81 Kan. 6 | Kan. | 1909
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This was an action brought by the Holton Electric Company against the board of county commissioners and the county treasurer of Jackson-county to recover $306.45 paid by the company as taxes, under protest, which it alleges are excessive and
The evidence shows that the commissioners met as a 'board of equalization at the proper time, on June 5, 1905, and proceeded to examine returns, interview assessors, and “make such changes in valuation as in their judgment was deemed equitable.” Each day the commissioners adjourned to meet the following day as a board of equalization, and so continued from day to day until their work was completed, on June 10, 1905. The record of their proceedings does not set out specifically and in detail their action in increasing and equalizing the taxes of the appellant. There are entries, however, opposite the name of the company on the assessment roll under the head of “Total Amount Value” “800,” and then over in another column and under the head of “Valuation as Equalized by Board” “6075,” and under a column of remarks is the entry “Raised by Comrs.” These entries, although not full and formal, show plainly enough that the commissioners, for the purpose
Complaint is made that the chairman of the board was permitted to testify that when the informal entry was made the commissioners were sitting in the capacity of a board of equalization. The testimony of the record alone was probably sufficient, but that given by the chairman supplemented and made clearer a brief and somewhat obscure entry, and in no event can it be considered prejudicial error. (Rock Creek Township v. Codding, 42 Kan. 649.)
As the board of equalization may, in its discretion, fix its own rules for obtaining testimony and gaining information as to the values of property, much of the testimony proposed by the appellant was immaterial. It has been decided that “in equalizing the valuation of tracts of real estate the county board of equalization is not required to examine witnesses, or to resort to any particular class of evidence. It is its own judge of what it will rely on in making its orders, and its conduct will not be controlled by the courts unless it acts corruptly, or in a manner so oppressive, arbitrary or capricious as to amount to fraud.” (Symns v. Graves, 65 Kan. 628, syllabus.) The same rules apply to the equalization of the values of personal property, and
There was no occasion for an inquiry as to whether the board considered other property than that returned to the assessor. In the defendants’ answer it is specifically alleged that the company had listed all of its personal property in the county, and that the same was by the assessor valued at $3200 and assessed for taxation at $800. The reply contained no denial of this 'averment, and hence there was no room for the contention that the valuation was increased because of added property.
No substantial error is found in any of the rulings, and therefore the judgment of the district court is affirmed.