The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-08-28

for which the Board of Supervisors are
herein authorized to expend the funds
of said county" The manner of the
issuance Of such bonds is then pro-
viqed, and ii is required that the ques
ton be submitted TO a vote of the peo-
pie, and a two-third vote in favor
thereof before the bonds can be issued
a means is thus provided whereby
money can be raised TO meet any extra
ordinary expense contemplated by the
board, the building of a courthouse.
hospital, etc. The Improvement of the
county roads is also an expense author
lied by law TO be incurred by the
Board of Supervisors. This section
would, therefore, seem to include the
issuance of bonds for such a purpose
if 1t were not for the provisions OF
Subdivision SO of Section %, County
Government Act, and Section 1858 of
the Political Code, which place a limit
upon the amount that can be raised
annually for road purposes. To in
crease the road fund by the issuance
of bonds would violate this limitation.
Fowzer. IS California Reports, page 497,
That the Board of Supervisors may
establish county funds and may trans
fer money from one fund to another
when required by public interest, but
1t cannot be construed to authorize the
transfer to a fund established by law
and expressly limited in the amount Of
its receipts"
The road fund is a fund established
by law and the amount which can be
annually raised is expressly limited by
the sections cited.
Upon this reasoning l am led to be-
lieve that the Supreme Court would
not sustain a bond issue of $500, 900
for road purposes. The limitation now
placed by law upon the amount of mon
ey TO be raised for road purposes would,
in my judgment, have to be modified
by subsequent legislation in order to
accomplish such a purpose. In this
connection l have not overlooked the
case of People VS.. Counts, 80 Cal, page
-, case where bonds were issued by
the county of Mariposa for road pur-
poses, the validity of which was con-
sidered by the court upon demurrer.
The objections which are stated and
considered in this opinion were not pre-
scented nor considered by the court in
that case.
Question 6. Would Sacramento City
be liable for any of those bonds if
we called such an election and bonds
were issued?
Under the authorities cited my opin-
ion is that Sacramento City would not
hn inB h. 2 ~
bonds issued to raise money for the i'm
provement of county roads.
Question Z. Would Sacramento City
vote at the last-named election?
No.
Question s. Would Sacramento City
vote at the election to raise $4,000
for the Folsom road?
No.
Respectfully submitted,
FRANK D. RYAN,
District Attorney.
The opinion was ordered placed on
file and included in the minutes of the
board.
Now, gentlemen, said Chairman
Jenkins, that settles the Folsom road
proposition, and l hope we will hear
no more about bonding the county for
building roads until the Legislature
passes a law that will be different from
the one we have"
Engineer Price of the Highway De-
partment thanked the board for the
courtesy extended that department
since the matter came up for consid-
Grafton He was satisfied the people
of this county would favor the build
inc Of lint no Ia w e n c
them He expressed surprise that the
people of the State had remained SO
long in ignorance of their rights in
the matter of constructing good roads.
Mr.. Price then went on to give the
board some advice in the matter OF
constructing roads. He advised against
patchwork at any and all times. Roads
cannot be laid out and properly con-
structed by the aid of the eye. The
county has a Surveyor, and his SER
vices should be called into requisition
whenever a road is to be constructed.
All road work should be on a basis OF
pernanency. 1t costs from $4,000 to
s.. 000 to build a good rock road, and
all money put into road construction
should be laid out on that PROPOSE
ton.
Where rock roads cannot be built,
good results may often be obtained
from earth and gravel road building.
But all roads must be properly drained
and graded, and this work can only
be done under the supervision of an
engineer. He hoped the Supervisors
of this and every other county would
use good judgment in road building, to
the end that eventually the State may
have a good system.
In conclusion Mr.. Price thanked the
Board of Supervisors for the courtesies
extended members of the State High
way Department, and promised that
the latter stood ready at all times to
give the board their advice and assist
ance whenever desired.
The board then passed vote of
thanks to the Department of Highways
for the assistance its members had Civ
on the hoard