State ex rel. Pan Am. Production Co. v. Texas City

Decision Date22 May 1957
Citation157 Tex. 450,303 S.W.2d 780
PartiesSTATE of Texas ex rel. PAN AMERICAN PRODUCTION CO. et al., Petitioners, v. TEXAS CITY, Texas, et al., Respondents. No. a-6146.
CourtTexas Supreme Court

Marsene Johnson, Jr., Dist. Atty., Galveston, Baker, Botts, Andrews & Shepherd, Hugh M. Patterson & Melbert D. Schwarz, Houston, Joiner Cartwright and Charles F. Heidrick, Beaumont, for petitioners.

Neugent & Lilienstern, Texas City, for respondents.

CULVER, Justice.

This quo warranto proceeding, upon relation of Pan American Production Company and others, challenges the validity of a certain annexation ordinance enacted by the City Commission of the City of Texas City in so far as it includes submerged areas of Moses Lake and Dollar Bay. The trial court sustained exceptions to the petition and ordered dismissal. This judgment was affirmed. 295 S.W.2d 697.

The annexation ordinance embraced approximately 3,500 acres of upland and some 2,000 acres of submerged land underlying the two bodies of water, all immediately north of the existing city limits. Moses Lake and Dollar Bay are tidal waters and extend inland from Galveston Bay. Actually they constitute one body with arms extended on either side of a short blunt peninsula. The submerged lands are the property of the State of Texas, subject to oil and gas leasehold estates of the relators purchased on bid from the State.

Petitioners assert that there are no inhabitants within the area in dispute nor is it fit or suitable for habitation; that there is no water-borne traffic through these waters and no need therein for municipal services such as police and fire protection; that the City has no good-faith intention of using the area for any municipal or city purposes, nor of furnishing to the area any of the facilities and services normally furnished by a municipal corporation within the area of its boundaries, but on the contrary seeks to annex this submerged land for the sole purpose of taxing relators' property and obtaining additional revenue for the operation of the City's functions without any compensation or expectation of any corresponding returns or benefits to them; that the area is not suitable or necessary for city purposes and entirely unrelated to any present or foreseeable future economic needs of the City; that the annexation of this territory is unreasonable, arbitrary, unjust and void and will have the effect of taking the relators' property by taxation without due process of law. The trial court sustained exceptions to these allegations on the theory that the action of a home rule city in extending its boundaries is not subject to judicial review. The Court also sustained an exception to the allegations that the annexation ordinance was unauthorized by law, unreasonable, arbitrary and unjust on the ground that it was not supported by any allegation of fact. The trial court properly entered the order of dismissal and we affirm that judgment.

Article 11, Section 5 of the State Constitution, Vernon's Ann.St. confers upon cities of over 5,000 inhabitants the power to adopt or amend their charters subject to such limitations as may be prescribed by the Legislature. Among the enumerated powers granted to these cities by the Legislature is 'The power to fix the boundary limits of said city, to provide for the extension of said boundary limits and the annexation of additional territory lying adjacent to said city, according to such rules as may be provided by said charter.' Vernon's Ann.Civ.Stat., art. 1175, subd. 2.

The only limitation fixed by the Legislature on the power of a city to annex additional territory is that the territory shall be adjacent to the city and not included within the boundaries of any other municipality. City of Houston v. State ex rel. City of West University Place, 142 Tex. 190, 176 S.W.2d 928.

In the City of Gladewater v. State ex rel. Walker, 138 Tex. 173, 157 S.W.2d 641, an annexation ordinance was assailed on substantially the same grounds as presented here. In that case the ordinance was enacted under the provisions of art. 974g, Vernon's Ann.Civ.Stat., authorizing a city with a population of less than 5,000 to annex territory to the extent of one-half mile. We there reaffirmed the rule pronounced in State v. City of Waxahachie, 81 Tex. 626, 17 S.W. 348, 350, namely: '* * * The legislature having prescribed a certain limit to which the boundaries of a city may be extended, without expressing any qualifications, the right to so extend them results, without regard to the use or character of the occupation of the annexed territory. * * *.'

