Patterson v. City of Edmonds

Citations

• 72 Wash. 88
• 129 P. 895
• 1913 Wash. LEXIS 1409

Syllabus

<p>Municipal Corporations — Indebtedness — Limitations — Debts Subject — Unnecessary Expenses. Const., ai’t. 8, § 6, prohibiting any indebtedness by a city in excess of a certain limit, has no application to such obligations as are made mandatory by the constitution and laws and necessary to maintain its corporate existence; but does not embrace expenses for a city dock, the improvement and repair of city streets not dangerous or requiring immediate attention, auditing books, sewer estimates, street lights, a typewriter, killing dogs, printing, court fees, and salaries which the city chooses to make but not reduced to a bare necessity, all of which relate more to the welfare of the city than to its corporate existence.</p> <p>Same. Indebtedness in excess of the constitutional limit may be created for the expense of holding a city election and for salaries of necessary city officers and supplies necessary to carry on the government.</p> <p>Same — Actions to Restrain City — Judgment. In an action to restrain the issuance of bonds to refund warrants issued in excess of the constitutional limit, the judgment should be confined to that issue, and should not undertake to confirm the proceedings of the city council.</p>