BECKHAM COUNTY EXCISE BD. v. LOWDEN

BECKHAM COUNTY EXCISE BD. v. LOWDEN
1941 OK 272
117 P.2d 109
189 Okla. 348
Case Number: 30240
Decided: 09/23/1941
Supreme Court of Oklahoma

BECKHAM COUNTY EXCISE BOARD
v.
LOWDEN et al.

Syllabus

¶0 1. STATUTES--COUNTIES--Portion of 1933 act relating to county salaries void because not covered in title of act.
That part of section 1, chap. 11, S. L. 1933, reading: . . ." and as may be shown by any succeeding federal census," is void because not expressed in title to said act. Section 57, Art. 5, Constitution.
2. STATUTES--Text of act limited by its title-Title construed with reference to its language alone.
(a) The Legislature, having selected a restricted title, is bound by it. State ex rel. Ledbetter, Sheriff, v. Pitts, Co. Treas., 137 Okla. 59, 277 P. 918.
(b) The text of an act is limited by its title. Cornell v. McAlister et al., 121 Okla. 285, 249 P. 959.
(c) The title must be construed with reference to the language used in it alone and not in the light of what the body of the act contains. Associated Industries of Oklahoma et al. v. Industrial Welfare Commission et al., 185 Okla. 177, 90 P.2d 899.
3. COUNTIES--Federal census of 1930 sole guide in determining population and classification of Beckham County for payment of salaries.
The federal decennial census of 1930 is the sole guide in determining population and classification of Beckham County for payment of county officials' salaries.

Appeal from Court of Tax Review of Oklahoma; Clarence Mills, James T. Shipman, and J. T. Goins, Judges.

Protest by Frank O. Lowden et al., Trustees of the Estate of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company, against tax levy for salaries of county officers by the Beckham County Excise Board. Protest sustained, and the excise board appeals. Reversed.

Jim Ted Robinson, Co. Atty., of Sayre, for plaintiff in error.
W. L. Farmer, of Oklahoma City, for defendants in error.

RILEY, J.

¶1 This appeal presents the identical question decided in Excise Board of Washita County v. Lowden et al., 189 Okla. 286, 116 P.2d 700.

¶2 The population of Beckham County, according to the federal census of 1930, was 28,991, and according to the 1940 federal census it decreased to 22,163.

¶3 The excise board of Beckham County made appropriation and levy for salaries of county officers, for the fiscal year 1940-41, based upon the population as shown by the federal census of 1930. Frank O. Lowden et al., Trustees of the Estate of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company, protested the levy contending that by reason of the decrease in population of the county, as shown by the 1940 federal census, the county fell into a lower bracket, thus making the appropriation excessive to the extent of $2,460 for this and other protested items.

¶4 The Court of Tax Review sustained the protests.

¶5 This appeal is from only that part of the judgment which sustains the items of salaries protested.

¶6 Under the rule of decision, supra, the judgment is reversed.

¶7 CORN, V. C. J., and BAYLESS, HURST, and ARNOLD, JJ., concur.