135 Minn. 274 | Minn. | 1916
Plaintiff, county treasurer of Pennington county, on December 31, 1914, presented a bill to the county for “fees collections on Ditches from Nov.. 1, 1913, to Dec. 31, 1914.” The bill was for services in making collection of instalments of principal and interest on assessments for 12 county ditches which had been previously constructed. The county board disallowed the claim and plaintiff appealed to the district court. The court allowed the claim. There is no question as to the amount of the claim, if the treasurer is entitled to receive any allowance from the county for this service.
The basis for the claim is G. S. 1913, § 5571, which provides for the allowance of certain fees and expenses “for services rendered under this act,” among which are the following:
“To the county auditor, the county attorney, the attorney for petitioners, the clerks of the district court, the register of deeds, the sheriff and other officers or persons performing duties hereunder, such reasonable compensation as shall be fixed by the county board * *
Plaintiff contends that the authorization of other compensation to “other officers * * * performing duties hereunder” includes a county treasurer. It is .the contention of the state, first, that the treasurer, not being named, is not one of the officers for whom compensation is provided, and, second, that the services in question are not services for which compensation is provided. It may be that the words “and other officers * * * performing duties hereunder” are broad enough to include the county treasurer, if in making these collections he performs any
The ditch law contemplates that all cost and expense incident to the construction of ditches shall be borne, not by the public generally, but by the parties benefited, and that the cost and expense shall be paid, not out of funds raised by general taxation, but out of funds raised by assessment against the' land benefited. Provision is accordingly made that the'county auditor shall make a statement giving the total cost of the ditch and the description of the lands benefited, and the amount of the benefit to each parcel (G. S. 1913, § 5543), and upon the filing of the county auditor’s statement the amount assessed against each parcel becomes a lien thereon. Section 5544. Such liens are paid in ten annual instalments, which the county board may increase to 15 annual instalments, the first to be payable at the end of five years. G. S. 1913, § 5548. Provision is made for the issuance of bonds to presently defray the “expense incurred or to he incurred in locating, constructing and es-' tablishing” the ditch, and the word “expense” is construed to' mean and to cover every item of cost of said ditch from its inception to its completion, and “all fees and expenses to be incurred in pursuance thereof.” Section 5542.
The services for which charge is made in this case are not services rendered in connection with the establishment or construction of the ditch, but services rendered after the construction was complete. If the county treasurer is entitled to compensation for his services involved in the collection of these assessments, the county auditor is likewise entitled to compensation for the services performed by him in connection with the collection and distribution of assessments. It is the'opinion of the court that neither officer is entitled to such compensation.
There is no provision in the statute for allowance for services of any character, save such as may be included in the amounts for which a lien is given upon land benefited by the ditch.
Sections 5542, 5543 and 5571, taken together, clearly intend that there shall be no allowance for services except such as are properly audited and allowed at the time of the construction of the ditch. There is no provision for allowances to be made from year to year during the years to come.
We think that the allowance to the county treasurer of compensation in addition to his salary, for collecting ditch assessments, is not authorized by statute, and the judgment sustaining such allowance must be reversed.
So ordered.