Controversy Between California Toll Bridge Authority & City & County of San Francisco v. Wentworth

The California Toll Bridge Authority, created by act of the legislature (Stats. 1929, chap. 763, p. 1489), has obtained an alternative writ of mandate requiring the respondent, as auditor of the City and County of San Francisco, to audit and approve, or show cause why he should not audit and approve, a demand for the sum of $5,000, which amount, it is alleged, has been appropriated by the board of supervisors of the city and county for the purpose of aiding in meeting the necessary costs of making a survey and preparing plans, specifications and estimates for the construction of a bridge across San Francisco bay between San Francisco and Oakland. A demand in due form for the sum of $5,000 was presented to the auditor, who refused to approve the claim on the ground that the appropriation is an illegal and unlawful appropriation of public funds, because it is in “aid of defraying preliminary expenses leading up to an issue of so-called revenue bonds to the extent of many millions of dollars under purported authority” of the act of the legislature above referred to, and therefore a violation of section 1, article XYI, of the state Constitution, which provides, in part: “The…