Board of Commissioners v. Union Pacific Railroad Company

• Decision Date: 01 April 1918
• Docket Number: 907
• Citation: 171 P. 668,25 Wyo. 463
• Parties: BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS v. UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

171 P. 668

25 Wyo. 463

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS v. UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY

No. 907

Supreme Court of Wyoming

April 1, 1918

QUESTIONS certified from the District Court, Carbon County HON. V. J. TIDBALL, Judge.

Action by the Board of the County Commissioners of the County of Carbon against the Union Pacific Railroad Company, for the collection of a tax levied to aid an incorporated fair association. Defendant demurred to the petition, and the court certified certain questions of a constitutional character to the Supreme Court for decision.

A. J Rosier, for plaintiff.

Herbert V. Lacey and John W. Lacey, for defendant.

The statute, Chapter 55, Laws 1915, authorizing a tax by counties for the aid of incorporated fair associations is in clear violation of the State Constitution (Art. XVI, Section 6) and is therefore void; the tax levied by the county commissioners of Carbon County pursuant thereto is uncollectable. The Constitution expressly prohibits the making of donations by counties to or in aid of any individual, association or corporation, except for the necessary support of the poor. The fact that the fair association was organized for the development of the county resources does not change the situation.

BEARD, JUSTICE. POTTER, C. J., and MENTZER, District Judge, concur. JUSTICE BLYDENBURGH having announced his disqualification to sit in this case, HON. WM. C. MENTZER, Judge of the First Judicial District, was called in and sat in his stead.

OPINION

BEARD, JUSTICE.

In this case the constitutionality of Chapter 55 of the Session Laws of 1915 having arisen in the District Court, that court upon the joint motion of the parties and upon its own motion, reserved its decision of the question, and under the provisions of Sections 5136, 5137 and 5138 of the Compiled Statutes of 1910 certified that question to this court for its decision. The question arose upon a demurrer to the plaintiff's petition, the substance of the material averments of which are that Carbon County Fair Association was and is a private corporation organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of this state, having its principal office and place of business in Carbon County. That said association, according to its articles of incorporation, was organized for the purposes of conducting fairs within said county, and for the development of the resources of said county. That on June 2, 1915, the said association by its proper officers duly made application in writing to the plaintiff, in the manner provided by law, for an appropriation by plaintiff of the sum of $ 2,500.00 in the manner provided in said Chapter 55, S. L. 1915, and in conformity therewith. The plaintiff granted said application, and thereafter on September 7, 1915, levied a tax of $ .00016 on each dollar of the assessed valuation of the taxable property within said county for the year 1915, to pay said association said sum. That defendant's proportionate share of said tax upon its property subject to taxation in said county for said year was $ 691.14. That on December 31, 1915, defendant served a notice in writing upon the county treasurer of said county that it refused to pay said tax or any part thereof, and has ever since refused to pay the same.

The defendant demurred to the petition on the ground that it failed to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, and in various forms and language challenged the constitutionality of said Chapter 55.

The first section of said Chapter 55, which is the only one involved here, is as follows:

"Whenever it appears to the board of county commissioners of any of the several counties of the state that a county fair association has been duly incorporated under the laws of Wyoming, whose articles of incorporation show that the association was organized for the development of the county resources and that the association has expended in actual money the sum of not less than two thousand ($ 2,000.00) dollars for improvements, and that the association is being managed by competent and reputable business people, and whose executive officers shall make an application in writing for financial assistance, the board of county commissioners of such county may levy upon all taxable property in such...