County Funds Blocked for Stubblefield Charity
A legal opinion warns that Walla Walla County cannot donate public tax dollars to a private, non-controlled, multi-state charitable trust.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The board of county commissioners returned yesterday from attending the State Good Roads convention at Spokane. The matter of the board's appropriating $10,000 to the proposed Stubblefield home was set for hearing this morning, but on the request of several interested parties, the hearing was postponed until November 2nd. Prosecutor Wilson rendered an opinion stating that the county cannot legally donate $10,000 of public funds to the private trustees of the Joseph L. Stubblefield estate. The will leaves $125,000 for a home for indigent orphans and widows in Oregon and Washington, but grants absolute control to private trustees. Because the county has no oversight, no right to admit residents, and no say in management, the prosecutor ruled that such a donation would be an illegal use of taxpayer money.
“It is certain that states cannot go into partnership with each other and donate funds to the support of such an institution, however meritorious, over which neither state has any authority or control.”
This 1903 debate over the limits of municipal support for private social services mirrors modern tensions regarding 'public-private partnerships' and the accountability of public funds when allocated to non-governmental entities. It highlights a perennial civic question: can local taxes subsidize regional charities that operate outside of direct public control?
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