St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1912-08-17
Proceedings.
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4 cities in this State, shall not
ereafter have power to contract
any debts or pecuniary liability,
without fully providing in the
ordinance creating the debt, the
means of paying the principal
and interest Of the debt so con-
tracted.
Hence, it would seem that any
existing debt of the city, h e
payment of which was not pro-
vided for in the ordinance ere
ating the debt" has been con-
tracted without warrant Of law,
and is incapable of judicial en-
forcement. In substantiation OF
this, which is in itself self-ex-
pIanatory, I will quote from Ire
cent decision of the Supreme
Court of this State, as follows:
The statute declaring that x
< X Incorporated towns and cities
shall not have power to contract
any debt or pecuniary liability
without providing in the ordi-
ance creating the debt the
means of its payment, is a pro-
hibitory law, and such limitation
upon the power Of x K x munich
bal authorities that debts con
tracted in violation Of its pro-
visions are stricken with nullity,
and incapable of judicial enforce
rnent.
Therefore, it would seem to
me that unless these debts to
which you refer have been pro-
Vided for in the matter of their
payment in the ordinance or res
olution creating such debts, it
would be futile for this Board to
attempt at this late date to give
validi ty to an act which in
itself was never valid. And the
question Of issuing certificates of
Indebtedness appears to me to be
entirely foreign to the subject
under consideration. Certificates
Of Indebtedness, under t g
statutes. authorizing their is
suance, are secured by the an
ticipation Of the future revenues
Of the city. And the law pro-
vides that before these GER
tifcates can be issued, the funds
of the municipality must be
budgeted and provision made for
the maintenance of the city GOV,
ernment as follows:
1. All statutory charges shall
be paid from the respective funds
upon which they have been i'm
posed. 2. All charges for ser
vices rendered annually under
time contracts. 3. All neces-
sary, usual charges provided for
BY resolution or ordinance. Any
excess of revenue over statutory,
necessary and usual charges may
be applied to the paymentkT
amounts due and unpaid outSs #
the revenue of former yeals.
This is a substantial interpreta-
ton Of Sec. 2, of Act 50, of
1902 Gas amended which is the
only law authorizing the issu-
ance of certificates of indebted
ness.
Thus, as the Supreme Court Of
this State has held, the Legisla-
ture has left the distribution of
the excess of revenue, (aboVe
statutory, necessary and usual
charges) to the discretion of the
council, and certainly this coun-
ell cannot have the opportunity
of exercising that discretion, in
the mattor of the issuanceo Of GER
tifcateso indebtedness until it
has budgeted its funds and made
ample provision for all statu-
tory, necessary a n d usual
charges. I might cite cases
within a comparatively recent
period BIZ the Supreme Court of
this State wherein it was held
that these certificates of indebt-
edness could not be issued in pay
nent of judgments against a.
municipality, even when there
appeared to be an excess OF rev
enue over the statutory, neces-
saw and usual charges. simply
because The disposition Of this
supposed excess of revenue, It
sueh really existed, lies within
Bhe discretion of the council, and
B confined exclusively 70 il and