154 P. 773 | Utah | 1916
Lead Opinion
On the 11th day of August, 1915, one W. T. Rex, as chairman of the board of county commissioners of Rich County,
From the return made by the defendants it appears that the portion of the railroad in question here had during all of the past years been regarded as lying within Summit County, and not as being in Rich County; that said railroad line had always been assessed in Summit County and apportioned for taxation to said county; that for the year 1915 the tax officer of said railroad company filed the tax statement required by our statute.with the defendants; that in said statement said officer returned 4.98 miles of the main line of railroad and .82 of a mile of side track for taxation in Rich County, and that the attorney for said company demanded that said mileage be assessed in Rich County; that pursuant to said return and demand the defendants assessed the number of miles aforesaid as being in, and apportioned the same for taxation to, said Rich County; that after said apportionment had been made Summit County, in which said 4.98 miles of main line and said side tracks had always been assessed and apportioned, protested against apportioning the same to said Rich County, and, after investigating the matter, said defendants became convinced that they had erred in making said apportionment to said Rich County, and on the 29th day of July, 1915, rescinded their action by which said mileage was apportioned to said Rich County, and apportioned the same for taxation to Summit County, to which county the same had always been apportioned, as* before stated.
“Held that, where a mining company incorrectly reported to the state board of equalization the gross yield of certain mines as located in XT. county, when they were largely located in plaintiff county, and under such report the assessed valuation was apportioned to U. county, plaintiff, after such apportionment and the'rate of taxation had been fixed in accordance therewith, and all levies had been completed, could not maintain mandamus to compel the state bpard of equalization to grant a hearing and reapportion the assessed value of such mining property to plaintiff county.”
It is quite true that there is language used in the opinion from which it might be inferred that after the defendants had made and transmitted the apportionment to the several counties, which they must do not later than the fourth Monday in Jiine of each year, they had no further jurisdiction or power in the premises, but a careful reading of the opinion shows that what was actually decided is expressed in the portion of the headnote which we have quoted above. The headnote is squarely based upon what is said in the opinion. In referring to the question to be decided, we, in the course of the opinion, said:
*383 “The question involved and to he decided now, however, is: Can this court hy writ of mandate coerce said hoard to grant a hearing for the purposes aforesaid after the apportionments have been made, the rate of taxation fixed in accordance with such apportionments, and all levies have been made pursuant thereto?” (Italics mine.)
It is conclusively shown that we there had in mind the additional apportionments which are required to be made by the county commissioners as will hereinafter appear, the determining of the tax rate and the making of the levies, and not only the single apportionment which must be made on the fourth Monday of June by the defendants. Moreover, in concluding the opinion, we said:
“But the right of the plaintiff to invoke the action,"of the state board of equalization and the authority of that board to grant the relief .prayed for at this time and under the circumstances disclosed in the application are too doubtful to authorize us to coerce that hoard to grant the' hearing requested by the plaintiff.”
That application was made in November, when the apportionment there in question had been made on or before the fourth Monday in June. Section 2562, which was then and is now in force, and which we had in mind then, provides:
“On the second Monday in August the board of county commissioners of each county must take and cause to be entered in the proper record an order stating and declaring the property assessed by the state board of equalization apportioned to such county; and the said board of county commissioners, acting as a board of equalization for said county, shall in like manner apportion the assessed valuation of all the property and franchises of railroad, * * * companies, so apportioned to said county by the state board of equalization, to the several city, town, school, road, or other lesser taxing districts in the county. ’ ’
In section 2588, as amended by Laws 1909, p. 105, it is provided that the defendants, before the last Monday in July of each year, must determine the rate of state tax which is “to be levied and collected upon the assessed valuation of the property of the state,” that is, the property assessed within the state. Section 2593, as amended by Laws 1915, p. 191, Section 1, provides:
On that day all the levies must also be completed.
All of the foregoing provisions were therefore in our minds, although they were not all stated or referred to in the opinion in Juab County v. Bailey, supra, and the result in that case was based upon all of them.
