Maximum of municipal taxes allowable.

SEC. 3785. The aggregate of all taxes levied by a municipal corporation, exclusive of the levy for county and state purposes, for schools and schoolhouse purposes, for free public libraries and library buildings, for university and observatory purposes, for hospitals and for sinking fund and interest, on each dollar of valuation of taxable property in the corporation on the tax list, shall not exceed in any one year ten mills. (96 v. 33, Sec. 33.)

For the present limitations upon the tax rate in municipal corporations, see G. C. § 5649-2

et seq.

When greater tax may be levied; submission of question to vote.

SCE. 3786. A greater tax than that authorized herein may be levied by the council of a municipal corporation for any purpose for which corporation is authorized to levy taxes, if the proposition to make such additional levy is first submitted to a vote of the electors of the corporation, under an ordinance prescribing the time, place and manner of voting thereon, and approved by two-thirds of those voting on the proposition. (96 v. 33, Sec. 34.)

For the present limitations upon a tax rate in municipal corporations, see G. C. § 5649-2 et seq.

Corporation taxes; how collected.

SEC. 3795. The taxes of the corporation shall be collected by the county treasurer and paid into the treasury of the corporation in the same manner and under the same laws, rules and regulations as are prescribed for the collection and paying over of state and county taxes. The corporation treasurer shall keep a separate account with each fund for which taxes are assessed, which account shall be at all times open to public inspection. Unless expressly otherwise provided by law, all money collected or received on behalf of the corporation shall be promptly deposited in the corporation treasury in the appropriate fund, and the treasurer shall thereupon give notice of such deposit to the auditor or clerk. Unless otherwise provided by law, no money shall be drawn from the treasury except upon the warrant of the auditor or clerk pursuant to the appropriation by council. (96 v. 35, Sec. 41.)

A municipal corporation cannot pay a claim if sufficient funds have not been appropriated to pay it. State v. Hoffman, 25 O. S. 328.

Tax for creating a sinking fund.

SEC. 4506. Municipal corporations having outstanding bonds or funded debts shall, through their councils, and in addition to all other taxes authorized by law, levy and collect annually a tax upon all the real and personal property in the corporation sufficient to pay the interest and provide a sinking fund for the extinguishment of all bonds and funded debts and for the payment of all judgments final except in condemnation of property cases, and the taxes so raised shall be used for no other purpose whatever. (96 v. 54, Sec. 101.)

Levy to pay bonds for railroad subscription.

SEC. 5650. The lawful authorities of a county, city or township which have subscribed to the capital stock of a railroad company and have issued its bonds or other securities for the payment of such subscription, may levy or cause to be levied, annually, on the taxable property thereof, within five years next before the principal of such bonds, or other securities are payable, if the market price of the stock of such railroad company is less than seventy-five per cent on its par value, such tax, not exceeding one mill on the dollar, as will be sufficient to balance the discount on the railroad stock held by such county, city or township, by the time such bonds may become due. The proceeds of such taxes shall form, with such stock, a sinking fund, and be invested in the purchase of the bonds issued by such county, city or township, or in other safe and productive securities, and be applied only to the payment of the bonds so issued. (R. S. Sec. 2831.)

Assessing transient traders.

SEC. 5651. When a return is made to the county auditor, under chapter three of this title, of the value of the stock of a transient trader, the auditor shall assess against him his proper proportion for one month, upon such valuation, of all taxes of the current year, and certify it to the county treasurer. On the first day of each succeeding month, as long as such trader remains within the county offering to sell or otherwise dispose of goods of any kind, the auditor shall make a like assessment and certificate. (R. S. Sec. 2832.)

Additional tax on dogs.

SEC. 5652. In addition to the proper tax on any valuation that is fixed upon dogs by the owners, which shall be included with the personal property valuation and taxed therewith, the auditor shall levy against the owner thereof one dollar on each male and spayed female dog, and two dollars on each unspayed female dog. The receipts from such tax shall constitute a special fund to be disposed of in the payment of sheep claims, as provided by law. (R. S. Sec. 2833.)

The provision of a former statute which made this additional tax on dogs a lien upon the real estate upon which they were harbored, was held to be an arbitrary and unreasonable exercise of the police power, not to be required by the general welfare of the community; and accordingly unconstitutional and void: Mirick v. Gims, 79 O. S. 174.

The act of April 27, 1896, requiring that owners of dogs in cities of the first class, first grade, shall pay a license fee of two dollars for each dog, or if not paid, that the dog shall be disposed of by the Cincinnati humane society, such law to be enforced by such society, is an act of general nature inasmuch as dogs are found in all parts of the state, and being made applicable to Cincinnati only, is therefore unconstitutional for lack of uniformity of operation: Fagin v. Humane Society, 6 O. N. P. 357, 9 O. D. (N. P.) 341.

