West Highway Sanitary and Imp. Dist., In re

• Citation: 77 Wyo. 384,317 P.2d 495
• Decision Date: 29 October 1957
• Docket Number: No. 2785,2785
• Parties: Matter of the WEST HIGHWAY SANITARY and IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT. The BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF WEST HIGHWAY SANITARY and IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT, Petitioner, v. The STATE of Wyoming, Answering Defendant, and R. W. Carr, Mrs. R. W. Carr, F. A. Woodruff, Dean Clutter, Lynn Reed et al., Answering Defendants.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Wyoming

Page 495

317 P.2d 495

77 Wyo. 384

Matter of the WEST HIGHWAY SANITARY and IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT The BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF WEST HIGHWAY SANITARY and IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT, Petitioner, v. The STATE of Wyoming, Answering Defendant, and R. W. Carr, Mrs. R. W. Carr, F. A. Woodruff, Dean Clutter, Lynn Reed et al., Answering Defendants.

No. 2785.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

Oct. 29, 1957.

Joseph F. Maier, Torrington, for petitioner.

George F. Guy, Atty. Gen., Hal E. Morris, Torrington and William A. Riner, Jr., Deputy Atty. Gen., for answering defendants.

Before BLUME, C. J., and HARNSBERGER and PARKER, JJ.

Mr. Chief Justice BLUME delivered the opinion of the court.

The legislature at a special session passed Chapter 17 of the Session Laws of Wyoming, 1950, concerning sanitary and improvement districts. The title of the Act is as follows:

'An Act authorizing the organization and operation of sanitary and improvement districts and the issuing of general obligation bonds for the borrowing of money and conferring the power of eminent domain.'

Section 8 of the Act provides: 'The board of trustees of any district organized under this act shall have power to provide for establishing, maintaining and constructing water mains, sewers and disposal plants, and disposing of drainage, waste and sewage of such district in a satisfactory manner.'

Section 9 of the Act authorizes the district to issue general obligation bonds, not in excess of 10% of the assessed valuation of the taxable property in the district and in lieu of the issuance of general obligation bonds the district may issue revenue bonds to pay all or part of the cost of improvement and pledge and hypothecate the revenues and earnings of the sewer system for the payment of such revenue bonds.

Section 17 of the Act provides for proceedings in the district court to examine, approve and confirm or disapprove and disaffirm the issuance of bonds. Other provisions of the Act will be discussed hereafter.

Pursuant to a petition, the West Highway Sanitary and Improvement District was organized on June 1, 1955. The district is in Goshen County, adjacent to the town of Torrington, Wyoming, and comprises a fairly compact area for approximately two miles extending westerly from the west corporate limits of the town of Torrington, Wyoming, and containing a total of approximately 181.7 acres. It may be called a suburban area. The taxable value of the district was $308,889. On October 11, 1955, the board of trustees of the district adopted a resolution to install a sanitary sewer, the plans for which had been approved and adopted by the board, and also resolving the issuance of direct obligation bonds in the sum of $30,800 and revenue bonds in the sum of $9,000. The resolution provided further that these bonds would be issued unless 40% of the electors of the district objected as mentioned in §§ 24 and 25 of the Act. At a meeting of the board held on November 9, 1955, it appeared that 40% of the electors in the district objected to the issuance of the bonds and the board of trustees accordingly entered an order calling a special election. On November 16, 1955, a special meeting of the board of trustees was held for the purpose of adopting the official ballot to be used in said special election. The election was accordingly held on December 8, 1955. Two nonproperty owners in the district voted in favor of the bonds and one nonproperty owner voted against the bonds; 91 property owners voted in favor of the bonds, and 78 property owners voted against the issuance of the bonds. This was reported at a meeting of the board of trustees held on December 12, 1955. On April 10, 1956, the board of trustees of the district resolved to issue the bonds. On May 4, 1956, a petition was filed in the district court of Goshon County, Wyoming, asking the approval of the bonds by the court as provided by the statute.

It appears that the State of Wyoming was asked to buy the bonds of the district, so on June 20, 1956, the Attorney General of this State filed an answer alleging the illegality and invalidity of the bonds on various grounds. On June 27, 1956, Hal E. Morris, as attorney, filed an answer in the case on behalf of 27 electors in the district and alleging the facts substantially as alleged in the answer of the Attorney General. It was thereupon stipulated by the parties that the allegations of the petition were true; that certain objections were filed by the Attorney General and by electors in the district on constitutional grounds and asked the district court to submit constitutional questions to this court. The district court accordingly reserved to this court the constitutional questions which are as follows:

'1. Is a Sanitary and Improvement District, created under the provisions of Chapter 17, Session Laws of Wyoming, 1950 (also cited as Sections 63-1201 to 63-1225, W.C.S., 1945, Supp.), a subdivision of a county and thus subject to the debt limitations contained in either Section 4 or 5, of Article 16, of the Constitution of Wyoming?

