Culbreth v. Southwest Ga. Regional Housing Authority

• Decision Date: 03 April 1945
• Docket Number: 15098.
• Citation: 33 S.E.2d 684,199 Ga. 183
• Parties: CULBRETH et al. v. SOUTHWEST GEORGIA REGIONAL HOUSING AUTHORITY.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

33 S.E.2d 684

199 Ga. 183

CULBRETH et al. v. SOUTHWEST GEORGIA REGIONAL HOUSING AUTHORITY.

No. 15098.

Supreme Court of Georgia

April 3, 1945

Syllabus by the Court.

1. The constitution of this State provides that the General Assembly may, by law, exempt from taxation 'all public property' Code, § 2-5002, Const. art. 7, § 2, par. 2, and it has been declared by statute that all such property shall be exempt. Code, § 92-201.

2. All presumptions being in favor of the constitutionality of an act of the General Assembly, it can not be lawfully set aside by the courts unless alleged conflict with the constitution is plain and palpable.

3. The provisions of section 21 of the housing act of 1937, that 'The property of an authority is declared to be public property used for essential public and governmental purposes and not for the purposes of private or corporate benefit and income, and such property and an authority shall be exempt from all taxes and special assessments of the city, the county, the State or any political subdivision,' cannot be said to violate the foregoing provision of the constitution as to tax exemption, or the related constitutional provisions embodied in the Code, §§ 2-5001, 2-5005, Const. art. 7, § 2, pars. 1, 4.

4. In this suit by a regional housing authority to enjoin enforcement of an execution for State and county ad valorem taxes issued against the petitioner and a described tract of land owned by it, upon the ground that the property was exempt from taxation under the constitution and laws of this State, the allegations of the petition were sufficient to show that the property was public property, and as such was exempt from taxation as claimed by the petitioner. The court did not err in overruling the demurrer to the petition.

The inquiry in this case is one relating to tax exemption. On November 13, 1944, Southwest Georgia Regional Housing Authority filed a suit in the superior court of Calhoun County, seeking injunction and other relief against the following named defendants: Albert Culbreth and two other persons in their official capacity as the board of tax assessors of Calhoun County, Georgia, E. E. Plowden as tax collector, and J. B. Adams as sheriff.

The petitioner complained that the tax assessors had assessed at a stated valuation a described tract of land, situated in Calhoun County and containing one acre, more or less, the property of the petitioner, for ad valorem taxes claimed to be due to the State of Georgia and Calhoun County for the year 1943; that in pursuance of this assessment, the tax collector had issued an execution against the petitioner and specially against the tract of land described; and that the sheriff has levied the tax execution on said land as the property of the petitioner, and unless restrained will advertise and sell the land to satisfy such execution. The petitioner alleged and contended that the property so assessed and levied upon is exempt from taxation under the constitution and laws of this State, and the sole object of the suit was to assert and enforce the claimed exemption. The defendants filed a general demurrer, in which they contended among other things, that the provision of the housing act of 1937 on which the plaintiff relied for exemption was unconstitutional for reasons stated. The court overruled the demurrer, and the defendants excepted.

Stated more fully, the petition alleged substantially the following The plaintiff is a public corporation chartered and organized under the housing authorities act of 1937 as amended. Prior to the amendment of 1943, Calhoun County and ten other contiguous counties in southwest Georgia had organized and were functioning as County Housing Authorities, and had entered into certain contracts with the United States Housing Authority, under which they had constructed homes for farmers of low income. Under the terms of these loan contracts, the Housing Authority of Calhoun County had borrowed certain funds from the United States Housing Authority, and with a portion thereof had constructed improvements on the land in question. In April, 1943, in pursuance of the 1943 amendment of the housing authorities law, Calhoun County, Housing Authority and the authorities of the ten other counties named were consolidated into a regional housing authority, which was duly organized as a public corporation under the corporate name, 'Southwest Georgia Regional Housing Authority.' Such regional authority has acquired all the property previously owned by the several county housing authorities, including the property levied on, and has succeeded to all the rights, powers, and immunities of such county authorities.

The tract of land described, approximately one acre in Calhoun County, which has been assessed for taxes and levied on as stated, was a part of the property acquired from the Calhoun County authority by the regional authority upon its creation. Said land was conveyed by the owner of the farm of which it formed a part to the Housing Authority of Calhoun County, under the provisions of the housing authorities law of Georgia as amended, upon the agreement that said authority would construct upon said tract a decent, safe, and sanitary dwelling for use of said farmer or his tenant or sharecropper employed on said farm. The Authority did build on said lot a modest, comfortable, and sanitary house, which was at the time of the levy occupied by a person of low income employed on the adjacent farm, and this new house had replaced a dwelling which on account of dilapidation, age, construction, and physical condition was unsafe and unsanitary, detrimental to health, and unfit for human habitation, and which was demolished under the plan of operation as provided by said housing authorities law. The acquisition of said land and the construction of the dwelling house was financed with funds loaned by the Federal Public Housing Authority to the Housing Authority of Calhoun County in pursuance of the United States housing act, and the housing authorities law of Georgia. The Federal Public Housing Authority agreed to and did purchase ninety per cent. of the bonds issued by the petitioner or its predecessor county authorities, and ten per cent. of said bonds are to be sold to the public, and said bonds are secured and to be paid by annual contributions made by said Federal Public Housing Authority and by a pledge of rents. The annual contributions from the Federal Housing Authority are made for the purpose of enabling the project to maintain its low rent character and to furnish sanitary dwelling accommodations for families of law income who would be unable otherwise to obtain such accommodations.

The property levied on is a part of the comprehensive program of approximately 648 dwellings, some of which have already been erected and others are to be erected in the eleven counties constituting the regional authority, all of which houses are rented or upon completion will be rented to farmers or their tenants or sharecroppers of low income, who otherwise would be unable to obtain safe and sanitary dwelling accommodations, and a corresponding elimination by demolition of the same number of dwelling houses which are unfit for human habitation.

All of said properties are held, owned, and operated by the petitioner strictly in accordance with the State and Federal statutes at the lowest possible rental and without profit as public property and solely for the purpose of providing safe and sanitary dwelling accommodations for families of low income, and are used exclusively for essential public and governmental purposes, and by section 21 of the housing authorities law of Georgia, Laws 1937, p. 230, they are expressly made exempt from all taxes and special assessments of the county and State and its political subdivisions.

The petition alleged that the assessment and the execution were void, because the property was public property and exempt from taxation under the provisions of article VII, section II, paragraph II, of the Georgia constitution, and section 92-201 of the Code of Georgia, and for the further reason that the petitioner is an institution of purely public charity as defined in these laws. The substantial prayers were for injunction, cancellation, and general relief.

Lee Miller, Jr., of Edison, for plaintiffs in error.

Frank L. Forester, of Thomasville, and Spalding, Sibley & Trautman, and W. K. Meadow, all of Atlanta, for defendant in error.

BELL Chief Justice.

Southwest Georgia Regional Housing Authority filed suit against named officers of Calhoun County, seeking, among other things, to enjoin the enforcement of an execution for State and county ad valorem taxes issued against petitioner and a...