Board of Water Commissioners v. Conkling

Citations

• 113 Ill. 340
• 1885 Ill. LEXIS 698

Syllabus

<p>1. Springfield water works—assessments on account of hydrants— •whether to be made annually. Section 15 of the act of February 21, 1861, to incorporate the Springfield Water Works Company, which imposes a duty to construct hydrants, and then declares that the commissioners “shall assess the houses and other buildings in the vicinity of said hydrants in the proportion in which they shall deem the same, respectively, benefited, ” does not authorize the annual assessment of the houses and buildings in the vicinity for supposed benefits. The intention was, that the entire benefit should be assessed at once.</p> <p>2. Under that section the commissioners are not authorized to go on, from year to year, and assess the property for supposed benefits conferred, for the purpose of keeping up repairs. The power to make annual assessments of a tax for the extension and maintenance of water works is given in the act of April 27, 1871. (Rev. Stat. 1874, chap. 24, sec. 248.)</p> <p>3. Same—mode of collecting assessments. If the power to “assess the houses and other buildings” in the vicinity of hydrants, means to give authority to fix the amount to be paid by the owners, such sums can only be collected by suit, the same as any other indebtedness; but if it means to confer upon the board the power to make special assessments as known in the statute, they can only proceed in the manner provided by the general law for the collection of special assessments, whereby the owner, on proper notice, can be heard before a judicial tribunal before his rights can be determined.</p> <p>4. Sections 12 and 15, of the act of February 21, 1861, relating to the Springfield Water Works Company, in so far as they authorize the collection of an assessment in a summary manner, by levy and sale, under a warrant of the commissioners, has been repealed or changed by the constitution of 1870 and the general laws passed in pursuance of that instrument on the subject, which general law must be followed in