Petitioners rely on that portion of opinion in the City of Houston v. State ex rel. City of West University Place, supra (176 S.W.2d at page 931) where the Court implied that if the territory sought to be annexed by the City of Houston was so unrelated to the City's economic needs as to be wholly unreasonable and arbitrary the action would be subject to judicial review. That implied holding was not necessary to the decision. The Court had already stated the rule to be: '* * * This power of a Home Rule City to annex territory, being legislative power, is therefore not subject to being revised by the judicial power of the courts * * *', citing Gladewater, Waxahachie and Norris v. City of Waco, 57 Tex. 635. But at any rate the conclusion of the petitioners here that the annexation ordinance was unreasonable and arbitrary is only to say that it was unreasonable and arbitrary because the land was not suitable, and had no relation to the City's needs, and it was for the purpose only of acquiring additional revenue and could afford no benefit to the owners of the property annexed. The decisions of this State have repeatedly held that such facts do not warrant intervention or review by the courts. In the rather recent case of State ex rel. Graves v. City of Sulphur Springs, Tex.Civ.App., 214 S.W.2d 663, n.r.e., an annexation order of the City of Sulphur Springs was alleged to be unreasonable and arbitrary in that the territory sought to be annexed by the City was for the sole purpose of obtaining revenue for city purposes with no possible benefit to the inhabitants of the annexed territory; that it was a narrow strip two miles long and 800 feet wide and bore no relation to the present needs of the City or to its future growth. The Court of Civil Appeals, under the authority of Waxahachie, Gladewater and City of Houston, upheld the trial court's action in sustaining exceptions to those allegations and dismissing the suit. While the application for writ of error in that case was refused with the notation, 'no reversible error,' and for obvious reasons, the only point raised there was the sufficiency of plaintiff's allegations. The decision, therefore, is as authoritative as though it had received our unqualified approval.

The constitutional inhibition against taking private property for public use without compensation has reference solely to the exercise of the right of eminent domain and not to taxation for public use. And although the latter may operate harshly or unjustly this fact affords no power to the court to interfere with the legislative process. Norris v. City of Waco, 57 Tex. 635. In that early case the Court said:

'As to this the courts have the power to inquire, for it involves questions judicial in character; but what property shall be embraced within a municipal corporation; and whether the same shall be taxed for municipal purposes, presents questions essentially political, which by the constitution are to be determined by the legislature, and an assumption by the judiciary of power to revise the action of the legislature in such respect would be a usurpation.'

The matter of the boundaries and extensions thereof and the legislative prerogative in that respect has been delegated by the Legislature to the cities operating under the home rule amendment. The Court went on to hold that, not only can there not be equality of benefits to the individual taxpayers, but some may not receive any benefit at all, except such intangible benefits as may result to them from the preservation of order and protection of perperty. Surely it cannot be said that, even though petitioners' properties lie wholly within these submerged lands, there would never be an occasion when they would not need to call upon the municipal authorities for police or fire protection and even though they allege that the city has no present intention of furnishing any such services this is not to say that having been incorporated into the city limits they would not be entitled to and could not rightfully demand such protection.

In Lenox Land Co. v. City of Oakdale, 137 Ky. 484, 125 S.W. 1089, 1091, writ of certiorari dismissed, New Louisville Jockey Club v. City of Oakdale, 231 U.S. 739, 34 S.C. 317, 58 L.Ed. 461, the Court ruled:

'* * * The extension or reduction of the boundaries of a city or town is held, without exception, to be purely a political matter, entirely within the power of the Legislature of the state to regulate. The established doctrine is that the state Legislature has the unlimited right to pass such laws for the annexations of territory to municipal corporations as in its judgment will best accomplish the desired end, and that a different method may be provided for each class. * * *.'

Petitioners urge upon us the holding in Myles Salt Co. v. Board of Commissioners, 239 U.S. 478, 36 S.Ct. 204, 60 L.Ed. 393, where the Court decided that the property of Myles Salt Company, being an island and rising abruptly 175 feet or more above the surrounding marshy land, could not be benefited directly or indirectly by a drainage improvement and that to include this land within the drainage district solely for the purpose of deriving taxes for the benefit of other lands would be inconsistent with the due process clause of the 14th Amendment to the United States...

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    ...286 S.W. 620, error ref.; State ex rel. Pan American Production Co. v. Texas City, Tex.Civ.App., 295 S.W.2d 697, aff'd 157 Tex. 450, 303 S.W.2d 780, appeal dism. 355 U.S. 603, 78 S.Ct. 533, 2 L.Ed.2d 523; Greer v. Railroad Commission of Texas, Tex.Civ.App., 117 S.W.2d 142; English Freight C......
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