Clazie v. Kinloch

WARNE, J. pro tem.

*

This is an appeal from the summary judgment in a taxpayer’s suit seeking an injunction to restrain the Treasurer and Board of Supervisors of Solano County from expending county tax funds to construct a bridge across Montezuma Slough within the boundaries of that county.

The complaint alleges that the Board of Supervisors of Solano County adopted a resolution authorizing the construction of a bridge and appropriating 50 per cent of the total cost, providing the Department of Pish and Game of the State of California contributed the other one-half of the cost. It is further alleged that such expenditure by the board of supervisors is illegal and wasteful because there are existing facilities for transportation across Montezuma Slough which are adequate for normal public use and that if a bridge is needed there is an existing railroad bridge which can be converted to highway use at a much lower cost. The complaint further alleges that the proposed bridge is planned by the Department of Pish and Game of the State of California to provide transportation for duck hunters to Grizzly Island Waterfowl Management Area during a limited hunting season; that the construction of a bridge for duck hunters during a limited season is not a proper use for the proceeds of general property taxes collected

in

said county and subject to appropriation and expenditure by the board of supervisors.

Respondents supported their motion for summary judgment by an affidavit of the Road Commissioner-Engineer of Solano County averring that the only existing facility for transportation across Montezuma Slough was a ferry capable of handling only six ordinary size passenger cars; that large trucks and truck and trailer units were not capable of being safely transported by said ferry without special precaution

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being taken; that gas well drilling equipment, cattle trucks and construction equipment, all used in this area, cannot be transported at all in some instances, and in other instances dismantling was required before being transported; that while the ferry might have been adequate some years ago it had become now inadequate, uneconomical and obsolete, thus necessitating the proposed bridge, in that said ferry and the ferry slips were in such a depreciated condition that they would be inoperable in two years; that during duck hunting season (approximately three months every year) persons desiring to use said ferry were forced to wait on many occasions two hours or more in order to reach and make use of the ferry because of its limited capacity; that there was a railroad bridge existing in the vicinity of the proposed bridge at the time the project was originally contemplated, but said railroad bridge was removed and demolished in 1958 and was no longer in existence, thus leaving the above-described ferry as the only then existing facility for crossing the slough in this area; that the proposed bridge might be used by duck hunters during the limited hunting season, but it would also be used by residents of the immediate area, persons engaged in commercial activities in Solano County, residents of the State of California, and the general public not only during any given season but in all seasons; that in no governmental documents, files or other papers was there any provision limiting the use of the proposed bridge only to duck hunters, or to any other class of persons, during a limited season, or during any season, nor would this be done by the county of Solano; that the proposed bridge would result in substantial economy to Solano County; that the annual cost for operation and maintenance of said ferry was in excess of $22,000; that elimination of this annual cost for five years would practically pay for the cost of the proposed bridge which requires only negligible maintenance costs, and which would not substantially deteriorate for approximately 50 years.