State ex rel. Wagner v. McDowell

• Decision Date: 31 March 1886
• Citation: 27 N.W. 433,19 Neb. 442
• Parties: STATE EX REL. WAGNER v. MCDOWELL.
• Court: Nebraska Supreme Court

19 Neb. 442

27 N.W. 433

STATE EX REL. WAGNER

v.MCDOWELL.

Supreme Court of Nebraska.

Filed March 31, 1886.

Mandamus.

N. K. Griggs, for relator.

S. McDowall, for respondent.

MAXWELL, C. J.

The conceded facts in this case are, substantially, as follows: The defendant is now, and every since the twentieth of April, 1885, has been, the mayor of the city of Beatrice, and the relator during that period has been city clerk; that at the time of the relator's election to said office no salary or compensation had been fixed for the services of the clerk. On the twenty-eighth of April, 1885, the city council of that city passed an ordinance, which was duly approved, fixing the salary at the sum of $300 per annum; and afterwards, in December, 1885, said council ordered a warrant to be drawn for the sum of $75, as the salary of said clerk for three months. A warrant in due form for said sum was presented to the defendant for his signature, but he refused to sign the same, basing his refusal upon the ground that at the time the relator was elected no salary or compensation had been provided for, and that the ordinance fixing the salary has been passed during the relator's term of office, and therefore in conflict with section 15 of chapter 14 of the Compiled Statutes, which provides that “the annual salaries of all officers shall be fixed by ordinance, not exceeding the following sums, respectively: the mayor, five hundred dollars; treasurer, three hundred dollars; each councilman, three hundred dollars; clerk, five hundred dollars,” etc.

Section 16, art. 3, of the constitution, provides that “the legislature shall never grant any extra compensation to any public officer, agent, servant, or contractor, after the services shall have been rendered or the contract entered into; nor shall the compensation of any public officer be increased or diminished during his term of office.” And section 29, c. 14, Comp. St., provides that “the emoluments of no officer, whose election or appointment is required by this chapter, shall be increased or diminished during the term for which he shall have been elected or appointed; and no person who shall have resigned or vacated any office shall be eligible to the same during the time for which he was elected or appointed, where, during the same time, the emoluments have been increased.”

Do these restrictions prevent the city council and mayor from fixing the salary of public officers by ordinance, where the power to...