Distribution of surplus sheep claims fund.

SEC. 5653. After paying all such sheep claims, at the June session of the county commissioners, if there remain more than one thousand dollars of such fund. the excess at such June session, shall be transferred and disposed as follows: in a county in which there

is a society for the prevention of cruelty to children and animals, incorporated and organized as provided by law, which has one or more agents appointed in pursuance of law, all such excess as the county commissioners deem necessary for the uses and purposes of such society by order of the commissioners and upon the warrant of the county auditor shall be paid to the treasurer of such society, and any surplus not so transferred shall be transferred to the county board of education fund at the direction of the county commissioners. (104 v. 145.) R. S. Sec. 2833.

Proceeds of special levies shall not be used for other purpose; transfer of surplus.

SEC. 5654. The proceeds of a special tax, loan or bond issue shall not be used for any other purpose than that for which the same was levied, issued or made, except as herein provided. When there is in the treasury of any city, village, county, township or school district a surplus of the proceeds of a special tax or of the proceeds of a loan or bond issue which cannot be used, or which is not needed for the purpose for which the tax was levied, or the loan made, or the bonds issued, all of such surplus shall be transferred immediately by the officer, board or council having charge of such surplus, to the sinking fund of such city, village, county, township or school district, and thereafter shall be subject to the uses of such sinking fund. (103 v. 521.) R. S. Sec. 2834.

This section provides for the transfer of the special funds raised under G. C. § 6489 te the general county fund: Zimmerman v. Canfield, 42 O. S. 462.

Power to borrow to extend time of debt.

SEC. 5656. The trustees of a township, the board of education of a school district and the commissioners of a county, for the purpose of extending the time of payment of any indebtedness, which from its limits of taxation such township, district or county is unable to pay at maturity, may borrow money or issue the bonds thereof, so as to change, but not increase the indebtedness in the amounts, for the length of time and at the rate of interest that said trustees, board or commissioners deem proper, not to exceed the rate of six per cent per annum, payable annually or semi-annually. (R. S. Sec. 2834a.)

Under Section 5656, General Code, the board of education is disjunctively authorized to issue bonds or borrow money" for the purpose of funding valid existing and binding indebtedness under the limitations prescribed in Sections 5656 to 5658, General Code.

When teachers' services have been performed therefore, the board may issue notes to pay the same when it is unable to meet the same by reason of limits of taxation. A. G. R. 1912, p. 1844.

A county in which original turnpike and bridge bonds in the amount of twenty thousand dollars are soon to become due may refund said bonds under the provisions of sections 5656, G. C., et seq., and this may be done without regard to the fact that the tax rate in said county has reached the limit of fifteen mills. The levy to provide a sinking fund for said bonds so refunded is controlled by sections 5649-1 and 5649-1a, G. C., as amended and supplemented in 104 O. L., 12. A. G. R. 1915, p. 2207.

Under section 5656, General Code, the commissioners may borrow money or issue bonds to fund existing debts by extending the time but not increasing their amounts; and they may use this means to pay such outstanding warrants, legally issued and stamped "not paid for want of funds." They may not, however, "exchange" bonds for such warrants. A. G. R. 1912, p. 1128.

A county officer's salary may be said to be "an existing, valid and binding obligation against the county" within the meaning of sections 5656 and 5658 of the General Code so as to justify the borrowing of money by the county commissioners in order to meet the same, when the claim for such salary accrues at the end of each month.

Section 5656 of the General Code in providing that the commissioners "may borrow money or issue bonds thereof" enables them to issue certificates of indebtedness or promissory

notes.

Claims presented by benevolent institutions of the state, for clothing for inmates from the county may not be paid in the absence of appropriations for the purpose. Money may be borrowed for the purpose of paying the same however, under section 5656 of the General Code. A. G. R. 1912, p. 1389.

The power of the county commissioners to issue bonds for the purpose of funding existing indebtedness does not exist until all moneys in the general fund which may be devoted to the purposes of paying such indebtedness have become exhausted. A. G. R. 1912, p. 1198.

Power to exchange bonds.

SEC. 5657. When it appears to the trustees of a township, board of education of a school district or commissioners of a county, to be for the best interests of such township. school district or county to renew, refund or extend the time of payment of any bonded indebtedness which has not matured and thereby reduce the rate of interest thereon, they may issue, for that purpose, new bonds, and exchange the bonds with the holder or holders of such outstanding bonds if such holder or holders consent to make such exchange and to such reduction of interest. (R. S. Sec. 2834a.)

