Court Opinion

ID: 9699661
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 20:44:28.259376+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:44:38.876304
License: Public Domain

Opinion by
Mr. Chief Justice Bell
Concurring in Part and Dissenting in Part :
I believe that the majority Opinion is mistaken about the law and has unduly restricted and limited *393the powers of City Council. An Amendment to the Constitution of Pennsylvania titled Article XV, Section 1, which was adopted by the people on November 7, 1922, gave to cities of the first class, after appropriate action by the General Assembly and upon approval of the electorate of such cities, “the right and power to frame and adopt their own charters and to exercise the powers and authority of local self-government,* subject, however, to such restrictions, limitations and regulations as may be imposed by the Legislature.” Pursuant to this Amendment and the enabling Act of April 21, 1949, P. L. 665, the people of Philadelphia on April 17, 1951, adopted the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter, which became the organic law of the City, subject to certain restrictions and exclusions not here relevant. Section 17 of the Act of 1949 granted to the City “Subject to the limitations hereinafter prescribed, ... all powers and authority of local self-government [including] complete powers of legislation and administration in relation to its municipal functions. . . .” Certainly this gave the City of Philadelphia (subject to prescribed limitations) powers of or relating to taxation, which next to the police power is the most important and the most necessary power of a home rule charter.
For many years, Philadelphians fought for Home Rule, and it is impossible for me to believe that in their 177-page Home Rule Charter they did not include and possess at least a limited power to enact and impose taxes to meet emergencies which could not have been anticipated.
The City Charter, in Section 11-103, provides, quoting from prior legislative enactment: “Section 39 ...; and the said city councils shall fix the rate and levy *394all the taxes, now authorized by law, within the limits of .said city and county, except the State tax. . . .”
Moreover, Section 2-301 of the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter provides: “Section 2-301. Other Appropriations. The Council may not make any operating appropriations in addition to those included in the annual operating budget ordinance except: (a) To meet emergencies which could not he anticipated when the. operating budget ordinance was passed.”
The right and power given to Council to make operating appropriations (in addition to those included in the annual operating budget ordinance) in order to meet unanticipated emergencies necessarily and undoubtedly include, in my judgment, the inherent and essential power to impose interim taxes — not unlimited interim taxes, not interim taxes for any and every purpose, but interim taxes solely to meet unanticipated emergencies.
The measures increasing the fines for parking violations and parking meter violations were by the testimony of the City’s witness (the Director of Finance) admittedly enacted as revenue measures, and not under the police power. It is well settled law that municipalities cannot impose a revenue tax under the guise of a police regulation. Kittanning Boro. v. American Nat. Gas Co., 239 Pa. 210, 211, 86 Atl. 717; Olan Mills, Inc. v. Sharon, 371 Pa. 609, 614, 92 A. 2d 222. These taxes cannot be justified as an “unanticipated emergency” since it is clear that they are interim taxes which were enacted to produce revenue to meet a fiscal deficit which the City itself created. Moreover, they fly in the face of the majority’s Opinion which holds that in all other respects interim taxes are prohibited.
The City has failed in the present case to prove that the presently challenged taxes were necessitated by unforeseen and unforeseeable, i.e., unanticipated *395emergencies. Fortunately, however, the money necessary to increase the pay of the police and firemen, as well as the money for school needs, can be raised or provided in lawful ways.
For the aforesaid reasons, I concur in the results reached by the majority Opinion except with respect to the parking and parking meter violations.

 Italics throughout, ours.