Clark v. Ada County Bd. of Com'rs
| Decision Date | 06 December 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 2,No. 12740,A,2,12740 |
| Citation | 98 Idaho 749,572 P.2d 501 |
| Parties | J. L. "Mike" CLARK, Assessor of Ada County, Idaho, Clarence A. Planting, Clerk of the District Court and Ex-Officio Auditor, Ada County, Idaho, Ada County Property Owners Association, an Idaho Corporation, Don Chance, and Dora Chance, husband and wife, Ada County Taxpayers, Elmo Orr and Ellen Orr, Ada County Taxpayers, Petitioners, v. The ADA COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, the Ada County Board of Equalization, Linda Lund Davis, Individually, Vern Emery, Individually, Gary Bermeosolo, Individually, and as members thereof, the Idaho State Tax Commission, Ewing Little, Individually, Don Loveland, Individually, Jenkin Palmer, Individually, and Larry Looney, Individually, and as members thereof, Respondents, and Joint School Districtda and Canyon Counties, Idaho, City of Meridian, a Municipal Corporation, Garden City, a Municipal Corporation, City of Eagle, a Municipal Corporation, City of Boise, a Municipal Corporation, Ada County Highway District, a body politic of the State of Idaho, Additional Respondents. |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
R. M. Robson of Robson and Croner, Boise, for petitioners.
David Leroy, Pros. Atty., and Jim C. Harris, Chief Civ. Deputy Pros. Atty., Ada County, for respondents Ada County Bd. of Com'rs and its members.
Wayne L. Kidwell, Atty. Gen., and Theodore V. Spangler, Deputy Atty. Gen., for respondents State Tax Com'n and its members.
John O. Fitzgerald of Ambrose, Fitzgerald and Crookston, Meridian, for School Dist. No. 2, Ada and Canyon Counties, and the City of Meridian.
Allen Boyd Ellis of Ellis & Brown, Boise, for Garden City.
Hugh Mossman, Acting City Atty., Boise, for Boise City.
Alfred C. Hagan and David R. Lombardi of Langroise, Sullivan & Smylie, Boise, for Ada County Highway Dist.
This is an original proceeding instituted on August 26, 1977, by petitioners, the Ada County Assessor, the Ada County Clerk of the District Court and Ex-Officio Auditor, the Ada County Property Owners Association, and four taxpayers. Petitioners seek a peremptory writ of prohibition against respondents, the Ada County Board of Commissioners, the Ada County Board of Equalization, the Idaho State Tax Commission, and their members. Petitioners seek to prevent the Ada County Board of Equalization from further acting on the existing 1977 Ada County Real Property Assessment Roll, and the Board of County Commissioners from interfering with the Assessor's supervision of his office personnel and from transferring funds budgeted to the Assessor's office. Additionally petitioners seek to prohibit the Idaho State Tax Commission from acting on or certifying to the Ada County Clerk of the District Court and Ex-Officio Auditor the existing 1977 Ada County Real Property Assessment Roll and from issuing orders or directives to the Ada County Assessor that interfere with the direct management of his office.
Subsequent to the date this petition was filed, the named respondents filed their motion to dismiss the proceedings and the cause was set for argument on September 21, 1977. In the meantime, various Ada County Taxing districts and municipalities moved to intervene and to dismiss the petition. At argument the parties agreed that the intervenors should be treated as additional respondents.
In an order issued on May 7, 1976, by the State Tax Commission, the Ada County Assessor and the Ada County Board of Equalization were directed to conduct a revaluation of all property in Ada County by June 1, 1977, with these values to be shown on the 1977 assessment rolls and used for 1977 tax assessments. The order also provided:
"The county shall retain the services of a qualified professional independent appraiser for the purpose of conducting the valuation program either as an independent contractor or in conjunction with the Ada County assessor's office."
On June 14, 1976, Max P. Arnold and Associates, Inc. entered into a written "CONTRACT FOR APPRAISAL SERVICES" with Ada County, the agreement being approved and executed by the Assessor, J. L. "Mike" Clark, and each of the then members of the Board of County Commissioners.
On May 24, 1977, while the reappraisal program was nearing completion, the State Tax Commission issued a supplemental order. Reciting in its findings that there appeared to be a need to reform procedures in the offices of the Ada County Assessor, Auditor and Treasurer to insure that all tax data would be properly and uniformly processed for the valuation of the property, assessment, equalization, levy and collection of taxes for 1977 and future years, the Commission then directed Ada County, its Board of Commissioners and Board of Equalization to
1. Review, by the Board of Equalization, all values established by the re-appraisal program, including, but not limited to those protested by taxpayers;
2. Extend by 90 days the time to determine all protests, and to submit to the State Tax Commission an estimated abstract of the rolls on or before July 25, 1977.
