Finney v. Bullard

• Decision Date: 08 February 1908
• Docket Number: 15,483
• Parties: THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF THE COUNTY OF FINNEY et al. v. S. A. BULLARD
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court

94 P. 129

77 Kan. 349

THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF THE COUNTY OF FINNEY et al. v. S. A. BULLARD

No. 15,483

Supreme Court of Kansas

February 8, 1908

Decided January, 1908.

Error from Finney district court; WILLIAM EASTON HUTCHISON, judge.

STATEMENT.

THIS is a suit by S. A. Bullard against the board of county commissioners of Finney county and William Ford, as treasurer of that county, to enjoin the collection of taxes assessed against a body of land owned by plaintiff in Finney county. He alleged that the assessment of the lands for the year 1902 was unjust and excessive, in that they had been assessed on an improper and illegal basis and proportionately higher than a different class of lands in the same county, known as alfalfa lands, and proportionately higher than the personal property of the county. It was further alleged that on an appeal to the board of equalization of the county that tribunal, instead of equalizing the property according to its true value in money, did so according to the usable value of the property, and that the board had placed a high value on the usable value in one case and a very low estimate in the other. There was a demurrer to the petition, which was overruled, after which an answer was filed denying any illegal action, and in a trial before the court the following findings of fact were made:

"(1) The court finds that at all times mentioned herein, and at the time of the commencement of this action, and many years prior thereto, Finney county was a duly organized county of the state of Kansas.

"(2) That William Ford was, at all times mentioned in the pleadings and evidence in this case, the duly elected qualified and acting treasurer of said Finney county.

"(3) That the plaintiff, S. A. Bullard, was, prior to the month of March, 1902, and since that time, the owner of all the lands described in the petition and amended petition as belonging to him, comprising a total of about 11,200 acres.

"(4) That all the lands belonging to said plaintiff and involved in this action as such are described and known as sand-hill lands, and are so designated and classed, as distinguished from other lands in the county.

"(5) That all of said lands belonging to the plaintiff lie south of the Arkansas river, east of Garden City, in Finney county Kansas, and are situated in the range of hills, known as sand-hills, that run parallel with the Arkansas river.

"(6) That said sand-hill lands are of less value than any other class of lands in Finney county.

"(7) That on the first Monday of March, 1902, the several assessors of Finney county met and agreed upon a method and system of valuation of property of said county for the purpose of assessment and taxation for the year 1902, and reached an agreement which is expressed as follows in the minutes of their meeting:

"'Motion made and carried that property be taken at full value, and after exemption is deducted, divide by one-third; also, motion carried that lands be assessed at the same value as two years ago.'

"(8) That on the 5th of March, 1900, the various assessors of said county adopted the following resolution, viz.:

"'After some deliberation it was decided that $ 50 per quarter-section should be the valuation, both of sand-hill land and raw prairie lands, and it was further agreed upon that the assessors should see each section of bottom land, notice carefully the improvements thereon, and use his best judgment in the assessment of the same.'

"(9) That said assessors assessed the lands of the said plaintiff described in the petition, for the purpose of taxation for the year 1902, part thereof at $ 50 per quarter-section and part thereof at $ 65 per quarter-section.

"(10) That the plaintiff appeared before the board of equalization of said county at its meeting in June, 1902, and objected to the valuation of his lands at the sum of $ 65 per quarter-section, and objected to placing the same on the tax-roll for that amount, for the reason that said valuation was greater in proportion than the valuation of other classes of property in said county.

"(11) That the board declined to reduce the valuation below $ 65 per quarter-section and overruled his request, and at the same time increased the valuation of all his lands that had heretofore been valued by the assessors at $ 50 per quarter to $ 65 per quarter-section.

"(12) That the plaintiff insisted upon a reduction of the value of his lands, in order to equalize their valuation with that of other property in the county, but the board of equalization declined to make any reduction.

"(13) That all of the said described lands of the plaintiff were placed upon the tax-rolls of the county at $ 65 per quarter-section for the purpose of taxation for the year 1902.

"(14) That the plaintiff, S. A. Bullard, prior to the commencement of this action, paid to the defendant William Ford, as county treasurer, the sum of $ 116.98, as and for taxes on said described lands so owned by him, which was one-half of the taxes levied against said lands for the year 1902, including one-half of the state taxes assessed thereon.

"(15) That the other half of the state taxes remaining unpaid on the said lands of the plaintiff for the year 1902 was $ 22.88.

"(16) That on the 11th day of July, 1903, and prior to the commencement of this action, the plaintiff tendered to the defendant William Ford, treasurer as aforesaid, in lawful money of the United States, the sum of $ 22.88, to pay the remainder of the state taxes due on said described land for the year 1902. But the defendant Ford refused to receive and accept the same.

"(17) That at the time of the commencement of this action the defendant Ford, as treasurer of the county, was about to sell all of the plaintiff's said lands for taxes claimed to be due thereon for the year 1902, and would have so sold the same except for the injunction which was granted restraining him from so doing.

"(18) That there was, in said Finney county, in the year of 1902, 627,732 acres of land subject to assessment and taxation.

"(19) That the total assessed valuation of lands in Finney county, for the year 1902, was $ 391,698.

"(20) That the average assessed valuation per acre of all the said lands in Finney county, for the purposes of taxation for the year 1902, was 62 1/2 cts.

"(21) That all the personal property in said county was assessed and placed on the tax-rolls of said county for the purpose of taxation, for the year 1902, at one-third of the valuation thereof, after deducting constitutional exemptions.

"(22) That the actual value of the lands of the plaintiff in the month of March, 1902, was $ 1 per acre.

"(23) That there was another and different class of lands in Finney county, known as alfalfa lands; that said lands are scattered over the county, east, north, northwest and west of Garden City, and extend from near the east line of the county to the west line.

"(24) That the lands described in 'Exhibit B,' attached to the plaintiff's amended petition, contain more than fifty tracts of such lands described and known as alfalfa lands, and contain more than 7000 acres, and that such list is a fair average of the alfalfa lands of the county.

"(25) That there is still another class of alfalfa lands in Finney county, which are highly improved, being set to alfalfa, having fruit-trees growing thereon, dwellings and other buildings erected thereon, and being surrounded by fences, and some of them being in close proximity to the city of Garden City; all of which greatly enhance the value of said improved alfalfa lands.

"(26) That the unimproved alfalfa lands described in plaintiff's 'Exhibit B,' and referred to in finding No. 24, were assessed, for the purpose of taxation for the year 1902, and placed on the tax-rolls of said county, at the average value of $ 2.50 per acre.

"(27) That the actual value of such unimproved alfalfa lands, in the month of March, 1902, was about $ 10 per acre--that is, an average value per acre.

"(28) That the average assessed valuation of improved lands, for the year 1902, as shown by the valuation set opposite such on the tax-rolls of the county for that year, is approximately $ 5.75 per acre.

"(29) That the average value in money of such improved alfalfa lands in the month of March, 1902, was about $ 25 per acre.

"(30) That the said lands of the plaintiff were assessed at more than 40 per cent. of their actual value in money; that the unimproved alfalfa lands of Finney county were assessed, in the year 1902, at 25 per cent. of their actual value in money; that the improved alfalfa lands of the county were assessed at less than 25 per cent. of their actual value in money."

On these findings the court awarded a permanent injunction, conditioned upon the payment by the plaintiff of the balance of the state taxes for the year 1902. Of the rulings the defendants complain.

Judgment reversed and cause remanded.

SYLLABUS

SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.

1. TAXATION -- Irregular or Excessive...