appellee on application for judgment for the delinquent taxes of 1942 was as follows: That in said ordinance there were four items of the road and bridge taxes appropriated for in amounts shown below whereas the amounts levied for the same items were in excess of the sums appropriated, and, therefore, the amounts levied over the respective appropriations were unauthorized and void. The specific items, being the amount appropriated, the amount levied and the amount of excess levy, are shown by the following table:

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
                ¦                                   ¦Amount      ¦Amount ¦Excess ¦
                +-----------------------------------+------------+-------+-------¦
                ¦Item                               ¦appropriated¦levied ¦levy   ¦
                +-----------------------------------+------------+-------+-------¦
                ¦Construction of roads              ¦$ 5,000     ¦$ 7,500¦$ 2,500¦

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