City of East St. Louis v. People ex rel. Gundlach

Citations

• 124 Ill. 655

Syllabus

<p>1. Municipal indebtedness—constitutional limitation—-as not extending pre-existing powers. The constitutional provision that no municipal corporation shall be allowed to become indebted to an amount exceeding five per cent on the value of the taxable property therein, etc., is a limitation, upon the power of the legislature to authorize cities of the State to contract indebtedness, and does not operate as a repeal of a clause in a city charter granted prior to the adoption of the constitution of 1870, which prohibits the city from contracting an indebtedness in excess of an amount less than five per cent. It was not intended to authorize a city to become indebted to the full amount of the five per cent, without regard to the limitations in its charter as to the extent of its power to create indebtedness.</p> <p>2. Same—levy of a tax to pay interest and to provide a sinking fwnd— constitutional requirement — effect thereof on pre-existing city charters. The provision of section 12, article 9, of the constitution of 1870, that any municipal corporation incurring any indebtedness under authority of law, shall, before or at the time of doing so, provide for the collection of a direct annual tax sufficient to pay the interest on such debt as it falls due, and also to pay and discharge the principal thereof within twenty years from the time of contracting the same, will operate as a repeal of a clause in a special charter of a city, that its council shall collect an annual tax not exceeding one per cent per annum on all property, etc., and that of this one per cent it shall collect not more than three mills on the dollar for the purpose of paying the interest on the bonds and providing a sinking fund, etc., when that sum is not sufficient to pay the interest and discharge the principal in twenty years.</p> <p>3. This constitutional provision, that no municipal corporation shall incur any indebtedness without providing for the collection of an annual tax sufficient to p