Atoka Cnty. v. Okla. State Bank

• Decision Date: 19 December 1916
• Docket Number: Case Number: 7893
• Citation: 1916 OK 1036,62 Okla. 57,161 P. 1087
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court
• Parties: ATOKA COUNTY v. OKLAHOMA STATE BANK.

1916 OK 1036

161 P. 1087

62 Okla. 57

ATOKA COUNTY v. OKLAHOMA STATE BANK.

Case Number: 7893

Supreme Court of Oklahoma

Decided: December 19, 1916

Syllabus

¶0 1. Taxation--Assessments Correction.

At the time this cause arose, the sole method by which erroneous assessments of taxes might be corrected or values equalized was by proceeding before the board of equalization and appeal to the courts, the application to the county board of equalization to be made prior to the payment of taxes so assessed. Proceedings under sec. 14, chap. 152, Session Laws of 1910-11, for refund of taxes erroneously assessed and paid, held void.

2. Same--Tax Assessor--Duties.

It is the duty of the tax assessor to correctly revise the assessment roll as per order of the county board of equalization before transmitting his abstract to the state board of equalization. Held, in the instant case, that if he failed so to do, relief cannot be had from the board of county commissioners.

3. Same--Assessments--Equalization--County Commissioners.

The board of county commissioners, as such, is not a board of equalization. While the county board of equalization has the same personnel as the board of county commissioners, yet the boards are differently organized, perform separate functions, and are independent of each other.

4. Same--Appeals.

Section 15, chap. 152, Session Laws 1910-11, prescribing the method of appeal from county boards of equalization, does not apply to appeals from boards of county commissioners.

5. Same.

Sections 1640 and 1641, Rev. Laws 1910, prescribe the method of appeal from actions of the board of county commissioners at the time of the appeal herein.

6. Same.

An appeal taken from an action of the board of county commissioners, on behalf of the county, by the county attorney, under secs. 1640 and 1641 of Rev. Laws of 1910, upon the written demand of seven or more taxpayers of the county, said action relating to the interests or affairs of the county at large, or any portion thereof, held proper in this case.

7. Same.

If such appeal is taken by the county attorney, the matter is tried de novo in the district court, and it is not necessary, in the notice of appeal, to set forth specifically the grounds therefor.

8. Same.

The action of the board of county commissioners in assuming jurisdiction under the latter part of sec. 14, chap. 152, Session Laws of 1910-11, and in determining that an erroneous assessment has been made, and ordering return or refund of portion of taxes collected is of a judicial nature and, though void, may be appealed from to the district court.

9. Same.

Action of the district court in dismissing appeal of county attorney taken on behalf of the county upon the written demand of seven taxpayers from action of the board of county commissioners attempting to remit and refund portion of taxes paid by reason of alleged erroneous assessment, held to be error in this case.

Error from District Court, Atoka County; J. H. Linebaugh, Judge.

Proceedings by the Oklahoma State Bank, a corporation, against Atoka County, to recover taxes. An appeal to the district court from the action of the board of county commissioners being dismissed, Atoka County brings error. Reversed and remanded.

J. W. Clark, Co. Atty., and M. C. Haile, Asst. Co. Atty., for plaintiff in error.

R. M. Rainey, for defendant in error.

STEWART, C.

¶1 On the 28th day of January, 1915, the defendant in error, the Oklahoma State Bank, filed an affidavit before the board of county commissioners of Atoka county, Okla., claiming refund of taxes alleged to be erroneously assessed for the year 1914, in the sum of $ 786.80. Said affidavit was filed under sec. 14, chap. 152, Session Laws of Oklahoma, 1910-11, and contains the following allegations:

"Personally appeared before the undersigned authority in and for said county, Jas. Hudspeth, cashier of the Oklahoma State Bank of Atoka, Okla., who being by me first duly sworn, deposes and says: That in the year 1914 his bank rendered their taxes to the county assessor as follows:

Capital, surplus and undivided profits $ 65,000.00

Less real estate 18,260.00

Less Oklahoma bonds and warrants 28,000.00

$ 46,260.00

Leaving a balance of $ 18,740.00

"That he was summoned to appear before the county commissioners and show why same should not be raised, that said cashier did appear, and it was agreed and placed on the books of the assessor as outlined above, and is still on the books of the assessor in the above amounts, but for some reason the assessment was raised to the county treasurer in the sum of $ 28,000. Therefore making an erroneous assessment against me of $ 28,000, amounting to $ 786.80, and ask that the same be remitted, refunded, as the law provides."

