The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-07-31
OFFICIAL.
CITY GOVERNMENT
Omcia1 Proceedings of Council.

the call OF the Mayor. Present Hon.
Herman Myers. Mayor, presiding; AL
derman James M. Dixon, chairman of
Council, and Aldermen Grayson, Har-
mon. Schroeder, Garfunkel, Thomas,
Davant, Glatigny and CAVITY.
REPORTS OF COMMITTEES.
The Joint Committee on City Lots
and Finances, which had been intrust-
ed to place minimum prices on the
portions of the waterworks tract not
needed for the old water plant, with
recommendations for disposing of it,
respectfully submits the following val
uations on lots as designated by the
city engineers plan of June 20, 1908,
lot No. 2, $4,000 per acre; Nos. 3, 4, 5
and 6, $1,000 per acre; Nos. I. 8. 9, 10,
IL and II. $1,000 per acre; and your
committee recommends that it be au-
thorized to invite proposals for and
negotiate for the sale, subject to the
approval of Council, of any or all of
said lots of land reserving the owner
ship, control and right of access to
all wells and conduits thereon, pre-
serving existing leases and having re-
gard to the old Factory road.
D. R. Thomas.
Chairman Joint Committee.
Report adopted and left in charge
of same committee.
ELECTIONS.
A vacancy having occurred in Coun-
Gil by the resignation of Alderman w.
j. Watson, Mr.. w. H. Wright being
the choice of Council, his Honor, the
Mayor, was instructed to cast the vote
for Council, and Mr.. Wright was unan-
imously elected a member of Council.
His Honor, the Mayor appointed AL
dermen Dixon. Grayson and Garfunkel
as a committee to notify Mr.. Wright
of his election.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Order from the Mayor rearranglng
committees.
Alderman w. ]. Watson having re-
signed and Alderman william H.
Wright having been elected in his place
on the Board of Aldermen, it is order
ed that Alderman Wright be and he is
hereby appointed a member and chair
man of the Committee on Accounts,
also member of the Committee on
Assessments, Public Health and Water.
Ordered that Alderman R. ]. Da-
want he and he is hereby appointed
chairman Committee on Streets and
Lanes.
Ordered that the Clerk of Council
inform the aldermen of the several
changes made. Herman Myers,
Mayor City of Savannah.
Received and confirmed.
Board of Aldermen of the City of Sa-
vannah Gentlemen-I return herewith
with my disapproval the report of the
Committee of the Whole, adopted by
Council at it's meeting of July o. re-
funding to Mr.. T. O. Mcbride one-half
Of the license paid by him for a turf
exchange, my veto thereof being in ac-
cordance with the provision of an act
of the General Assembly of Georgia,
A cd "
act of Dec. Z, 1898.
1t appears that under the tax ordi
nance for 1903, Mr.. Mcbride paid 81, 500
for a specific tax or license to carry on
a pool room or turf exchange for the
sale of pools on races. Recently the
Supreme Court of Georgia has rem
| dered decision under which this form
of business was declared illegal and
Mr.. Mcbride petitioned Council to re-
fund him the tax for the unexpired
portion of the year.
In the eighteen years of my expert
ence as a member of the city govern
ment I have never known Council to
refund a portion of any tax to carry
on a business. Numerous petitions
have been filed with it and hearings
granted, but in no instance has the
Board of Aldermen heretofore deviated
from the rule that license must be
taken out for a year in order to begin
business and carry it on, and that
failure to continue the business no
matter from what cause, was no JUS
LITIGATION for a return of the money
paid into the city treasury. In in
stances where parties have failed in
business, or where their places of bust
ness have been destroyed by fire, eff
forts have been made to secure re-
turn of a part of the license tax pro-
portionate to the time yet remaining,
but the invariable rule of Council has
been to refuse all such requests.
Outside of this unbroken line of
precedents there was in my mind a
serious doubt as to whether Council
has a legal right to refund to Mr.. Nc
Bride any portion of the money paid
by him for a license to conduct a
business, no matter what the reasons
that led to his disseminating the same.
l referred this question to the city at
torney, and his opinion supports me
in the opinion that it is not legal for
the Council to make an appropriation
from the city treasury for the purpose
of carrying its action into effect. The
city attorney advised as follows:
This business tax was laid and col
lected under the tax ordinance of Sa-
vannah for 1903, for the support of
the government of said city, and for
the safety, benefit, convenience and
dON dllldSc VI Sdlu CITY.
1T was paid for the whole year into
the treasury voluntarily, and it is clear
that Mr.. Mcbride could not by suit
recover it back, or any part of it. That
a tax voluntarily paid cannot be re-
covered back, as generally held by the
authorities, and as Judge Cooley states
in his work on Taxation 1t is inn
material in such a case that the tax
has been illegally paid, or even that
the law under which it was laid was
unconstitutional
when paid into the treasury this
sum of money became part and parcel
of the public funds raised by taxa
ton, to be held and disbursed by the
municipality for the support of the city
government, and for such public pur-
poses as the law sanctions.
I'm no way can one-half of this tax
be refunded to Mr.. Mcbride; if paid to
him it must be appropriated out of the
general treasury funds, and there must
be warrant of law for it. else it cam
not be done legally.
When he paid the tax he took all
the chances of being permitted by the
courts to conduct the business.
The municipality does not warrant
to any taxpayer that he can carry on a
business, except in so far as the city
is concerned.
IF this money be paid to Mr.. Nc
Bride, it will not be for any public
purpose, nor for valuable consideration,
but it will be a gratuity, a donation.
The State Constitution, Article Z, Sec
ton 6, Paragraph 1, inhibits a munich
pal corporation from appropriating
money for an individual axcant for