19 Wash. 652 | Wash. | 1898
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Application for a writ of prohibition to the superior court of Pierce county against the auditor of Pierce county, as ex-officio clerk of the board of equalization, to prohibit him from administering oaths to Gifford, Sampson and Holgate, as a committee selected by the city council of the city of Tacoma, for the purpose of sitting with relators, who are the county commissioners of Pierce county, to form the board of equalization for the equalization of tax assessments and values of property in the city of Tacoma for the year 1898. Upon hearing, the writ was denied in the superior court and relators have appealed.
Upon the argument here the respective parties, conceding the emergency demanding an immediate decision of the merits involved in the controversy, have submitted the cause to this court without any question upon the method of procedure, or the parties to the action; and the court does not now decide any such questions. The single question presented here and decided is, who constitute the board of equalization of assessment of property situated within the territorial limits of a city of the first class for all purposes of taxation, state, county and municipal, for the year 1898?
Appellants maintain that the county commissioners, as ex-officio members of the board of equalization, constitute
Prior to the legislative session of 1893, the respective cities and towns of the state had their own machinery for
“ Sec. 9. This act shall supersede all conflicting provisions of law or charters of cities of the first class relating to the assessment, equalization and collection of general -taxes for municipal purposes: Provided, That in counties*656 having cities of the first class the city council thereof shall select a committee of three members of such council to act with the board of county commissioners as a board of equalization, and shall have the powers and perform the duties concerning the equalization of assessments in their respective cities that are given to the county boards of equalization by the general revenue laws of the state. The city council may provide for the compensation of the members of the committee for the time they are actually engaged as members of the board of equalization.” (Bal. Code, § 1786).
The amendment, in substance, provided a board of equalization for the equalization of values and the correction of errors in assessments within the territorial limits of cities of the first class, and such board was composed of the county commissioners and a committee of three members of the city council. The contention of appellants is that the act of March 9, 1893, as amended by the act of March 21, 1895 (Laws 1895, p. 407), was repealed by the act of March 15, 1897 (Laws 1897, p. 136, Bal. Code, tit. 11, ch. 1). If such repeal were made, it was by implication. Section 58 (Bal. Code, § 1714) of the latter act provides for the composition of the board of equalization for the county. It is the same in this respect as the laws of 1891 and 1893. But, as we have seen in State ex rel. Seattle v. Carson, supra, it has been determined that the general revenue act of 1893 had no application to the special provision of the laws relating to collection of taxes in cities of the first class, of March 9, 1893, supra. They were statutes in pari materia. Then the re-enactment in the general revenue law of 1897, in § 58, supra, relating to the composition of the county board of equalization, was a continuation of the law of 1893, not a new enactment, and therefore no repugnancy was created that had not theretofore existed between the general act and the particular act. The revenue act of 1897 does not contain any repealing clause.
The judgment of the superior court is therefore affirmed.
Dunbar and Anders, JJ., concur.