¶2 On the 2d day of February, 1915, the board of county commissioners of Atoka county, acting on such affidavit, ordered the county treasurer to remit and refund the sum of $ 786.80 to the Oklahoma State Bank as being erroneously assessed against said bank for the year 1914. The county attorney, acting under the provisions of secs. 1640 and 1641, Rev. Laws of Oklahoma of 1910, and upon the written demand of seven taxpayers of the county, appealed on behalf of Atoka county to the district court of said county, from such action of the board. On February 19, 1915, notice of appeal was served on a member of the board of county commissioners, and also on the president of the bank. The appeal was filed in the district court of Atoka county on February 20, 1915. The defendant in error, Oklahoma State Bank, on March 6, 1915, filed a motion in the district court to dismiss the appeal, setting up the following grounds, to wit: First, that the order attempted to be appealed from is not an appealable order; second, that the purported appeal was not taken in the manner or in the form provided by the laws of Oklahoma. Thereafter, and on the 9th day of June, 1915, the district court made an order dismissing the appeal, to which action of the court the county attorney excepted, and on the part of Atoka county has appealed to this court from the order of the court below dismissing the appeal.

¶3 At the time the proceedings were had in the court below, sec. 14, chap. 152, Session Laws 1910-11, had not been construed by this court. The latter part of said section provides:

"If any such taxes, so erroneously assessed shall have been paid, the same shall be a valid charge against the county and shall be refunded by the board of county commissioners and the amount of such refunded taxes, which have been paid over to any municipality, or to the state, shall be deducted from the tax money due the state or such municipality at the next settlement."

¶4 In Johnson v. Grady County, 50 Okla. 188, 150 P. 497, the clause quoted is held to be unconstitutional.

¶5 At the time the claim of defendant in error was presented to the board of county commissioners, chap. 19, Session Laws 1916, had not been enacted, and it was the law of this state that the sole method by which erroneous assessments of taxes may be corrected or values equalized was by proceeding before the boards of equalization, and appeal therefrom to the courts, such proceedings to be instituted before the payment of the tax complained of. Section 7370, Rev. Laws 1910; chap. 87, sec. 3, Session Laws 1910; Johnson v. Grady County, supra; Board of County Commissioners, Canadian County et al. v. Tinklepaugh et al., 49 Okla. 440, 152 P. 1119; Lusk et al. v. Porter, Co. Treas., 53 Okla. 294, 156 P. 224. Chapter 19, Session Laws 1916, purports to lodge certain authority concerning these matters in the board of county commissioners. Said act is not material to this case.

¶6 The claim of defendant in error arose over an alleged erroneous assessment for the year 1914. The same was not filed until the 28th day of January, 1915, long after the expiration of the time for making up the tax rolls. It is provided by our statutes that the county board of equalization shall sit on the first Monday in June of each year, and that the assessor shall correctly revise the assessment roll as per order of the county board of equalization; that not later than Saturday before the third Monday in June of each year he shall make an abstract of the assessment as revised by the county board of equalization and transmit the same to the state board of equalization, and that immediately after the receipt of the report from the state board of equalization the assessor shall proceed to revise his assessment rolls accordingly. Section 12, chap. 152, Session Laws 1910-11.

¶7 It is further provided by sec. 7374, Rev. Laws 1910, that the state board of equalization shall hold its annual meeting on the third Monday in June of each year, or as soon thereafter as the total valuation of all the property in the state subject to taxation shall have been ascertained, and that the state board of equalization shall--

"compute the amount appropriated to pay the expenses of the state government for the period aforesaid with 20 per cent. added thereto as an allowance for delinquent taxes. From the actual amount thus computed shall be deducted the estimated income of the state from all sources other than from the levy hereby made. The amount so ascertained shall be certified by the state auditor to the clerks of the several counties in this state, and shall be entered upon the tax rolls thereof."

¶8 From the record in this case it appears that the complaint was filed before the board of county commissioners by the defendant in error on January 28, 1915, after the completion of the tax rolls for year 1914, and after defendant in error had paid its taxes for the year 1914. It is held by Justice Sharp, of this court, in Lusk et al. v. Porter, County Treasurer, supra, that:

"Where the county commissioners, acting as a county board of equalization, as provided in sec. 12, chap. 152. Session Laws 1910-11, complete their labors, and the county assessor, in the manner and within the

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