Savage v. Board of Public Instruction for Hillsborough County

• Decision Date: 28 March 1931
• Citation: 133 So. 341,101 Fla. 1362
• Parties: SAVAGE v. BOARD OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION FOR HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY et al.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

133 So. 341

101 Fla. 1362

SAVAGE v. BOARD OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION FOR HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY et al.

Florida Supreme Court, Division B.

March 28, 1931

Suit by Tucker Savage against the Board of Public Instruction for the County of Hillsborough and others. From an adverse decree the plaintiff appeals.

Affirmed.

Syllabus by the Court.

SYLLABUS

The issuance and sale of warrants by the board of public instruction of Hillsborough county, by and with the consent of the trustees of a special tax school district, which warrants represent money borrowed during the year for the exclusive use of the public free schools of the special tax school district, against and payable out of the district school taxes of said county, not exceeding 80 per cent. of the special tax school district taxes levied and uncollected in the district at the time of the issuance of said warrants as authorized by chapter 12847, Laws of Florida, Special Acts of 1927, does not violate section 17 of article 12, or amended section 6 of article 9, or sections 10, 11, and 13 of article 12 of the state Constitution.

Where an act of the Legislature furnishes adequate legislative authority for the issuance of interest-bearing warrants by a board of public instruction by and with the consent and approval of the trustees of a special tax school district and the act under which the warrants were issued is not unconstitutional, the proposed warrants, when issued, are within the limitation and the statutes, legally enforceable against the board of public instruction and the trustees of the special tax school district by whose authority the same were issued.

The Florida constitution imposes no limitation upon boards of public instruction and school districts becoming indebted for their current expense within the amount of their current tax levies.

Our holding in this case is not to be construed as in any wise detracting from or weakening the force of the holdings in the cases of Board of Public Instruction v. Union School Furnishing Co., 100 Fla. 326, 129 So. 824; Barrow v Moffett, 95 Fla. 111, 116 So. 71; Davis v. Dixon, 98 Fla. 87, 123 So. 536; State v. Green, 95 Fla. 117, 116 So. 66; Hathaway v. Munroe, 97 Fla. 28, 119 So. 149; Amos v. Matthews, 99 Fla. 1, 65, 115, 126 So. 308; Advisory Opinion to Governor, 94 Fla. 967, 114 So. 850.

Warrants authorized by chapter 12847, Laws of Florida, Special Acts of 1927, which act has been held to be within the constitutional power of the Legislature to enact, are valid when expressly made payable, as recited in the face thereof, out of the then uncollected district school taxes levied and assessed for the tax roll of Hillsborough county, Fla., for the year 1930 for the exclusive use and maintenance of the public free schools within consolidated special tax district No. 4 in said Hillsborough county, upon the taxable property within said special tax school district.

The Constitution of this state is not a grant of power to the Legislature, but a limitation only upon legislative power, and, unless legislation be clearly contrary to some express or necessarily implied prohibition found in the Constitution, the courts are without authority to declare legislative acts invalid.

The Legislature may exercise any lawmaking power that is not forbidden by organic law.

The lawmaking power of the Legislature within organic limitations necessarily extends to creating, defining, and limiting the powers and duties of the board of public instruction and trustees of special tax school districts with respect to public funds raised for the support and maintenance of our public free schools.

Constitutional provisions and restrictions against the creation of indebtedness and the issuance of bonds are not to be deemed transgressed by legislation which merely authorizes the anticipation of current revenues of tax levies through the issuance and disposal of interest-bearing warrants limited as provided in the legislative act here involved, and payable only out of and against uncollected taxes or anticipated current revenues which are reasonably expected to be realized for the purpose of paying such warrants as current expenditures.

In cases where warrants are legally issued within the rule just stated, the fact that they are made to bear interest is of no consequence, since the addition of the so-called interest is simply a statutory allowance for the delay, by way of compensation to the party who holds the warrant, for waiting until the money to pay the same is collected for its discharge from current tax levies.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Hillsborough County; L. L. Parks, judge.

COUNSEL

Bivens & Huggins, of Tampa, for appellant.

W. F. Himes, of Tampa, for appellees.

OPINION

DAVIS J.

Appellant, a taxpayer, by injunction proceedings in the court below, sought to enjoin the appellees, board of public instruction and trustees of consolidated special tax school district No. 4 in Hillsborough County, from issuing $75,000 of interest-bearing time warrants on behalf of said district, and, if said warrants were issued, the use of any of the funds of said special tax school district for the payment of the moneys due on said warrants.

The allegation of the bill, in substance, was that the defendants proposed to 'issue and sell for the purpose of undertaking to borrow money for said school district, obligations of said school district evidenced by interest bearing warrants aggregating the principal sum of $75,000.00, without any election to authorize the issuance of said warrants, and that the same were not to be issued to refund any bonds or interest thereon of said district.'

By an answer filed to the bill, it was made to appear that the defendant school board, with the consent and approval of the defendant school trustees, in order to borrow $75,000 required to pay the salaries of the teachers in the schools of district for the last month of the current school year, proposed to issue and dispose of, at par, the amount of interest-bearing warrants in question, same to be payable on or before June 30, 1931, and to be issued against and payable only out of the then uncollected district school taxes which had been lawfully levied and assessed upon the tax roll of the county for the year 1930 on the taxable property within said school district; that the warrants proposed to be issued would not be in excess of 62 per cent. of the then levied, assessed, and uncollected taxes; that the defendants had not incurred and did not propose to incur indebtedness in and about the operation of the schools of the district, including the amount of the proposed warrants, in excess of the current levied and assessed taxes which would be collected at or before the delinquent tax sale on said roll; that the occasion for the issuance and disposal of the warrants is that the taxes are not sufficiently actually collected when the needed funds are required for the payment of the salaries referred to; that no moneys have been borrowed which have not been repaid; that the aggregate funds proposed to be applied to the payment of teacher's salaries, including the amount of the proposed warrants, falls within the amount apportioned for that purpose in the itemized estimate filed by the defendant trustees on July 1, 1930, in accordance with the requirements of section 712, C. G. L., section 571, R. G. S.; that said proposed warrants are not illegal, but are expressly authorized by chapter 12847, acts of 1927, Sp. Laws of Florida.

On a hearing before the chancellor on bill and answer the court made a decree that 'the proposed action of the defendants, including the issuance and sale of the warrants referred to in their answer, is not unlawful, and that chapter 12847, Sp. Laws of Florida, Acts of 1927, is a valid enactment and does not offend against any provision of the Constitution,' and dismissed the bill.

The legislative act referred to provides as follows:

'Section 1. The Board of Public Instruction for the County of Hillsborough, State of Florida, by and with the consent of the Trustees of any Special Tax School District in said County, shall be

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