Chicago, B.&Q.R. Co. v. People ex rel. Sonnet

• Citation: 72 N.E. 1105,213 Ill. 458
• Court: Supreme Court of Illinois
• Decision Date: 09 February 1905
• Parties: CHICAGO, B. & Q. R. CO. v. PEOPLE ex rel. SONNET, County Collector.

213 Ill. 458

72 N.E. 1105

CHICAGO, B. & Q. R. CO.

v.PEOPLE ex rel. SONNET, County Collector.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Feb. 9, 1905.

Appeal from Adams County Court; C. B. McCrory, Judge.

Application by the people, on the relation of Frank Sonnet, county collector of Adams county, for judgment and order of sale against the property of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company for delinquent taxes. From a judgment overruling objections to the tax, defendant appeals. Reversed.Joseph N. Carter and Matthew F. Carrott (Chester M. Dawes, of counsel), for appellant.

James N. Sprigg, Co. Atty., for appellee.

At the June term, 1904, of the county court of Adams county, the county collector made application for judgment and order of sale against appellant's property for delinquent tax for the year 1903. Appellant filed 17 objections, covering $473.55 of the county tax, $21.99 of the district school tax, $8.62 of the tax of the village of Golden, and $277.90 of the road and bridge tax of the various townships. The objections to these various amounts are that they are in excess of the maximum amount allowed by law; that the statutes under which the valuations were made and equalized are unconstitutional and void; and because the county board at its September session in 1903, did not determine the amounts of all taxes to be raised for county purposes, nor any or either of them, and did not state separately the amounts to be raised for each purpose. The objections were submitted to the court upon an agreed state of facts, the material parts of which are as follows: (1) That appellant is the owner of certain railroad property in said county, all of which was listed for taxation for the year 1903; (2) that the county tax levy was made at the rate of 75 cents on each $100 of valuation, upon a total valuation of $12,445,418; (3) that this valuation is the sum of the total valuation as fixed by the county board of review, together with the total valuation of all railroad property and capital stock as fixed by the State Board of Equalization; (4) that the total value of all of appellant's property assessed for the year 1903 in the county, as fixed by the State Board of Equalization, was $631,165; (5) that the total county tax levied and assessed against appellant's property, and for which judgment was asked, was the sum of $4,733.91, and that the assessment was levied at the rate of 75 cents on each $100 of the said $631,165; (6) that the total valuation of all property in said county as equalized by the State Board of Equalization was $11,184,628, and that a tax of 75 cents on each $100 of this valuation would produce the sum of $83,884.71; (7) that in order to produce a tax aggregating the sum of $83,884.71 on the valuation aforesaid, of $12,445,418, as fixed by the board of review, required a tax rate of 67 1/2 cents on each $100 of the aforesaid total valuation of $12,445,418; (8) that the county tax of $4,733.91 assessed against appellant's property exceeded the rate of 67 1/2 cents on each $100 of valuation of the aforesaid total of $12,445,418, and that the amount of such excess is $473.55; (9) that the total amount of taxes for all purposes levied and assessed against appellant's property, and for which judgment was asked, was the sum of $22,970.37, and that the sum last aforesaid included the county taxes, amounting to $4,733.91; (10) that on April 29, 1904, appellant tendered to the county collector the sum of $22,188.31, which was all the tax levied or assessed against its property, except the sum of $473.55 of county tax, and except, also, the several amounts assessed for road and bridge taxes, district school taxes, and village tax, above enumerated, which tender was then and there refused by the county collector for the reason that it did not include all of the taxes assessed against the appellant, and that appellant has duly brought this sum into court as a tender. In addition to this agreed state of facts, the county clerk identified the order of the board of supervisors made at its September meeting, 1903, levying the tax for county purposes, and he also testified to various facts not necessary to be here recited. All of the objections were overruled, and judgment and order of sale entered. From this judgment an appeal has been prosecuted to this court.

WILKIN, J. (after stating the facts).

It is first insisted that the county tax as levied by the board of supervisors at its September meeting, 1903, was to the extent of $473.55-the amount objected to-in excess of the maximum allowed by law, and was to this extent illegal and void; that the same error was committed in regard to the road and bridge taxes, the school tax, and the corporation tax of the village of Golden.

The levy for county purposes, as made by the supervisors, is as follows:

‘By the Finance Committee.

‘To the Board of Supervisors-Gentlemen: We, your finance committee, in the exercise of the powers conferred by law on county boards for that purpose, find that the necessary expenditures of the county of Adams for the current year, in the discharge of the obligations imposed upon said county by law, will require a sum of money to be collected by general taxation equal to seventy-five cents on the $100 valuation of the taxable property of this county, and recommend the adoption of the following order: That there be and is hereby levied for the expenditures of the current year for county purposes, a tax of seventy-five cents on the $100 valuation, and at that rate upon all property within the county of Adams as shown by the assessed and equalized valuation thereof as assessed by the Adams county board of review, and upon all property within said county as originally valued and assessed by the State Board of Equalization for the year 1903 for the purpose of taxation, and that the county clerk be and is hereby instructed to extend the said rate of seventy-five cents on each $100 valuation in accordance with this order. Adopted.’

This order of the county board directed the clerk to levy 75 cents, the highest rate allowed by law, on each $100 of the valuation made by the county board of review. It is insisted by the appellant that by extending 75 cents on $12,445,418, the valuation fixed by the board of review, a county tax of $93,340.63 was produced, and that by levying such tax of 75 cents on the valuation of the state board, which amounted to $11,184,628, a county tax of only $83,884.71 would have been produced, and that this is the maximum amount of taxes for county purposes which could have been lawfully assessed, and was, to the extent of $9,455.93, in violation of the statute, and of this amount $473.55 was assessed against appellant's property. Each objection as to the road and bridge tax, district, school tax, and village tax is based upon the same limitation. The question for determination, therefore, is whether these taxes, being the maximum provided by law, should be extended upon the basis of assessment as made by the board of review or by the State Board of Equalization.

Section 8 of article 9 of the Constitution provides: ‘County authorities shall never assess taxes, the aggregate of which shall exceed seventy-five cents per $100 valuation, except for the payment of indebtedness existing...