Title: Kees v. Smith, Trustee Etc.

State: indiana

Issuer: Indiana Supreme Court

Document:

235 Ind. 687 (1956)
137 N.E.2d 541
KEES ET AL.
v.
SMITH, AS TRUSTEE OF SPRINGFIELD SCHOOL TOWNSHIP, ALLEN COUNTY ET AL.
No. 29,431.

Supreme Court of Indiana.
Filed October 18, 1956.
*688 Hoffman & Hoffman, of Fort Wayne, and Edgar W. Atkinson, of Auburn, for appellants.
Arthur H. Fruechtenicht, of Fort Wayne, for appellees.
LANDIS, C.J.
Appellants brought suit as taxpayers of Springfield Township, Allen County, Indiana, to enjoin appellees, the Trustee of Springfield School Township and the Springfield Township School Building Corporation, from carrying out the provisions of a certain lease for a school building, and asking that said lease be declared void and of no effect.
The trial court entered finding and judgment that appellants take nothing under the complaint, and appellants have appealed from such judgment to this court.
*689 Appellants first contend it was unconstitutional for appellee school township, pursuant to Section 4, ch. 273, p. 810, of the Acts of 1951, Burns' Indiana Statutes, § 28-3227, 1948 Repl. (1955 Cum. Supp.), to attempt to sell to appellee school building corporation, certain real estate which said school township owned, appellants contending this violates Art. 1, § 23, of the Constitution of Indiana, providing:
Appellants' contention that the acquiring of land by a school building corporation from a school township under this statute, being exclusive in its nature, granting a special privilege to the school building corporation in violation of the above constitutional provision, is repudiated by the recent decision of the court in Becker v. Albion-Jefferson School Corporation (1956), 235 Ind. 204, 132 N.E.2d 269, as it was there stated at page 271:
We accordingly hold against appellants' first contention.
Appellants' second contention on this appeal is that the purported lease attempts to authorize appellee school township to create an indebtedness in excess of the two per cent limitation imposed by Section 1, Article 13 of the Constitution of Indiana.[1] Appellant concedes the annual rental of $28,500 does not exceed two per cent of the assessed valuation of $2,799,560, which is $55,991.20, but contends the aggregate rental for thirty years is, in reality, the debt incurred, and violates the two per cent constitutional limitation above mentioned.
Appellants' contention is refuted by the case of Protsman v. Jefferson-Craig Consol. School Corp. (1953), 231 Ind. 527, 536, 109 N.E.2d 889, which quoted from Jefferson School Twp. v. Jefferson Twp. S. Bldg. Co. (1937), 212 Ind. 542, 551, 10 N.E.2d 608, as follows:
See also: Becker v. Albion-Jefferson School Corporation (1956), supra, citing the Protsman v. Jefferson-Craig Consol. School Corp. (1953), supra, case.
Not only is the Indiana law well settled as above stated, but the recent cases on the point from other jurisdictions, as stated in the Protsman case on page 540 of 231 Ind., and page 894 of 109 N.E.2d:
As appellants' contentions are without merit, the judgment of the lower court is affirmed.
Achor, Arterburn, Bobbitt and Emmert, J.J., concur.
NOTE.  Reported in 137 N.E.2d 541.
[1]  "No political or municipal corporation in this State shall ever become indebted in any manner or for any purpose to an amount in the aggregate exceeding two per centum on the value of the taxable property within such corporation, to be ascertained by the last assessment for State and county taxes, previous to the incurring of such indebtedness; and all bonds or obligations, in excess of such amount, given by such corporations, shall be void: Provided, That in time of war, foreign invasion, or other great public calamity, on petition of a majority of the property owners, in number and value, within the limits of such corporation, the public authorities, in their discretion, may incur obligations necessary for the public protection and defense, to such an amount as may be requested in such petition." Article 13, § 1, Constitution of Indiana.