Pepper v. City of Philadelphia

Citations

• 181 Pa. 566
• 40 W.N.C. 377
• 37 A. 579
• 1897 Pa. LEXIS 582

Syllabus

<p>[Marked to be reported.]</p> <p>Municipalities — Municipal debt — increase of — Constitutional law — Constitution of 1874, art. 9, sec. 8.</p> <p>The provision of section 8, article 9 of the constitution which permitted a city whose debt at the time of the adoption of the constitution exceeded seven per cent of the assessment to increase the debt three per cent was of a temporary character; and if a city whose indebtedness then exceeded the seven per cent limit subsequently reduced its debt below that limit, it at once passed into the category of all the other cities of the commonwealth, and thereafter could only create or increase indebtedness in the same manner that they could.</p> <p>The increase of two per cent authorized to be made by the second clause of section 8, article 9 of the constitution may not be transcended except by a popular vote, and this is the case, whether the increase has been made by successive additions, each less than two per cent, or at one time, and by one municipal act alone.</p>