Pottsville Borough v. Pottsville Gas Co.

Citations

• 33 Pa. Super. 480
• 1907 Pa. Super. LEXIS 323

Syllabus

<p>Municipalities — License tax — Streets—Excavation of streets — Statute.</p> <p>A municipality has the right and duty, in the exercise of the police power, to regulate, inspect and supervise the various appliances which individuals and corporations may acquire the right to introduce and maintain upon and under the surface of the public highways, and to impose a reasonable charge to reimburse it for the probable expense of such inspection and supervision. The only question for the court to determine is whether a particular ordinance is a reasonable exercise of such power.</p> <p>A borough ordinance imposing a license tax of $3.00 on any person or corporation making any excavation in a macadamized public street is applicable to a gas company which is bound to repair the public streets after an excavation, but the reasonableness of the charge is not to be determined by taking into consideration the cost of repairing the pavement either to the municipality of to the gas company. In such a case the reasonableness of the amount is to be determined by the cost of issuing the license and recording the same, and by the cost of the inspection continued not only until the excavation is filled, but also so long as the settling of the material used in filling the trench and other causes directly resulting from the excavation, develop defects in the paving, and make supervision necessary.</p>