Page:Parish v. Pitts, 244 Ark. 1239 (1968).pdf/22

1260 This action cannot be properly justified by any allegations of affluence on the part of municipalities. While revenues are greatly increased over those of 1870, the number and extent of the services demanded of them have multiplied at a much more rapid pace than have the revenues and sources thereof. Evidence should not he required for us to know that cities in Arkansas bring ever increasing financial problems to the General Assembly biennially and that cities all over the nation are calling upon the National Congress for aid. Strict limitations on the taxing power of municipalities, whether wise or unwise, make this new liability a greater problem than should be imposed without some compensating means which can only be provided legislatively.

There is a delicate balance of powers in our three separate and independent branches of government. None of them should be more alert to preserve that balance and recognize the independence of each of the interrelated branches in its own field than the judicial department. I deplore the growing tendency on the part of courts to take actions which might well be construed to give the impression that the judiciary may, in pointing out what it deems to be matters requiring legislative attention, be saying: "If you don't, we will." The step being taken here is one of the few actions of this court that might be so construed. We should not impose a whole new batch of problems on the legislative branch by a judicial solution of a problem that we have repeatedly said belonged to it.

I am not entirely satisfied that insurance is actually available for the various liabilities that would be imposed upon cities by today's decision or if now available, that it will continue to be. Even if it is, what are to be the limits of liability? Tort injuries to a whole family in an automobile in one of the smaller incorporated towns, such as Jerome, would justify as much money damage as they would in Little Rock. Many of these small ineorporated towns will not have the