The Vill. of Hyde Park v. Ingalls

• Decision Date: 30 September 1877
• Citation: 1877 WL 9789,87 Ill. 11
• Parties: THE VILLAGE OF HYDE PARKv.GEORGE INGALLS et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

87 Ill. 11

1877 WL 9789 (Ill.)

THE VILLAGE OF HYDE PARK

v.GEORGE INGALLS et al.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

September Term, 1877.

APPEAL from the County Court of Cook county; the Hon. MARTIN R. M. WALLACE, Judge, presiding. This was an application, by appellant, against appellees and others, for judgment for delinquent taxes.

The objectors introduced in evidence the annual appropriation bill and tax levy of the village, together with the certificate of publication, as follows:

“Be it ordained by the President and Board of Trustees of the Village of Hyde Park: SECTION 1. That the following sums of money be and the same are hereby appropriated to defray all necessary expenses and liabilities of the village of Hyde Park, for the several objects and purposes hereinafter specified, for the fiscal year commencing on the third Tuesday in July, A. D. 1876, the same to be known as the Annual Appropriation Bill.”

The following items, only, are material in the present case:

For interest and sinking fund:

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                ¦For bonds issued under ordinance passed                               ¦      ¦
                +----------------------------------------------------------------------+------¦
                ¦September 6, A. D. 1873,                                              ¦$7,603¦
                ¦                                                                      ¦16    ¦
                +----------------------------------------------------------------------+------¦
                ¦March 21, A. D. 1874,                                                 ¦7,147 ¦
                ¦                                                                      ¦50    ¦
                +----------------------------------------------------------------------+------¦
                ¦March 15, A. D. 1875,                                                 ¦59,562¦
                ¦                                                                      ¦50    ¦
                +----------------------------------------------------------------------+------¦
                ¦January 11, A. D. 1876,                                               ¦1,263 ¦
                ¦                                                                      ¦16    ¦
                +----------------------------------------------------------------------+------¦
                ¦For amount necessary to pay the expense of collection and deficiencies¦22,672¦
                ¦arising in the collection of the last four foregoing items,           ¦68    ¦
                +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                

The court held the last item void, and refused to give judgment therefor; and this appeal is brought to procure a reversal of that judgment.

Mr. CONSIDER H. WILLETT, for the appellant.

Messrs. HARRISON & WHITEHEAD, for the appellees.

Mr. CHIEF JUSTICE SCHOLFIELD delivered the opinion of the Court:

The rate per cent of taxation here levied is not in excess of the limitation of the constitution, or of any provision of the municipal charter. The only question is, whether the purpose of the item in controversy is lawful.

The village trustees are lawfully vested with all the legislative authority of the corporation, and they alone are authorized to levy taxes for the payment of the corporate debts. Const. 1870, art. 9, sec. 10. They exercise an undeniable authority to provide for the payment of the corporate debts, in such manner as the holders of the indebtedness and they may agree upon. City of Galena v. Corwith, 48 Ill. 423; City of Quincy v. Warfield, 25 Id. 317. Necessarily, therefore, to the extent that the legislative authority, in general, may exercise discretion in fixing the amount of a tax levy for any given purpose, they are invested with such discretion.

It is the duty of municipalities to pay their debts when due, according to the terms and obligations of their agreements; and this, obviously, imports the existence of a power to bring the money into the treasury--not in part, but the whole--at the proper time.

Theoretically, no tax should be collected, however small the amount, beyond the ratable proportion of the individual from whom it is collected. Every particle of property within the municipality should...