The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-08-21

preting certain S3ctlOIiS Oh Ine county
government act relative to liability and
Indebtedness. The opinion, which was
rendered per request Of Prosecuting
Attorney Reed of Emery county, is as
follows:
Hon. ]. K Reed. County Prosecuting
Attorney, Orangeville, Utah:
Dear Sir-I have considered your
communication of August 10, 1896, in
reference to the construction Of CHAP
ter I3l of the laws of 1896, being an
act to establish g. uniform system OF
county government" your particular
inquiry being as to whether or not d
claim allowed or a warrant issued on a
claim allowed by the county commits
sioners IS a liability and indebtedness
of the county within the meaning OF
the said act.
Section of said act. found on page
SIT of the laws of 1896, provides no
county shall incur any Indebtedness
or liability in any manner, or for any
purpose. exceeding in any one year
the taxes for the current year, with
out the assent OF q two-thiTd' majority
of such qualified electors thereof as
shall have paid a property tax therein
in the year preceding such election,
voting at an election to be held Tor
that purpose, nor unless before or at
luG time OF SQCu llldGDlC0-
ness provision shall be made for the
collection of an annual tax sufficient
to pay the interest on such Indebted
ness as it falls due, and also to con-
stitute a. sinking fund for the payment
of the principal thereof, within twenty
years from the time of contracting the
same. An Indebtedness or liability
incurred contrary to this provision
shall be void Section of the same
act provides that "aN contracts, au-
thorlzations, allowances, payments
and liabilities to pay, made or attempt
ed to be made in violation of this act,
shall be absolutely void, and shall
never be the foundation or basis Of a
claim against the treasurer Of such
county. and all officers of the said
county are charged with notice of the
condition of the treasury Of the said
county and the extent of the claims
against the same
LIMIT OF INDEBTEDNESS
In answering your inquiry intelli-
gently, it may be proper to observe
that the first question: which arises
under this law is, what is the limit
of indebtedness or liability to be in
CURED in any one year Under the
first clause above set out L am of the
opinion that the legislature intended
to limit the Indebtedness or liability to
be incurred In any one year to the
amount of the taxes actually received
for that year, without taking into con-
sideration any outstanding indebted
ness which may have been incurred
during any year or years preceding.
The language is plain and free from
any ambiguity and is entitled to that
Interpretation and meaning which the
words used ordinarily and in COM
mon acceptatiOn denote. mo county
shall incur any Indebtedness, etc, ex-
ceedfng in any one year the taxes for
the current year" The same idea may
be expressed by transposing the SEN
tence so as to make it read, the taxes
collected in. any one year shall be
equal to the indebtedness or liabilities
incurred during that year. To illus
tTate, suppose the revenue of
county for the year 1896 was $4,000 for
county purposes; that on jan
uary 1 there was an outstand-
ing or floating Indebtedness of the
of the county for $4,000, and that dur
ing the year, say November 1, the
county commissioners had incurred an
Indebtedness since the fourth day OF
January, 1886, to the extent of $4,000,
would this amount. together with the
outstanding liability of $4,000 at the
beginning of the year, constitute the
legal limit of liabilities of the county
during the year 1896? I think not. The
language of the above clause evidently
means that the liabilities in any one
year shall not exceed the taxes for that
year; it may be said that the last
clause of section 6 above set out,
wherein the county officers are charged
with notice of the condition of the
treasury of the said county, and the
extent of the claims against the same
has a bearing upon the said clause in
section 5. that would tend to give to
that section a different meaning than
the one which we have adopted as ex-
pressive of the legislative intent; these
two clauses, however, 1 think may be
construed together in perfect harmony,
and if there is an apparent conflict the
same may be reconciled without diff
culey.
1 think that IN the use of the words
condition of the treasury the legis-
lature meant that the county officers
must be presumed TO know what reve-
nue. had been collected during the year,
and that in the use of the words, Eek
tent of the claims against the same
it meant that they must know, at any
time during the year, the extent of the
liabilities which had been incurred
during that year.
THE ACT AS A WHOLE.
Reading the whole bill together, I
think it clearly appears to have been
the intention or the Legislature, begin
ming with January 4, 1896, to thereaf-
ter limit the Indebtedness to be in
CURED in any one year to the actual
revenues of the county derived during
that year. This view of the law is
strengthened by the provisions of sub
division IA of section q of the same
act which provides. in substance, that
The county commissioners of any coun-
ty having an outstanding indebted
ness on January 4, 1896, evidenced by
bonds or warrants thereof may under
certain conditions if they deem it for
the public interest, fund and refund
the same and issue bonds of the coun-
ty therefor, etc. Reading this section
in connection with sections previously
set out, I am OF opinion that it was the
intention of the legislature to circuIn-
scribe and limit the power of any coun-
" to create liabilities in excess of their
revenue. If the county was on a cash
basis and had no outstanding indebt-
edness on January 4, 1896, then it would
be impossible in any one year there
after TO have an outstanding indebted
ness or liability and no funds with
which TO meet the same. If the coun-
ty on that date had an outstanding or
floating Indebtedness, the provisions re-
lating to the issuance of bonds as
above suggested was intended as a
relief on that account.
REGARDING WARRANTS.
or claim allowed is a liability or indebt-
edness, permit me TO say that "liabili-
fy' is defined to be "a responsibility:
L. -4..4.1 & t.