52 P. 165 | Idaho | 1898
— By Act of March 18, 1895 (Sess. Laws 1895, pp. 170-174), creating Lincoln county out of territory of Blaine county (formerly Alturas and Logan counties), it is provided that Lincoln county shall pay to Blaine county a portion of the debt of said latter county proportionate to the assessed valuation of the property in Lincoln county taken from Blaine county, and to be ascertained from the assessment-rolls of the former counties of Logan and Alturas for the year 1894. The act provides for the appointment of accountants to ascertain the debt to be apportioned, the per cent of such debt to be ascertained from said assessed valuation of property, and the fixing of the amount to be paid to Blaine county by Lincoln county. Part of section 5 of said act is as follows:
“Said accountants must meet at the town of Hailey on the first Monday of May, 1895, and after taking the usual oath of office, they must proceed to ascertain and determine: “1. The entire amount of taxable property assessed in Alturas and Logan counties for the year 1894, as shown by the assessment-books of said counties; 2. From the assessment-books of Logan county they must ascertain and determine the amount of taxable property assessed within the limits of the county of Lincoln, as hereinbefore desribed; 3. They must ascertain the amount of cash in the treasuries of Alturas and Logan counties at the díate of the passage of this act which was available for the pay
Section 6 of said act is as follows: “At their regular April session, 1895, the commissioners of each of the counties of Blaine and Lincoln must appoint each a suitable person to examine and appraise the courthouse and jail in the town of Hailey. Said appraisers shall meet at said town of Hailey on the first Monday in May, 1895, and ascertain and determine the present cash value of said courthouse and jail, and the half block of ground upon which they are situated, and immediately report to the accountants herein provided for, the amount at which they have appraised said property, and the accountants must charge the amount so reported to the county of Blaine, and add it to her ratable portion of the indebtedness ascertained, as herein required.”
The act then provides that county commissioners “must cause warrants to be issued by the auditor of Lincoln county in favor of Blaine county to the full amount of the ratable proportion of the indebtedness of said Blaine county, as ascertained and determined in the manner hereinbefore described,” etc. (Laws 1895, p. 173, sec. 7.) Under said act accountants were appointed, who found and reported the assessed valuation of property in Blaine county to be $1,419,898, and in Lincoln $990,977,
The district court held — correctly, we think — that the accountants were not authorized to deduct from the indebtedness of Blaine county prior to making the apportionment the sums due from Elmore and Bingham counties. The district court
The position of the respondent that the court has no jurisdiction of the subject matter of this action, and no power to grant relief to the appellant, the action of the accountants being final, is not tenable. The legislature fixed the rights of both parties. It would be a travesty on law and the administration of justice to say that under the circumstances of this case the expressed will of the legislature could he defeated by said accountants, and that the courts are powerless to grant relief to the injured party. (See Blaine Co. v. Smith, 5 Idaho, 255, 48 Pac. 286.)
There is nothing in the argument that the appellant should resort to the legislature for relief. The legislature has acted in the matter. It has fixed the rights of both parties, and provided the standard by which Lincoln county’s liability to Blaine county is to be determined. It was the duty of said accountants to do those things, and only those things, required by said
We have carefully considered the evidence in this case, and think that the findings of the said referee as to the assessed valuation of property, the pro rata, share of each of the counties litigant, the amount of the outstanding indebtedness of Blaine county, and the amount of cash in the county treasury applicable to the payment of said indebtedness fully supported by said ■evidence. The said referee erroneously added the value of the Blaine county courthouse to the cash in the treasury applicable to the payment of Blaine’s indebtedness; and he should not, for the reasons hereinbefore given, have deducted the value of •said courthouse from such indebtedness before apportioning it between the two counties. In determining the amount of the ■outstanding indebtedness of Blaine county the referee computed simple interest on same, but failed to compute or allow interest on interest coupons past due. The action of the referee in this respect was correct. Chapter 6, title 13 of the Civil Code, under which the bonds in question were issued, provides that such bond's shall be paid “at the office of the county treasurer, •or at such bank in the city of New York as may be designated