Pledger v. Cutrell, 4-3571.

• Decision Date: 02 July 1934
• Docket Number: No. 4-3571.,4-3571.
• Citation: 74 S.W.2d 646
• Parties: PLEDGER, County Treasurer, v. CUTRELL et al.<SMALL><SUP>*</SUP></SMALL>
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

74 S.W.2d 646

PLEDGER, County Treasurer, v. CUTRELL et al.^*

No. 4-3571.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

July 2, 1934.

Rehearing Denied October 15, 1934.

Appeal from Jefferson Chancery Court; H. R. Lucas, Chancellor.

Suit by R. C. Cutrell and others against Claude Pledger, County Treasurer. Decree for plaintiff, and defendant appeals.

Affirmed.

Bridges, McGaughy & Bridges and Coleman & Gantt, all of Pine Bluff, for appellant.

Evan W. Crawford, of Pine Bluff, for appellee.

JOHNSON, Chief Justice.

This is a taxpayer's suit instituted by appellees against appellant, county treasurer of Jefferson county, seeking to permanently restrain and enjoin him as such treasurer from paying out or disbursing any funds now or which may hereafter come into his hands as such treasurer from taxes arising under an 18-mill district levy voted by the electors of Pine Bluff special school district at the annual elections of March 7, 1933, and March 6, 1934.

The cause was submitted for trial and decree upon the following agreed statement of facts:

"1. That Claude Pledger, Treasurer of Jefferson County, Arkansas, is ex officio the legal custodian of the school funds of Pine Bluff Special School District of Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

"2. That there are now outstanding bonds of said school district of Pine Bluff approximately $490,500.00 accruing in annual principal and interest installments.

"3. That the form and titles of the printed ballots used in the annual school elections held in the years 1933 and 1934 were:

                For General Tax ................    18 Mills
                For Building Tax ...............    __ Mills
                Total tax not to exceed eighteen  (18) mills
                Against Tax 
                

"4. All of the bonds of said Special School District were issued prior to Act No. 169 of 1931 (page 476) upon the following dates, to-wit:

(a) Third Mortgage Bonds, August 1, 1917.

(b) Fifth Mortgage Bonds, December 15, 1923.

(c) Sixth Mortgage Bonds, September 1, 1927.

"5. All the bonds are secured by mortgages on the various school buildings and pieces of real property belonging to said district and by a pledge executed at the same time with each mortgage on the part of the district, pledging all the income of the district from all yearly taxes for the purpose of paying off and retiring said bonded indebtedness and interest thereon, in yearly installments as same should accrue.

"6. At the annual school elections in said Special School District of Pine Bluff which were held therein on the 7th day of March, 1933, and the 6th day of March, 1934, there was voted and carried `For General Tax 18 Mills.' That at neither of said elections was a specific millage tax voted for the payment of `Bonds or Interest,' * * * nor for `Building Fund,' nor for `General School Purposes.'

"7. That the County Board of Education on March 10, 1933, after the holding of said election March 7, 1933, did find and certify to the County Levying Court, as provided by law, that at said school election there was voted for `School Tax'

                For 18 mills .................  1573
                For 15 mills .................     1
                For 12 mills .................     7
                For 10 mills .................    25
                

as shown by the County Educational Board Record of said Jefferson County, page 117. And the Levying Court of said county on November 13, 1933, made the `Tax Levy' of said school district 18 mills, as shown by County Court Record BB of said County at page 209. And the County Court of said Jefferson County on March 10, 1934, found, determined and adjudged that at the election of said Special School District held on March 6, 1934, the vote was as follows:

                For General Tax 18 mills ..........  282
                For 10 mills ......................    2
                For Building Tax ..................    1
                Against Tax .......................   14
                

And also found and adjudged that the result of said election was `For General Tax 18 Mills,' as shown by Record BB of the records of the County Court of said county at page 254.

"8. That there has been paid into the hands of defendant to the credit of said district from the collection of the 18 mills school taxes so voted therein for the school year 1933-1934 approximately the sum of $45,000.00 and that additional revenues from said source will be paid into his hands during said year. That all of said revenues are collected under the "General Tax" of eighteen mills mentioned herein.

"9. That during the school year 1934-1935 there will accrue and be paid into the hands of the defendant to the credit of said district, revenue in like manner as that mentioned in paragraph 8 hereof.

"10. That during the school year 1933-1934 there will become due the sum of approximately $19,500.00 of bonds and approximately $24,500.00 in interest on said bonds; or in the aggregate the sum of $44,000.00 principal and interest. That of the $45,000.00 paid into the hands of the defendant, heretofore, a portion of said amount has already been expended by him for the payment of accrued bonds and interest, and further expenditures for said purposes having been pledged will be made by him. That the revenue on said 18 mills general tax approximates $218,000.00 each year.

"11. That said eighteen mills school tax has thus been customarily voted upon each year and likewise devoted in part to the payment of the yearly accruing installments of the outstanding bonds of the district, since the effective date of the constitutional amendment providing for the eighteen mills school tax.

"12. That the plaintiffs, R. C. Cutrell and E. M. Long, are residents, citizens and taxpayers of Pine Bluff School District No. 3 of Jefferson County, Arkansas."

The chancellor awarded a permanent injunction as prayed, and this appeal is therefrom. The school fund here under consideration arises and accrues exclusively under Amendment No. 11 to the Constitution of 1874, which provides: "The General Assembly shall provide by the general laws for the support of common schools by taxes, which shall never exceed in any one year three mills on the dollar on the taxable property in the State, and by an annual per capita tax of one dollar, to be assessed on every male inhabitant of this State over the age of twenty-one years. Provided, that the General Assembly may, by general law, authorize school districts to levy by a vote of the qualified electors of such districts a tax not to exceed eighteen mills on the...