Commercial Merchants Nat. Bank & Trust Co. v. Board of Review of Sioux City

• Decision Date: 11 February 1941
• Docket Number: 45412.
• Citation: 296 N.W. 203,229 Iowa 1081
• Parties: COMMERCIAL MERCHANTS NAT. BANK & TRUST CO. et al. v. BOARD OF REVIEW OF CITY OF SIOUX CITY.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

296 N.W. 203

229 Iowa 1081

COMMERCIAL MERCHANTS NAT. BANK & TRUST CO. et al. v. BOARD OF REVIEW OF CITY OF SIOUX CITY.

No. 45412.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

February 11, 1941

Appeal from District Court, Woodbury County; Miles W. Newby, Judge.

Plaintiffs being the owners of a quarter section of agricultural land within the city of Sioux City, Iowa, made application under 1939 Code, Section 7129.1, to the Mayor and Council of said city, sitting as a Board of Review, alleging that the amount of the assessment and taxes against said land was excessive and unreasonable and out of proportion with that of other real estate within the taxing district, and praying a reduction thereof to an amount that was just and equitable. The application was refused and on appeal to the district court the assessment was reduced in the aggregate amount of $4,000, and the millage levy was reduced from 36.965 to 34.016 mills. The defendant Board has appealed.

Affirmed in part and reversed in part.

V. O DeWitt, Ralph W. Crary, J. E. Marshall, and Ralph C Prichard, all of Sioux City, for appellants.

Kindig, Faville, Kindig & Beebe, of Sioux City, for appellees.

BLISS Justice.

In the objections which the plaintiffs filed with the Board of Review in the spring of 1939, and which were acted upon about June 9, 1939, they alleged: that they acquired ownership after the assessment of the land in 1937; that the aggregate assessments and taxes paid for that year were respectively $14,320 and $502.32; that the lands were unimproved, rough and largely incapable of cultivation, producing little income, and were non-salable. Upon denial of any relief, they perfected an appeal from said action of the Board to the District Court of Woodbury County, and filed their petition therein, alleging the matters above set out, and in addition that the land was located at the extreme eastern limits of the city, far removed from any business district, without the benefit of police or fire protection or of roads; that the property is in one tract and has not been and cannot well be laid off into lots of ten acres or less, or sold for residence purposes; that it has no other use whatsoever, except for agricultural purposes and it is only so used; and that the assessment complained of is out of proportion to the assessments on other property similarly situated. The prayer of the petition asked for an order fixing the fair and reasonable value of the land for the purposes of taxation, and that the assessment as confirmed by the Board be modified in accordance with the order of the court. General equitable relief was prayed.

Defendants filed answer praying for the dismissal of the petition and denying the allegations generally, and specifically that the 1937 assessment of the property had been changed or increased, or that plaintiffs have been aggrieved by any act of the Board or of any public official with respect to the assessment, and averring that the assessment and the action of the Board was in conformity with the laws of Iowa.

Later the plaintiffs filed an amendment to their petition alleging that the land was assessed on a basis of 36.965 mills, which includes a large number of items that are invalid and void and for which the land was not subject to taxation, and praying that the land be decreed not subject to taxation on such millage, but only for road and library...