Rescue Fire Co. v. County Commissioners

Grason, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. By the Acts of 1941, Chapter 461, the County Commissioners of Dorchester County were “authorized and directed to pay annually an amount not exceeding, nor less than seven thousand two hundred and fifty dollars ($7,250.00) to the several volunteer fire companies so long as said fire companies remain active bodies, and active fire fighting organizations for their benefit, said sum of money to be used by the respective fire companies for the support, maintenance, equipment, and operation of said volunteer fire companies for the purpose of suppressing fires in said county.” These payments were to be made “on the first day of October in each and every year.” This sum was included in the levy for the years 1941, 1942, 1944, 1945 and 1946 and duly distributed to the fire companies named in the Act by the Commissioners. ³⁵⁶ In the year 1943, under the provisions of Article 81, Section 26, Flack’s Annotated Code, 1939, the County Commissioners changed the fiscal year from May 1st to April 30th, to the caléndar year. In 1943 the Commissioners made a fractional levy for the eight months dating from May 1, 1943, to December 31, 1943. Thereafter they levied to cover expenses of the County from January 1st to the following January 1st.

In the fractional levy to cover the expenses of the County government for the last eight months of 1943, they levied, not the sum of $7,250 as provided by this Act, but for two-thirds of that sum, and they paid the volunteer fire companies specified in the Act two-thirds of the sum that the Act provided for. The fire companies brought suit against the Commissioners for the difference which was paid them under the fractional levy and the amount which the Act designated to be paid to them on the first of October of each and every year. The lower court found a verdict for the Commissioners and from a judgment entered thereon this appeal has been taken. The cases instituted by the other fire companies are pending, awaiting the decision of this court in the present case.

There was a demurrer filed to the declaration, which was withdrawn. The Commissioners filed two pleas of limitation; a third plea, called a “special plea,” and the general issue pleas. The limitation pleas were withdrawn. The appellant demurred to the third, or “special plea,” which was overruled, and the correctness of this ruling is one of the points. presented in this case.

The case was tried before the court, without a jury, upon an agreed statement of facts. There is no question that the appellant has been paid $2,000 each year for the six years running from 1941 to 1946, both inclusive, with the exception of the year 1943, when it was paid two-thirds of $2,000. This suit is brought to recover the remaining one-third for the year 1943, which the appellant claims is due it. The confusion in ³⁵⁷ the matter results from the change by the County from the old fiscal year to the calendar year.

The appellee contends that the word “annually” used in Chapter 461 of the Acts of 1941 refers to the new fiscal year. If this is correct then the judgment of the lower court must be affirmed. The appellant’s position is that the payment to it under the Act is mandatory and that the change by the Commissioners from the. old fiscal year to the calendar year is immaterial. The Act “authorized and directed” the Commissioners to levy and pay on October 1st the sum of $2,000 to the appellant.

This Act has been operative for the last six years and the Commissioners should have paid to the appellant, during this period, $12,000, unless the change from the old fiscal year to the calendar year, and the fractional levy in 1943, had the effect of reducing the payment to the appellant on October 1, 1943, to $1,333.34. There can be no doubt that the fractional levy was proper to meet the general expenses of the County from May 1, 1943, to December 31, 1943. The question in the case is whether the payment to appellant under the Act could be reduced by the Commissioners, as it was, under the fractional levy. Speaking of counties, incorporated towns and cities of the State, Judge Miller, in