Alexander v. Mayor and Bd. of Aldermen of City of Natchez

• Decision Date: 07 December 1953
• Docket Number: No. 38999,38999
• Citation: 68 So.2d 434,219 Miss. 78
• Parties: ALEXANDER et al. v. MAYOR AND BOARD OF ALDERMEN OF CITY OF NATCHEZ et al.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 434

68 So.2d 434

219 Miss. 78

ALEXANDER et al. v. MAYOR AND BOARD OF ALDERMEN OF CITY OF NATCHEZ et al.

No. 38999.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Dec. 7, 1953.

Chas. F. Engle, R. L. Netterville, Natchez, for appellants.

Brandon, Brandon, Hornsby & Handy, Laub, Adams, Forman & Truly, Natchez, for appellees.

ETHRIDGE, Justice.

This is a taxpayers' suit against the Mayor and Board of Aldermen of the City of Natchez, Mississippi, attacking the validity of a contract between the city and a firm of expert property appraisers. No proof was taken, the decrees in the chancery court being on special and general demurrers. For purposes of this decision on the demurrers, we assume the facts properly pleaded in the bill of complaint to be true.

Several amendments to the original bill of complaint were filed by appellants, Alma Alexander et al., taxpayers in the City of Natchez and complainants below, but since the decrees appealed from have reference to the final 'amendment to amended bill of complaint', we will refer to that pleading as the bill of complaint. Appellants complied with the requirement of such bills that they invite all other taxpayers to join in the suit. The defendants below and appellees and cross-appellants here are the present Mayor and Board of Aldermen of the City of Natchez, and others who were such officers of the city of the time the contract hereinafter referred to was executed, and John D. Cole, Harold F. Layer, and Melvin J. Trumble of Dayton, Ohio, doing business as Cole-Layer-Trumble Company, a partnership (hereinafter referred to as company). On February 16, 1950, the City of Natchez entered into a contract with Cole-Layer-Trumble Company. A photostatic copy of that contract was attached as an exhibit to the bill. The contract was executed for the City of Natchez by its mayor and city clerk, approved by the city attorney, and by the company. Prior thereto and on January 10, 1950, the mayor and Board of Aldermen unanimously adopted a resolution and order authorizing the mayor to execute with the Cole-Layer-Trumble Company a contract for professional services by the latter in making a detailed appraisal and valuation study of all properties in the city, upon the company filing bond with the city clerk 'to be approved as to form by the city solicitor * * * and as to security by the city clerk' in the amount of $51,250, 'for a term of two years conditioned to faithfully perform said articles of agreement.' This resolution recited and the exhibit reflects that a copy of this contract with the company was attached to the resolution.

The contract manifestly was attempted to be executed under the provisions of Code 1942, Sec. 3736. This statute was first passed in Mississippi Laws of 1938, Extraordinary Session, Chapter 19, as part of the Municipal Home Exemption Act of 1938. Section 3736 was repealed by Mississippi Laws of 1950, Chapter 492, Sec. 45, which is Code Section 3742-45, which went into effect on July 1, 1950, and on that date Section 3736 was superseded by Mississippi Laws 1950, Chapter 492, Sec. 30, which is Code Section 3742-30. That latter statute is still in effect and is practically the same as the old act. Section 3736, in effect at the time the instant contract was executed, provided:

'Surveys and appraisals authorized.--The governing authority of any municipality in this State is hereby authorized, in its discretion, to have the lands in the municipality (whether platted in lots and blocks or otherwise described) appraised, surveyed, the area determined, and the land and any buildings, structures or improvements thereon valued for the purpose of assessment and taxation. Such survey and appraisal may be made by the assessor or by a competent person, or persons, to be selected by the authority, and the cost thereof paid from the general fund. When such survey and appraisal is made, a permanent record thereof shall be prepared and preserved as a public record by the clerk; and the assessor, any member of the governing authority or any State official performing duties with reference to the assessment of property shall have access to such records at all reasonable hours.

'The governing authority may have prepared cards, maps, plats and such other records as may be considered proper and necessary to keep a record of all land and the elements of value thereof, in the municipality, and to revise and correct the same, from time to time, in order that such appraisal, and the other information, may be current.'

