Tippins v. Cobb County Parking Authority, 19842

• Decision Date: 08 November 1957
• Docket Number: No. 19842,19842
• Citation: 100 S.E.2d 893,213 Ga. 685
• Parties: C. W. TIPPINS v. COBB COUNTY PARKING AUTHORITY et al.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

Page 893

100 S.E.2d 893

213 Ga. 685

C. W. TIPPINS v. COBB COUNTY PARKING AUTHORITY et al.

No. 19842.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Nov. 8, 1957.

Rehearing Denied Nov. 26, 1957.

Syllabus by the Court.

Under the restrictive provision of Article 7, Section 7, Paragraph 5 of the Constitution of 1945 (Code Ann. § 2-6005) that governmental subdivisions of the State shall issue revenue anticipation certificates or bonds only to provide funds for such facilities and undertakings as are 'specifically authorized and enumerated' by the acts of the General Assembly there referred to--the County of Cobb would not be authorized to issue such revenue certificates or bonds for the furnishing of facilities and services necessary or convenient in constructing, erecting, maintaining and operating motor vehicle parking facilities, and any area or space of any parking facility for lease or rental to commercial enterprises, which are ordinarily carried on by private enterprise, and 'not specifically authorized and enumerated' by the acts of the General Assembly referred to; and it cannot do by indirection through an agency and instrumentality that which it could not do directly, since such agency and instrumentality of the county could have no greater power than that possessed by the county.

Ben F. Smith, Marietta, for plaintiff in error.

Raymond M. Reed, Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy, Robt. E. Coll, Atlanta, for defendants in error.

HAWKINS, Justice.

This case is here on writ of error complaining of a declaratory judgment of Cobb Superior Court declaring constitutional and valid the Cobb County Parking Authority Act (Ga.L.1957, p. 2744), and the actions taken and proposed to be taken thereunder, including the proposed issuance of revenue bonds by the Parking Authority. The act is alleged to be unconstitutional because violative of several enumerated provisions of the Constitution, among them being Article 7, Section 7, Paragraph 5 of the Constitution of 1945 (Code Ann. § 2-6005), which provides in part: 'Revenue anticipation obligations may be issued by any county, municipal corporation or political subdivision of this State, to provide funds for the purchase or construction, in whole or in part, of any revenue-producing facility which such county, municipal corporation or political subdivision is authorized by the Act of the General Assembly approved March 31st, 1937, known as the 'Revenue Certificate Laws of 1937,' as amended by the Act approved March 14, 1939, to construct and operate or to provide funds to extend, repair or improve any such existing facility * * * This authority shall apply only to revenue anticipation obligations issued to provide funds for the purchase, construction, extension, repair or improvement of such facilities and undertakings as are specifically authorized and enumerated by said Act of 1937 as amended by said Act of 1939.'

It is conceded by counsel for the Parking Authority that parking garages or facilities are not mentioned in either the 1937 or 1939 acts of the General Assembly providing for issuance of revenue certificates or bonds, but they insist that this constitutional provision is applicable only to 'any county, municipal corporation or political subdivision of this State,' and that the revenue bonding powers of the Cobb County Parking Authority are not limited by this provision of the Constitution, since it is a separate and distinct body corporate and politic. While strictly speaking the Parking Authority is neither a county, municipal corporation nor political subdivision of this State, the title of the act creating the Parking Authority says that it is 'An Act to create the 'Cobb County Parking Authority' as a public body corporate and an instrumentality and agency of the State.' Section 3 of the act defines it as 'a body corporate and politic, an agency, instrumentality and public corporation of this State, with perpetual existence,' with the right to construct and operate such projects within the boundaries of said county as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of the act. Section 2(c) defines the projects which it is authorized to acquire maintain, and operate as 'Facilities and services necessary or convenient and all property, real, personal or...