3. Establish and maintain a parcel numbering system with the data processing equipment and procedures to be used in the county offices; to map, and inventory all new property and to verify all taxing district boundaries.
4. Establish, under the Board of County Commissioners, an independent and permanent data processing audit system to review and audit all procedures and results of valuation, assessment, equalization, levy, collection and payment of taxes.
5. Supervise, through the Board of County Commissioners, the activities of the county and county officers relating to the assessment, levy and collection of the taxes at all stages.
6. Submit within 45 to 60 days a written report showing the steps taken to implement the provisions of the order and progress made.
After the issuance of this Supplemental Order, the present Board of County Commissioners issued a "policy statement" on June 30, 1977. This statement provided that Max P. Arnold and Associates, Inc., would be retained to review and process appeals of the 1977 Notice of Valuations and to review the 1977 roll as agents of the Board of Equalization for the purpose of any recommendation on final actions on the roll, and that the reappraisal function for purposes of the 1978 roll would be returned to the office of the Assessor. The policy statement also included a staffing plan for a reappraisal office and a staffing plan and tentative program for a "permanent audit division," which was to audit independently the "procedures and results" of the taxing system. The policy statement also provided for transferring funds from the Assessor's office in order to accomplish the continuing reappraisal, but made no provisions for requiring the consent or supervision of the Assessor.
By the end of June, 1977, the reappraisal project was completed and the tax roll for 1977 prepared by Arnold & Associates. The Assessor "transmitted" the roll to the Board of County Commissioners on June 24, 1977, stating he was unable to verify the rolls (required by I.C. §§ 63-318 and 63-319) because he had no knowledge of its accuracy. The Board of Equalization accepted the roll without verification and delivered it to the Auditor for preparation of abstracts. On July 25, 1977, the Auditor submitted the abstract of the assessment roll to the State Tax Commission. This abstract was certified by the Auditor and examined and approved by the Assessor on the date of its transmittal. The State Tax Commission approved the abstract as modified on August 22, 1977 (the fourth Monday of August), and it was certified on August 26, 1977, the day this proceeding was instituted.
Petitioners specifically seek to prohibit the Board of County Commissioners of Ada County from the following acts "a. From acting further as an Ada County Board of Equalization on the existing 1977 Ada County Real Property Assessment Roll.
b. From interfering in any unlawful manner with the Ada County Assessor's supervision of personnel employed by his office.
c. From transferring funds lawfully budgeted or dedicated to the use of the Ada County Assessor's office."
They also seek to prohibit the Idaho State Tax Commission from the following acts:
Article 5, Section 9 of the Idaho Constitution grants this court original jurisdiction to issue writs of prohibition. The function of a writ of prohibition and the circumstances in which it is appropriate are generally set out in Title 7, Chapter 4 of the Idaho Code. As therein defined, a writ of prohibition is an extraordinary writ issued to arrest the proceedings of a tribunal, corporation, board or person acting without or in excess of its jurisdiction. I.C. § 7-401. By this writ a court intervenes in judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings to prevent acts or proceedings without or in excess of authority. The remedy is therefore preventive in nature. In re Miller, 4 Idaho 711, 43 P. 870 (1896). However, even in cases where jurisdiction may be lacking or exceeded, a writ of prohibition will issue only if no plain, speedy and adequate remedy at law is available. I.C. § 7-402. See Pfirman v. Probate Court, 57 Idaho 304, 64 P.2d 849 (1937); Murphy v. McCarty, 69 Idaho 193, 204 P.2d 1014 (1949).
In defining the writ of prohibition, the Idaho Code merely codifies the characteristics of the common law writ. Stein v. Morrison, 9 Idaho 426, 75 P. 246 (1904). Under Idaho common law, the writ of prohibition is a discretionary remedy, granted only when the court is satisfied that the remedy is appropriate. Rust v. Stewart, 7 Idaho 558, 64 P. 222 (1901). As we held in that case, this extraordinary writ will not be granted when its...
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...the writ of prohibition, the Idaho Code merely codifies the characteristics of the common law writ." Clark v. Ada Cnty. Bd. of Comm'rs , 98 Idaho 749, 752, 572 P.2d 501, 504 (1977) (citing Stein v. Morrison , 9 Idaho 426, 75 P. 246 (1904) ). The writ of prohibition is a discretionary remedy......
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