Board of Supervisors v. City of Springfield

Citations

• 63 Ill. 66

Syllabus

<p>1. Constitutional law—apportionment of county taxes between county and city. Sec. 5 of Art. 9 of the constitution of 1848, requiring that taxes levied by counties, cities, etc., shall be uniform in respect to persons and property within the jurisdiction of the body imposing the same, is not con. travened by a statute requiring a division and apportionment of county taxes when collected between the county and a city, and this, though the apportionment should unjustly discriminate against the county.</p> <p>3. Same—legislative control over county revenue. The revenues of a county are not the property of the county in the sense in which the revenue of a private' corporation is regarded; and the power of the legislature to direct its application is plenary.</p> <p>3. A county is a public corporation, which exists only for public purposes, connected with the administration of the State government. It follows that such a corporation, and of course its revenue, is subject to the control of the legislature, and when the legislature directs the application of its revenue to a particular purpose, or its payment to any party, a duty is imposed and an obligation created upon the county. .</p> <p>4. Evidence—certificates. An act of the legislature for a division and apportionment of the county taxes between a county and a city within its limits, provided that the county judge of the county and the mayor of the city should ascertain the proportion of taxes to be paid to the city, and required the county treasurer to pay the city her portion. The act did not, in terms, require the county judge and mayor to make any certificate of their apportionment: Held, that their certificate was prima facie evidence against the county of the proportion of taxes to be paid to the city, otherwise the duty imposed upon them would be useless.</p> <p>5. County—liability. In such a case, a direction by the legislature that when “the taxes are paid into the county treasury, the treasurer shall pay