Faulkner v. City of Seattle

Citations

• 19 Wash. 320
• 53 P. 365
• 1898 Wash. LEXIS 370

Syllabus

<p>MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS — INDEBTEDNESS'—BONDS ON SPECIAL FUND — WATERWORKS — CHANGE OF SYSTEM — ELECTIONS.</p> <p>The issuance of bonds for the construction of a waterworks system payable from a fund to be created from a certain percentage of the gross revenues of the system, would not create a debt against the city, although it might ultimately prove that the proportion of revenues from the system allowed for current expenses in its operation would be inadequate to fully meet such expenses.</p> <p>The fact that a special fund, which is to be provided for the construction of a system of waterworks, is not in existence, would not make expenditures incurred on the credit of that fund and which are provided as payable therefrom, an indebtedness against the city.</p> <p>The submission of a proposition to the voters of a city for an extensive addition to its system of waterworks and for a change from a pumping to a gravity system, is governed by Laws 1893, p. 12, § 2, which provides that a plan therefor may be submitted to the people and adopted by majority vote, if no indebtedness is created against the city; and such addition does not come within the purview of Laws 1895, p. 18 (Bal. Code, §§ 835-837), requiring a three-fifths vote in favor of a change of system, as the latter statute contemplates and governs changes in a system in process of construction.</p>