Chandler v. City of Seattle

Citations

• 80 Wash. 154
• 141 P. 331

Syllabus

<p>Municipal Corporations—Bonds—Indebtedness—Limitations— “Light” Plant. Bonds to he issued by a city for enlarging its municipal “lighting and power” plant and system and furnishing electricity for light, power, and heat, are to be classified as “light bonds,” within the limitation of Const., art. 8, § 6, authorizing any city to become indebted to the extent of a second five per centum for supplying the city with water, “artificial light” and sewers, and not as “light and power” bonds, where from the beginning the city pursued that policy and its electric light plant was used primarily for lighting the streets and furnishing lights to the inhabitants, its hydro-electric plant could be operated twenty-four hours a day at practically the same expense as for shorter hours, the steam plant was to be auxiliary, so as to have power available for lighting in cases of emergency, and, by utilizing the surplus energy for power and heat, the cost for lights was materially reduced.</p> <p>Same—Grant of Power—Authority of City. A grant of power to provide for lighting a city authorizes the erection and maintenance of a plant for lighting the streets, and also, in connection therewith, supplying electric light to the inhabitants of the city in their private homes.</p> <p>Same—Bonds—Unrelated Objects. In such case, the auxiliary steam power plant and the enlargement of the hydro-electric plant did not combine unrelated objects.</p>