People ex rel. P. J. Carlin Construction Co. v. Prendergast

Headnote

People ex rel. Carlin Construction Co. v. Prendergast, 177 App. Div. —, reversed.

Appeal from an order of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the third judicial department, entered March 26, 1917, which affirmed an order of Special Term granting a motion for a peremptory writ of mandamus to compel defendant to certify and register certain contracts theretofore entered into between the relators and the city of New York. The comptroller has refused to certify and register the contracts on the ground that the appropriation applicable to the execution of the contracts is limited to the existing appropriation for the purpose at the time of the opening of the bids. Inasmuch as said" appropriation was less than the aggregate of the lowest bids for the whole work, the comptroller claims that he cannot legally certify, pursuant to section 149 of the Greater New York charter, that “there remains unexpended and unapplied a balance of the appropriation

or fund applicable thereto sufficient to pay the estimated expense of executing such contracts as certified by the officer making the same.”