Case Name: Wright, comptroller-general, for use, etc., v. Alabama Great Southern Railroad Company
Court: Supreme Court of Georgia
Jurisdiction: Georgia
Decision Date: 1920-04-15
Citations: 150 Ga. 140
Docket Number: No. 1722
Parties: Wright, comptroller-general, for use, etc., v. Alabama Great Southern Railroad Company.
Judges: All the Justices concur except Gilbert J., absent for providential cause.
Reporter: Georgia Reports
Volume: 150
Pages: 140–141

Head Matter:
Wright, comptroller-general, for use, etc., v. Alabama Great Southern Railroad Company.
No. 1722.
April 15, 1920.
This case came before the Supreme Court upon questions certified by the Court of Appeals (inCase No. 10500), as follows:
“1. Does the act of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, approved August 15, 1914 (Acts of. 1914, p. 246), entitled iAn act to create a board of commissioners of roads and revenues for the County of Dade; to provide for the selection of said commissioners who shall constitute the board; to prescribe their terms of office, their duties, fix their salaries, and for other purposes/ confer exclusive authority upon the said commissioners to levy a tax for the maintenance of public roads of Dade county; or is that authority, under the provisions of this act, still vested in the ordinary of that county?
“2, Having levied the maximum tax of four dollars per thou sand under the act of the General Assembly approved October 21, 1891, known as the alternative road law (Civil Code of 1910, § 694 et seq.), did either the ordinary or the board of commissioners of Dade County have the authority to levy a special or additional tax to maintain the public road, in excess of four dollars per thousand P ”

Opinion:
George, J.
1. The act of the General Assembly approved August 15, 1914 (Acts 1914, p. 246), entitled "An act to create a board of commissioners of roads and revenues for the County of Dade; to provide for the selection of said commissioners who shall constitute the board; to prescribe their terms of office, their duties, fix their salaries, and for other purposes," confers upon the board of commissioners of roads and revenues the exclusive power, theretofore exercised by the ordinary, to levy a tax for the maintenance of the public roads of Dade County. See Rawls County v. U. S., 105 U. S. 733 (26 L. ed. 1220) ; Pennington v. Gammon, 67 Ga. 456; Garrison v. Perkins, 137 Ga. 751, 752 (74 S. E. 541) ; Matthews v. Hussey, 148 Ga. 526 (97 S. E. 437).
2. A county, after having adopted the alternative road law as embodied in the Civil Code (1910), § 694 et seq., and after having levied the maximum rate of four dollars per thousand for the maintenance of the public roads of the county, can not levy an additional or special tax for that purpose. See Central of Georgia Railway Co. v. Meriwether County, 148 Ga. 423 (96 S. E. 884).
All the Justices concur except Gilbert J., absent for providential cause.
Martin G. Smith, for plaintiff in error.
Maddox, McCamy & Shumate and S. J. Hale, contra.