Board of County School Commissioners v. Gantt

McSherry, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This is an appeal from an order refusing a mandamus. The Board of County School Commissioners of Anne Arundel County filed a petition against the County Commissioners and County Treasurer of that county, praying that a mandamus might issue commanding . the respondents to pay over to the relators the full amount of taxes levied in eighteen hundred and eighty-nine for the use of the' public schools, without abatement or diminution. The County Commissioners claimed the right to deduct from the sum so levied the amounts of the treasurer's commissions for collecting, and the amounts allowed to tax-payers by way of discount for prompt payments.

The ma/tidamus was refused, and hence this .appeal. It appears by the record that on the twenty-first day of May, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, the County Commissioners levied upon the taxable property of the county that year, for the use of the public schools, twenty cents on the hundred dollars, which levy yielded the sum of $21,596.31. By the general school law, Code, Art. TT, sec. 22, it is provided, in substance, that if the apportionment of the State school fund be insufficient for the needs of the public schools of any county, ⁵²⁴ the County Commissioners shall levy such additional sum as the School Board may make demand for, not exceeding, however, ten cents on the one hundred dollars. Under sec. 123 of Art. 2 of the Gode of Public Local Laws, the County Commissioners of Anne Arundel County are empowered, in their discretion, to levy such additional rate, not exceeding, with the ten cents provided for by the general law, twenty cents on the one hundred dollars, as they may deem necessary to promote the efficiency of the schools; and it .is expressly declared that the school tax so levied “ shall constitute a separate fund, and shall not be used for any other purpose but that for which it was levied.” Sec. 228 of the same local article, in defining the duties of the County Treasurer, provides that “ he shall reserve out of the money collected by him for county purposes generally and public schools, a sufficient sum to pay the amount levied in each current year by said Commissioners, for public schools, and shall pay the same over to the Board of County School Commissioners of said county ” in-Tour equal instalments.

The mode of compensating the treasurer for his services is prescribed by sec. 235, which enacts that “ the said treasurer shall he entitled, as compensation for his services, to a commission, to be fixed by the county commissioners, of not more than two and a half per centum on the amount of taxes levied for county purposes and actually collected, * * * *’ and the said commissioners are authorized and directed in their several annual levies to levy an amount sufficient to pay the commissions and salaries so allowed.” From these several provisions of the general and local laws it is quite apparent that when the Board of School Commissioners make demand upon the county commissioners for an appropriation it becomes the duty of the latter to levy, under Art. 77, sec. 22, the amount re ⁵²⁵ quired by the School Board up to ten cents on the hundred dollars of taxable property. This duty is an imperative one. It is equally clear that when more than ten cents on the hundred dollars is required, the county commissioners have, under sec. 123, Art. 2, of the Local Code, a discretion to levy not exceeding ten cents additional. But when the levy is