"* * * which hereafter on the first day of the month of January in any year have, according to an official report or abstract of the then preceding federal or state census, more than twenty thousand inhabitants shall constitute the first class, and shall be organized and governed under the laws relating to cities authorized to frame and adopt their own charters * * *"Ī complete statutory procedure is provided for the adoption of a charter and organization as a first class city. The legislature has implemented this constitutional provision by legislation classifying municipalities into first, second and third class cities and fourth class towns, and has provided in chapter 248, Laws of 1907 (Rem. Section 10, Article XI of the state constitution provides for the classification of cities according to population and authorizes cities having populations of over 20,000 to frame charters for their own government.
It is our conclusion that a city of the second or third class does not automatically advance to the status of a first class city upon officially establishing a population in excess of 20,000, but such advance in classification does not take place until the statutory procedure for organization as a first class city has been completed. Receipt is acknowledged of your letter of January 11, 1952, in which you request our opinion as to whether a city of the second or third class having officially established a population in excess of 20,000 as a result of the 1950 census, automatically advances to the status of a city of the first class.
Olympia, Washington Cite as: AGO 51-53 No. DOES A SECOND OR THIRD CLASS CITY HAVING OFFICIALLY ESTABLISHED A POPULATION IN EXCESS OF 20,000 AS THE RESULT OF FEDERAL CENSUS, AUTOMATICALLY ADVANCE TO THE STATUS OF A CITY OF THE FIRST CLASS?Ī second or third class city does not upon attaining a population of 20,000 automatically become a first class city, but advances when a charter is adopted and new officers qualified.
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