We are still of the opinion, and adhere to the ruling, that, after the apportionments have been made and certified to the several counties, the defendants ought not to be, and cannot be, coerced by mandamus to grant a hearing for the purpose of changing an apportionment regularly and timely made to one county and reapportion the same to another county. Within that statement, however, is not included the further pi’opo-sition that in case the defendants had arbitrarily, capriciously, or wrongfully made an apportionment to a county which clearly was not entitled thereto, or, if they, by mistake, had apportioned property to one county which clearly and manifestly should have been apportioned to another, they could not be compelled to correct the wrong in the first instance, or could' not on their own motion or at the instance of others correct the error in the second, provided the application to correct the wrong was made so that it could be heard and determined before the second Monday in August, and the error was corrected before that time, which is the date on which all the apportionments must be completed to all of the lesser taxing units of the several counties and at which time the rate of taxation must be fixed and all the levies made. In Juab County v. Bailey, supra, the county had delayed making its application until all of the apportionments had been made to the lesser taxing units of the several counties and after the rate of taxation had been determined and the levies had been made, although it could have made its application at any time after the second Monday in February and before the fourth Monday in June. Then, again, its claim was one that was, to say the least, doubtful. To oúr minds there is a substantial difference between such a case and one where it is clear that the
There is, however, another reason why the peremptory writ of certiorari should not issue in this case. As we have seen, the application for that writ was not made until the 11th day of August, 1915, or two days after the second Monday of August, the date on which the final apportionments were required to be. made by the county commissioners of the several coun
“Where great public detriment or inconvenience would or might have resulted from interfering with the proceedings of public bodies which exercise rights in which the people at large are concerned, and no substantial injury would -result from its refusal, the writ has been denied, and its allowance in such cases is discretionary.”
The foregoing text is sustained by the great weight of authority. Crosby v. Probate Court, 3 Utah 53, 5 Pac. 552; Hager v. Supervisors, etc., 47 Cal. 228; Keys v. Marin County, 42 Cal. 255; Rutland v. County Com’rs, 20 Pick. (37 Mass.) 79; People v. Mayor, etc., 2 Hill (N. Y.) 12; Woodworth v. Gibbs, 61 Iowa 398, 16 N. W. 287; Meads v. Belt Copper Mine, 125 Mich. 456, 84 N. W. 615; Cavanagh v. Bayonne, 63 N. J. Law 179, 43 Atl. 442. We do not mean to be understood as holding that, where it is clearly -made to appear that an inferior tribunal has exceeded its powers or jurisdiction, the writ should be granted or withheld at the discretion of the court, but what we mean, and now hold, is that, where, as is the ease here, the proceedings complained of are not clearly beyond the jurisdiction or power of the tribunal or body who made them, and where, as here, to set aside the proceedings and to annul them would cause mischievous consequences, in that it would or might seriously affect the revenues of Summit County, the writ should be withheld, and especially so since the application was not made until the time within which all the apportionments to the lesser taxing units and for the levying of all the taxes had fully elapsed.
It is therefore ordered that the writ heretofore issued be, and the same is, quashed, and the application is dismissed at plaintiff’s costs.
Concurrence Opinion
concurring.
It is claimed by the plaintiff that there is about 5.8 miles of railroad owned by the Union Pacific Bailroad Company in Bich County and which ought to have been assessed in that county. The board assessed it as being in Summit County. We, on certiorari, are asked to annul that ruling. I think it was within the province of the board to determine whether the disputed property was within the one of the other county, and that the exercise of the board’s discretion in such a matter cannot be controlled, except for an abuse of discretion. On a review of the board’s proceedings as returned to us I do not find that the board acted arbitrarily, capriciously, or otherwise abused its discretion, or evaded any positive duty. To the contrary, I think it appears that its ruling was based on evidence and upon an investigation as to whether the property is within the one or the other county. True, on the statement made by the railroad company the board first assessed the property as being in Bich County, but, when its attention was called to the matter, and upon investigation and aseerr taining the facts, it rescinded that action and assessed the property as being in Summit County. This, it is said, the board then was without power to do. For the reasons stated by Mr. Justice FBICK, I think the board then had such power, and that it acted within its jurisdiction. Whether it decided the question right or wrong is not the point. It is sufficient that the board acted within its power, and not in abuse of its discretion.