County commissioners are authorized by this section to issue new bonds and to exchange them for outstanding bonds, but they are not authorized to exchange them for the promissory notes or other evidences of the debt of the county: Commissioners v. State, 78 O. S. 287.

Resolution as to such debts.

SEC. 5658. No indebtedness of a township, school district or county shall be funded, refunded or extended unless such indebtedness is first determined to be an existing, valid and binding obligation of such township, school district or county by a formal resolution of the trustees, board of education or commissioners thereof, respectively. Such resolution shall state the amount of the existing indebtedness to be funded, refunded or extended, the aggregate amount of bonds to be issued therefor, their number and denomination, the date of their maturity, the rate of interest they shall bear and the place of payment of principal and interest. (R. S. Sec. 2834a.)

Levy to meet payment of bonds.

SEC. 5659. For the payment of the bonds issued under the next three preceding sections, the township trustees, board of education or county commissioners shall levy a tax, in addition to the amount otherwise authorized, each year during the period the bonds have to run sufficient in amount to pay the accruing interest and the bonds as they mature. (R. S. Sec. 2834a.)

Taxing districts authorized to issue bonds when 50% of tax collections is enjoined or in litigation.

SEC. 5659-1. All municipal corporations, the board of education of any district and the commissioners of any county, through their proper officers, shall have power to borrow money and to issue bonds in payment therefor, to provide funds, to meet the payment of current expenses and sinking fund indebtedness, when the collection of general taxes aggregating fifty per cent (50%) or more of the general tax duplicate, for any fiscal year, of their respective taxing districts, has been enjoined by any court or the collection of which is in litigation. The bonds so issued may be made to run for a term not to exceed ten years and shall not bear a greater rate of interest than six per cent (6%), nor be sold for less than par with accrued interest. All moneys received from the sale of bonds, as herein provided, shall become a part of the general fund of the taxing district wherein bonds are so issued, and shall be used for only such purposes as the enjoined or otherwise litigated collection of taxes were appropriated for. (106 v. 11.)

Application of money derived from bond issue.

SEC. 5659-2. All tax collections which are paid into the treasury of any taxing district, which have theretofore been enjoined or the collection of which has been in litigation, and for which deficit bonds have been issued, under authority of the preceding section, shall be turned over to the trustees of the sinking fund of said taxing district, to be applied toward the payment of the principal and interest of the deficit bonds so issued. (106 v. 11.)

Certificate, what to specify; filing and recording.

SEC. 5660. The commissioners of a county, the trustees of a township and the board of education of a school district, shall not enter into any contract, agreement or obligation involving the expenditure of money, or pass any resolution or order for the appropriation or expenditure of money, unless the auditor or clerk thereof, respectively, first certifies that the money required for the payment of such obligation or appropriation is in the treasury to the credit of the fund from which it is to be drawn, or has been levied and placed on the duplicate, and in process of collection and not appropriated for any other purpose; money to be derived from lawfully authorized bonds sold and in process of delivery shall, for the purpose of this section, be deemed in the treasury and in the appropriate fund. Such certificate shall be filed and forthwith recorded, and the sums so certified shall not thereafter be considered unappropriated until the county, township o: board of education, is fully discharged from the contract, agreement or obligation, or as long as the order or resolution is in force. (R. S. Sec. 2834b.)

Provisions of this section do not apply to certain appointments and employment, see G. S. 2413. This section is valid and constitutional with reference to contracts by county commis sioners: State v. Fronizer, 3 O. N. P. (N. S.) 303, 15 O. D. (N. P.) 613.

This section applies to every township; and a contract entered into without the certificate herein required is invalid: Stone Co. v. Trustees, 5 O. N. P. (N. S.) 573, 18 O. D. (N. P.) 136.

This section applies where the county commissioners have allowed a bill presented by the clerk for supplies; and it becomes necessary to appropriate money for the payment of such bill: Printing Co. v. Highland County, 10 O. D. (N. P.) 89.

Where no certificate of the clerk, that the funds requisite for the payment of a claim were in the treasury and unappropriated, was filed prior to the adoption of the resolution authorizing payment, as required by this section, the resolution is without effect and an injunction will lie against such payment: Caldwell v. Marvin, 8 O. N. P. (N. S.) 387.

Failure of the auditor or clerk to first certify that the money necessary to meet the expense of building a new schoolhouse is in the treasury to the credit of the fund from which it is

to be drawn, or has been levied and is in process of collection and has not been appropriated for any other purpose, renders the contract void under G. C. § 3806: McAlexander v. Haviland School District, 7 O. N. P. (N. S.) 590. 19 O. D. (N. P.) 89.