The contract executed in pursuance of the resolution of the Mayor and Board of Aldermen of Natchez consists of six typewritten pages with a detailed outline of the duties of Cole-Layer-Trumble Company. The contract first provided: '* * * it is hereby agreed that the Cole-Layer-Trumble Company shall cause to be made property maps and an appraisal and revaluation of the following items, to-wit:

'A. Mapping, plotting, and indexing of all properties within the present city limits of Natchez, Mississippi.

'B. Appraisal of all taxable real property, Residential, Commercial and Industrial situated within the present city limits of Natchez, Mississippi.

'C. Appraisal of Furniture and Fixtures in Commercial Establishments and Machinery and Equipment in the Industrial Plants located in the present city limits of Natchez, Mississippi.'

Paragraph 1 of the contract then stated: 'Direction of Mapping and Revaluation Program. It is specifically agreed that in the mapping, reappraisal and revaluation, for assessment purposes, of the properties covered by this contract, the Assessor of the City is to act and serve as Appraiser in Chief. All final decisions as to final assessed valuations, procedures followed, and forms used in the revaluation work shall be made by the Assessor.'

The agreement then contained additional detailed paragraphs numbered 2 through 13. Paragraph 2 provided for a 'mapping program' to be followed. The company would provide the services of experienced and competent engineers, draftsmen and surveyors. It would furnish new aerial photographs of the city, prepare new tax maps showing all lots and tracts with dimensions and ownership, set up a card index system based on a geographical and alphabetical filing card system of all properties in the city, tying it in with existing tax records, furnish stenographers and clerical assistants, and prepare a new city map. Under paragraph 3 the company would make a careful investigation of current industrial, commercial and residential construction costs in the city, including prices of materials and wage schedules, and after analyzing these data it would develop unit costs to include these and all other relevant factors, and would test these unit prices for accuracy against buildings of known costs in the city.

Paragraph 4, providing for the valuation of residential property, stated: 'Each building will be accurately measured, inspected, classified, and listed on an appraisal record card supplied by the Company. These record cards will include an outline dimension sketch of each residence with its physical description indicated. Replacement, physical, and sound values of each residence will be shown. Land values will be computed on the basis of frontage and depth from unit front foot values established by the Company and approved by a committee of local authorities. Upon completion of the proposed work all of these record cards, together with schedules used in the appraisal, will be turned over to the Assessor of the City for use in preparing the tax roll.'

Paragraphs 5, 6, 7, and 8 had somewhat similar detailed statements of what the company would do in the valuation, respectively, of commercial property, industrial property, machinery and equipment in industrial plants, and furniture, fixtures and equipment of commercial establishments. Paragraphs 9-12 provided that the company would have made available to it all tax records, deeds and other records pertaining to city property; that the city would furnish the company office space for the survey; that the company would complete its reports within ten months from the execution of the contract; that the company would make available to the city in its equalization of property values the services of its chief appraiser and the services of its qualified representatives to support any revaluations in litigation in the courts within one year from the completion of the appraisal, without additional cost to the city. In consideration of these services the city agreed to pay the company $51,250, in monthly payments based upon ninety percent of the estimated proportion of the work completed during each month, with the balance of ten percent to be paid upon completion and delivery of the finished reports by the company.

The bill of complaint assailed the validity of the contract with the company in numerous details, but essentially its basis of attack was on two grounds: First, it was charged that the contract was not authorized by law and was void because it provided a method of valuation in violation of Mississippi Constitution, Sec. 112, and statutes and Second, it was averred that the contract was void because of several procedural defects in the manner and method of its execution. For those reasons the complainants asked for a decree declaring the contract void and unenforceable, and adjudging that all money paid to the company under the contract should be returned to the city; for a judgment against the company for the amounts so paid; and in the alternative a judgment against the members of the board of aldermen and the mayor who made the contract and approved the payments, on the condition that the city cannot recover from the company. The bill further asked that the city be enjoined from making further payments under the contract and from paying any money to attorneys defending this suit for the city. To that bill Cole-Layer-Trumble Company filed a special demurre...