A different construction might be disastrous to the interests of the city, since it is obviously debarred from purchasing or establishing a plant of its own exceeding in value the limited amount, and is forced to contract with some company which is willing to incur the large expense necessary in erecting water works upon the faith of the city paying its annual rentals.

These considerations find their support not only on reason and logic, but also on authority derived from adjudications of courts of last resort.

In one case it was said, "But the compensation to this contractor was not a debt within the sense of this provision, until the service was performed and the contractor was entitled to be paid. It was, no doubt, an obligation, in some sense, from the time the contract was entered into, but it was not a debt in the popular sense" of the term.

The contract does not violate the constitution, nor the County Government Act, no debt being created in regard to amounts contingent upon future services until the services are rendered

—the contract in question was a written contract, by which plaintiff undertook to grade and pave a portion of a certain street in the city of Syracuse, the plaintiff contending that the services were performed, or part of same performed, when defendant forbade the completion of same and refused payment for the services rendered, because the contract was in excess of the …

There is no general rule that public officers can make contracts to continue only during their terms

[BOOK] Treatise on the law of municipal corporations

[CITATION] The law of bonds and bond securities