This section applies to an order to pay a claim for compensation for services as an assistant assessor: Hirsch v. Hamilton County, 12 0. D. (N. P.) 681. This section is mandatory and unless it is complied with the county commissioners cannot make a valid contract: State, ex rel., v. Commissioners, 19 O. C. C. 627, 10 O. C. D. 532; North v. Commissioners, 10 O. C. C. (N. S.) 462, 20 O. C. D. 145; Stolz v. Selz, 12 O. D. (N. P.) 655; State, ex rel., v. Fronizer, 2 O. N. P. (N. S.) 373, 15 O. D. (N. P.) 1.

A contract between county commissioners and one who undertakes to pike a county highway is invalid, where no record of the meeting of the commissioners was made, and no auditor's certificate was filed or recorded, as required by this section; such a contract cannot be enforced against the county; nor can an equitable accounting be granted for the labor and materials expended in improving the road: North v. Commissioners, 10 O. C. C. (N. S.) 462, 20 O. C. D. 145 [affirming North v. Commissioners, 6 O. N. P. (N. S.) 519, 17 O. D. (N. F.) 97, 4 O. L. R. 512.]

General Code § 2921, which authorizes a prosecuting attorney to bring action to recover back money of the county which has been misapplied, or illegally drawn from the county treasury, does not authorize the recovery back of money paid on a county commissioners' bridge contract fully executed but rendered void by force of this section, because of the lack through inadvertence, of a certificate by the county auditor that the money is in the treasury to the credit of the fund, or has been levied and is in process of collection, there being no claim of unfairness or fraud in the making, or fraud or extortion in the execution of such contract for such work, nor any claim of effort to put the contractor in statu quo by a return of the bridge or otherwise, the same having been accepted by the board of commissioners and incorporated as part of the public highway: State, ex rel., v. Fronizer, 77 O. S. 7 [affirming State, ex rel., v. Fronizer, 8 O. C. C. (N. S.) 216, 18 O. C. D. 709, which affirmed State ex rel., v. Fronizer, 3 O. N. P. (N. S.) 303, 15 O. D. (N. P.) 613.]

The violation of this section by a county commissioner is not misconduct in office, so as to cause him to be liable to fine and to forfeiture of his office, under G. C. § 12920, in the absence of corrupt motive or wilful misconduct State v. Blair, 71 0. S. 410.

Exceptions thereto.

SEC. 5661. All contracts, agreements or obligations, and orders or resolutions entered into or passed contrary to the provisions of the next preceding section, shall be void, but such section shall not apply to the contracts authorized to be made by other provisions of law for the employment of teachers, officers, and other school employes of boards of education. (R. S. Sec. 2834b.)

Reimbursement under unconstitutional acts.

SEC. 5662. When the commissioners of a county, acting in accordance to law have incurred obligations or issued and sold bonds, and with the proceeds of such obligations or bonds, have acquired land by lease or purchase, and wholly or partially completed a building thereon, and after such proceeds have been so expended and the county thereby placed in the ownership and possession of such improvement or building, the statute under which such bonds were issued or obligations incurred, by final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction is declared unconstitutional and the county authorities enjoined from levying or collecting taxes to pay the interest and principal of such bonds or obligations, whereby the county, with the proceeds of the bonds which it still retains, has acquired such improvement or building, and by reason of the unconstitutionality of the law under which it has acted, cannot pay its obligations outstanding in the form in which they were issued, such commissioners, if they deem it for the best interest of the county so to do, may fulfill the equitable and moral obligations of the county to reimburse the holders of said bonds or obligations to an amount equal to the principal and interest which has accrued thereon. (R. S. Sec. 2834c.)

This section was held to be constitutional by the United States circuit court of appeals, in Insurance Co. v. Cuyahoga County, 106 Fed. 123, 45 C. C. A. 233, 12 O. F. D. 619 [reversing the circuit court in Insurance Co. v. Commissioners, 99 Fed. 846, 13 O. F. D. 198].

Bond issue for same.

SEC. 5663. For the purpose provided in the next preceding section, the commissioners may issue and sell bonds of such county or borrow money in such amounts, for such lengths of time and at such rate of interest as they deem proper, not exceeding the rate of four per cent. per annum, payable semi-annually, to be used in the reimbursement and payment of such equitable and moral claims and liabilities against such county. The payment or reimbursement of such moral or equitable claim shall not be made of a claim that has remained due or unpaid, and upon which no payments have been made either upon the principal or interest, for a longer period than ten years. (R. S. Sec. 2834c.)

Claims recoverable by action.

SEC. 5664. If the county commissioners of such county upon the written request of the holder of such equitable claim against the county, provided in section fifty-six hundred and sixty-two, fail within six months after such demand to make provision for it,