City of Erie ex rel. Erie Paving Co. v. A Piece of Land Fronting on Eighteenth Street

Citations

• 176 Pa. 478
• 35 A. 136
• 1896 Pa. LEXIS 1101

Syllabus

<p>[Marked to be reported.]</p> <p>Municipalities — Contracts—Certification by controller — Act of May 23, 1889.</p> <p>A paving contract between a city of tbe third class and a contractor, which is not certified by the city controller in the manner prescribed by the act of May 23, 1889, Art. 9, sec. 5, P. L. 303,-is invalid, and the contractor is a mere volunteer without right to recover from the city or from the property owners.</p> <p>Section 5, Art. 9, of the act of May 23, 1889, provides as follows: “ Every contract involving an appropriation of money, shall designate the item of appropriation on which it is founded, and the estimated amount of the expenditure thereunder shall be charged against such item and so certified by the controller on the contract before it shall take effect as a contract, and the payments required by such contract shall be made from the fund appropriated therefor.” A city controller certified a paving contract as follows: “I hereby certify that councils have appropriated by bill Wo. 492, approved March 18,1890, the sum of forty-one thousand five hundred dollars for the construction of an asphalt pavement on Eighteenth street extending from the west line of Peach street to the east line of Liberty street, and that I have credited, in accordance with bill Wo. 495, approved April 7, 1890, a fund for paving street intersections, etc., on Eighteenth street, from the west line of Peach street to the east line of Liberty street with the sum of four thousand and seven hundred and sixty dollars ($4,760.)” Held, that the certificate was insufficient. It does not certify that the controller has charged the amount of the expenditure of this pavement against the appropriation which was made for its payment, and the contract is therefore invalid.</p>