Thomson v. Christopher

• Decision Date: 25 August 1927
• Docket Number: 12253.
• Citation: 139 S.E. 178,141 S.C. 92
• Parties: THOMSON v. CHRISTOPHER et al., School Dist. Trustees.
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court

139 S.E. 178

141 S.C. 92

THOMSON v. CHRISTOPHER et al., School Dist. Trustees.

No. 12253.

Supreme Court of South Carolina

August 25, 1927

Original action by B. F. Thomson against R. G. Christopher and others as trustees of Landrum School District No. 45 of Spartanburg County, to enjoin the issuance and sale of certain notes of the school district. Injunction granted.

Thompson & McConnell, of Spartanburg, for petitioner.

Nicholls Wyche & Byrnes, of Spartanburg, for respondents.

STABLER J.

This is an action brought in the original jurisdiction of this court by a taxpayer of Landrum school district No. 45 of Spartanburg county to restrain the respondents, the trustees of the district, from issuing and selling certain notes of the district in the sum of $20,000.

The petition cites the provisions of an act of the General Assembly approved March 12, 1926 (34 St. at Large, p. 1694) authorizing the trustees of the district to issue and sell notes of the district in the sum of $20,000, sets out the assessed valuation of the taxable property in the district and the outstanding bonded debt thereof, and alleges that, while the act prescribes that the evidence of the proposed new indebtedness shall be in the form of notes, in reality these notes will amount to and constitute bonds of the district and that their issuance will raise the bonded indebtedness of the district beyond the 8 per cent. limitation prescribed by section 5 of article 10 of the state Constitution.

Upon the verified petition Mr. Justice COTHRAN issued an order temporarily restraining the respondents from issuing and selling the notes and directing them to show cause why the injunction should not be made permanent. By way of return the respondents (1) demurred to the petition on the ground that it does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action; and (2) answered, admitting the allegations of the petition as to the assessed valuation of the taxable property in the district and the outstanding bonded indebtedness thereof, but denying that the notes will constitute bonds of the district and that their issuance will raise the bonded indebtedness of the district beyond the constitutional 8 per cent. limitation, and alleging particularly that the notes are not under seal and therefore are not bonds of the district.

Section 5 of article 10 of the state Constitution contains the following provisions:

"The bonded debt of any county, township, school district, municipal corporation or political division or subdivision of this state shall never exceed eight per centum of the assessed value of all the taxable property therein. And no county, township, municipal corporation or other political division of this state shall hereafter be authorized to increase its bonded indebtedness if at the time of any proposed increase thereof the aggregate amount of its already existing bonded debt amounts to eight per centum of the value of all taxable property therein as" valued "for state taxation."

The material portions of the act under which it is proposed to issue the notes are as follows:

"Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of South Carolina: That the trustees of Landrum school district No. 45 of Spartanburg county be, and they are hereby, authorized and empowered to borrow the sum of not exceeding twenty thousand ($20,000.00) dollars at a rate of interest not to exceed eight per centum (8%) per annum, to be used for the purpose of erecting, equipping, and maintaining a building and school to be used for school purposes within the said district, and that said trustees shall make and deliver their obligations in the form of notes for such amount as may be so borrowed, with interest, said obligation to become due and payable not more than ten (10) years from date thereof.

That the county auditor for Spartanburg county be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to levy on the assessed property in said school district for a period of six (6) years, beginning with the year 1926, a sufficient number of mills, in addition to the levy already authorized, to pay off whatever amount is borrowed by said trustees under this act, and interest on same.

That said trustees are authorized to pledge for the payment of said obligation any general or special school taxes belonging to or to belong to said school district not otherwise appropriated, for the payment of said debt." Sections 1-3.

The sole question involved is whether the issuance and sale of the notes will increase the bonded debt of the district beyond the 8 per cent. limitation provided by the Constitution, and the answer to this question will be determined by deciding whether or not the proposed obligations,...