Board of Education of Cleveland Heights City School Dist. v. Evatt

• Decision Date: 14 February 1940
• Docket Number: 27786.
• Citation: 136 Ohio St. 283,25 N.E.2d 453
• Parties: BOARD OF EDUCATION OF CLEVELAND HEIGHTS CITY SCHOOL DIST. et al. v. EVATT, Tax Com'r, et al.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

25 N.E.2d 453

136 Ohio St. 283

BOARD OF EDUCATION OF CLEVELAND HEIGHTS CITY SCHOOL DIST. et al. v. EVATT, Tax Com'r, et al.

No. 27786.

Supreme Court of Ohio

February 14, 1940

Syllabus by the Court.

1. The jurisdiction of the Board of Tax Appeals to review the decisions of county budget commissions is appellate in nature, and the decisions of such board are final except that appeal may be taken therefrom to the Supreme Court of the state.

2. The Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction to review the decisions of the Board of Tax Appeals on questions of law presented by its record, but in the exercise of such jurisdiction this court will not interfere with a decision of the Board of Tax Appeals unless it appear from a consideration of the entire record that such decision is unreasonable or unlawful.

3. When the board of trustees of a public library certifies its budget requirements for any year to its taxing authority, the latter is required by Section 5625-20, General Code, to certify it in the same amount to the county budget commission; and although the budget commission is obliged to fully consider all budget requests, there is no mandatory duty upon it to allow and fix the budget requirements in such amount.

4. In fixing the budget for qualified public libraries and other units entitled to a distributive share of the classified tax funds available in any county, the county budget commission may exercise its discretion in establishing such budgets according to need.

Appeal from Board of Tax Appeals.

This case involves an appeal from the decision of the Board of Tax Appeals of the Department of Taxation of Ohio, affirming the finding and order of the Budget Commission of Cuyahoga county relating to the budget fixed for the public library of Cleveland Heights for the year 1939. This appeal has been perfected under the provisions of Sections 5611-1 and 5611-2, General Code, and is the first case in which the appellate jurisdiction of this court, as provided by these statutes, has been invoked.

The Board of Trustees of the Cleveland Heights Public Library certified to the Board of Education of Cleveland Heights City School District, the taxing authority of such district (Section 5625-1, General Code), the budget requirements of such public library for the year 1939 as being $125,050, but later reduced by the board of trustees to $115,050. In turn the Board of Education of Cleveland Heights City School District submitted its budget for the year 1939 to the Cuyahoga County Budget Commission, and included in its budget of expenditures the full amount requested by such board of library trustees, all in accordance with Section 5625-20 General Code.

The Budget Commission of Cuyahoga county, acting under authority of Section 5625-24, General Code, allocated and allowed to the Cleveland Heights Public Library the sum of $95,000 instead of $115,050 as requested by the library trustees. On appeal to the Board of Tax Appeals, the action of the budget commission of the county was sustained, and this appeal is to review the order of the Board of Tax Appeals in that regard.

Clinton DeWitt and William B. Woods, both of Cleveland, for appellants.

Thomas J. Herbert, Atty. Gen., and Frank T. Cullitan, Pros. Atty., and Ralph W. Edwards, both of Cleveland, for appellees.

HART Judge.

The two questions presented by the record in this case are: (1) May the county budget commission lawfully reduce the budget requirements for the Cleveland Heights Public Library for the year 1939 below the amount fixed and certified to the taxing authority by the board of trustees of such library; and (2) did the county budget commission abuse its discretion in making such reduction?

The Board of Tax Appeals is created and its powers defined by Sections 1464, 1464-1 and 1464-2, General Code, while its appellate jurisdiction, authorizing it to review the decisions of the Tax Commissioner, of the county boards of revision and of the county budget commissions, is provided by Section 1464-1, paragraph 5, General Code. In the determination of appeals before it, it is clothed with fact-finding power and its decisions are final except that appeals may be taken from them to this court. Section 5611-1, General Code.

The jurisdiction of this court on appeal from the Board of Tax Appeals is created by Section 5611-2, General Code, passed by the General Assembly pursuant to Section 2 of Article IV of the Constitution, wherein it is provided that this court may be given 'such revisory jurisdiction of the proceedings of administrative officers as may be conferred by law.' Section 5611-2, General Code, provides in part:

'The board of tax appeals, upon written demand filed by an appellant, shall, within thirty days after the filing of such demand, file with the supreme court a certified transcript of the record of the proceedings of the board of tax appeals pertaining to the decision complained of, and the evidence considered by the board in making such decision.

'If upon hearing and consideration of such record and evidence the supreme court is of the opinion that the decision of the board of tax appeals appealed from is reasonable and lawful it shall affirm the same, but if the supreme court is of the opinion that such decision of the board of tax appeals is unreasonable or unlawful, it shall reverse and vacate same or it may modify same and enter final judgment in accordance with such modification.'

Such appeals to this court are upon questions of law shown by the record made before the Board of Tax Appeals, the jurisdiction of this court being of the same type and character as that for appeals from the Public Utilities Commission of this state. That being true, this court, as a reviewing court will not interfere with a...