State ex rel. City of O'Neill v. Kelly
State ex rel. City of O'Neill v. Kelly
Opinion of the Court
This is a mandamus action brought by the city of O’Neill, relator, against James J. Kelly et al., constituting the members of the town board of the town of Grattan, respondents, to require them to expend for the purposes provided by statute within the corporate limits of relator ■city one-half of all moneys collected for road purposes for the year 1920 on property situate within the corporate limits of said city. The trial resulted in a judgment in .favor'of the relator, from which respondents appeal.
The record shows that the county of Holt is under town
By way of defense the respondents claim that the relator city is not a road district within the meaning of the law, and is, therefore, not entitled to have expended within its corporate limits .any part of the taxes collected; and that they have no jurisdiction or authority to enter upon the streets, alleys or public grounds to make repairs or improvements thereon.
The question here presented calls for a construction of section 2795, Comp. St. 1922. Without setting out at length this section of the statute, the parts thereof applicable to the present case provide in substance that in counties under township orgánization the township road tax shall be paid in cash; that all moneys paid into the
' The first question presented is whether the relator city is a road district within the meaning of section 2795, Comp. St. 1922. We think this question must be answered in the affirmative upon the authority of our prior decisions. In Libby v. State, 59 Neb. 264, the court had before it for construction section 76 of the road law (Comp. St. 1899, eh. 78). That section provided in substance that one-half of all of the moneys paid into the county treasury from the several road districts in discharge of the road tax constituted a county road fund which, was at the disposal of the county commissioners ;-the other half of the moneys paid from the several road districts was to be expended by the county commissioners in the road district from" which it was collected for purposes prescribed in the statute. It was held that incorporated municipalities nrp,.yoad districts, and as,such, except as otherwise provided, are entitled to one-half of the moneys arising from the rpad. tax levied by the county commissioners upon the property situate within their limits. A similar question was 'again before the court in City of Chadron v. Dawes County, 82 Neb. 614, and it was held that cities of the, .second class are road districts. The language with re
The objection by the respondents that they have no jurisdiction or right to enter upon the streets of the relator and do work thereon is, as applied to the present case, more theoretical than real. Here the relator is not only making no objection, but on the contrary is in court to compel the respondents to enter upon their streets and expend its proportion of the fund in the manner provided by the statute.
No substantial reason appearing in the record why the respondents should not comply with the language of the statute, the judgment of the district court- is
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- State, ex rel. City of O'Neill v. James J. Kelly
- Status
- Published