'2. Does Section 9 of the Act (Chapter 17, Session Laws of Wyoming, 1950), insofar as it purports to authorize the issuance and sale of Revenue Bonds by a Sanitary and Improvement District, contravene Section 24, Article 3, of the Constitution of Wyoming?

'3. Do Sections 8, 15 and 22 of the Act (Chapter 17, Session Laws of Wyoming, 1950), insofar as they purport to authorize Sanitary and Improvement Districts to construct and charge for water and water mains, contraven Section 24, Article 3 of the Constitution of Wyoming?

'4. Was the bond election held on December 8, 1955, by the West Highway Sanitary and Improvement District Board of trustees, invalid by reason of the fact that the question submitted to the voters at said election, i. e.,

"Shall the Board of Trustees of the West Highway Sanitary and Improvement District be authorized to Issue, Sell and Dispose of General Obligation Bonds of the District in the Principal Sum of $30,800.00, Bearing Interest at a Rate not to Exceed Six per cent per annum and Revenue Bonds of the District in the Principal Sum of $9,000.00, Bearing Interest at a Rate not to Exceed Six per cent per annum, for the Purpose of Financing the Construction and Installation of Sanitary Sewer Mains within the District; said Bonds to Mature Serially in 20 years?' was a submission of two propositions in one question, and thus contrary to law?

'5. Does Section 25 of the Act (Chapter 17 of the Session Laws of Wyoming, 1950) contravenue Section 4 of Article 16 of the Constitution of Wyoming, by providing for a bond election to be held only in those cases where over forty per cent of the electors of a Sanitary and Improvement District file written objections to the issuance of bonds?

'6. Does the failure of the Act (Chapter 17 of the Session Laws of Wyoming, 1950) to provide for a special registration for a special election, contravene Section 12 of Article 6 of the Constitution of Wyoming, by reason of the fact that it is contended that said section requires the prior registration as a voter of any person before being allowed to vote at any special or general election?

'7. Does the exemption of intangible property from taxation as set forth in Section 9 of the Act (Chapter 17 of the Session Laws of Wyoming, 1950) contravene the provisions of Section 27, Article 3, Constitution of Wyoming, by reason of the fact that said constitutional provision prohibits the passage of any local or special laws with reference to exempting property from taxation?

'8. Does the exemption of intangible property from taxation as set forth in Section 9 of the Act (Chapter 17 of the Session Laws of Wyoming, 1950) contravene the provisions of Section 28 of Article 1, Constitution of Wyoming by reason of the fact that said constitutional provision requires that all taxation be equal and uniform?

'9. Do Sections 22 and 23 of the Act (Chapter 17 of the Session Laws of Wyoming, 1950), providing for compulsory connection with the sewer system of a Sanitary and Improvement District, and providing for the collection of service charges by assessment 'against the premises served * * *', in effect amount to the levy of special assessments without notice, and thus contravene the provisions of Section 6, Article 1, of the Constitution of Wyoming?

'10. Is said Act (Chapter 17, Session Laws of Wyoming, 1950) so uncertain, indefinite, incomplete and invalid, as to be wholly void by reason of its failure to make provision for any method of nominating Trustees who desire to run for election within a Sanitary and Improvement District, and by further failing to provide when the elected trustees of such district shall take office?

'11. Does the authorization contained in Section 11 of the Act (Chapter 17, Session Laws of Wyoming, 1950), for the levy of not more than one mill on the dollar of the actual valuation within a Sanitary and Improvement District for 'general purposes', amount to a limitation on the amount that may be levied to pay bonded indebtedness under the general authorization for that purpose contained in Section 9 of the Act?

'12. Was the bond election of December 8, 1955, held by West Highway Sanitary and Improvement District invalid for the reason that the Act (Chapter 17, Session Laws of Wyoming, 1950) fails to make any provision for the procedure to be followed at a bond election thereunder, and because the provisions of Article 6, Chapter 31, Wyoming Compiled Statutes, 1945, are inapplicable to such a district?

'13. If any one or more of the preceding questions have been answered in the affirmative as to the invalidity or unconstitutionality of any part of said Act (Chapter 17, Session Laws of Wyoming, 1950), is the whole of said Act invalid or unconstitutional because the said Act contains no separability clause?'

The first question submitted is the most important and we shall defer discussion thereof until after we have discussed the other...