Court Opinion

ID: 9517263
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 00:12:15.531907+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:42:16.875667
License: Public Domain

McCown, J.,
dissenting.
The museum involved here was established under the authority of specific statutes. §§ 51-501 to 51-512, R. R. *623S. 1943. Those statutes provide that two issues shall be submitted to the voters: (1) Whether the county museum shall be established, and (2) whether a tax of not more than 2 mills on the dollar shall be levied for the museum. See § 51-501, R. R. S. 1943.
The museum board here was duly appointed by the county board of Hall County after approval of the establishment of the museum and the levy of the tax by the voters. Section 51-506, R. R. S. 1943, specifically provides: “The museum board shall have exclusive control of expenditures, of all money collected or donated to the credit of the museum fund, of the renting or construction of a museum building and the supervision, care, and custody of the grounds, rooms, or buildings constructed, leased, or set apart for that purpose.”
Because the county board here inserted the words “to be constructed by public donated funds” in the proposition submitted to the voters, the majority opinion holds that the addition of those words limited the statutory power of the museum board and restricted the use of tax funds to maintenance only. This is neither justified by the statute nor by any realistic approach to policy issues involved in the determination. If a museum was established here, the museum board had the powers granted by statute. No more and no less. The majority opinion limits the powers of a statutorily created body by judicial interpretation even when the maximum tax burden remains unaffected, and was clearly assumed by the voters. When such action also destroys the right of a contractor, dealing in good faith, to recover from a public body authorized to contract with it, the rule adopted by the majority assumes alarming proportions.
The record reveals that the museum board has received total donated funds greatly exceeding the total of tax funds received. Either there was never a legal museum formed here or the museum board has all the power granted by the statute under which the museum was established.