Geffert v. Yorktown Independent School Dist.
| Decision Date | 21 April 1926 |
| Docket Number | (No. 8777.)<SMALL><SUP>*</SUP></SMALL> |
| Citation | 285 S.W. 345 |
| Parties | GEFFERT v. YORKTOWN INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DIST. |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
Appeal from District Court, De Witt County; John M. Green, Judge.
Action by the Yorktown Independent School District against Ferd H. Geffert. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Reformed and affirmed.
Ward & Ward, of Houston, for appellant.
Sam C. Lackey, of Cuero, and Lewright & Lewright, of San Antonio, for appellee.
This suit was brought by Yorktown independent school district against Ferd H. Geffert to recover taxes alleged to be due and unpaid on certain 5 acres of land, the property of Geffert, situated within the boundaries of said school district, for the years 1921 and 1922, together with penalties, interest, and costs, for a foreclosure of the tax lien on said property, and for a sale of the same to pay said taxes.
Plaintiff alleged that such taxes, interest, penalties, and costs had accrued and been taxed against said land in the manner and form as required by law, that the legal officers of said school district duly and legally levied, assessed, valued, and reported said property for the respective amounts of taxes, interest, penalties, and costs for the respective years of 1921 and 1922; that said property was listed, inventoried, and rendered for the respective amounts shown and itemized; that the said taxes accrued and became due for the respective years, and the defendants, having failed and refused to pay said taxes on or before the 31st day of January next after the same became due, were penalized by law with a penalty of 10 per cent. of the entire amount of the taxes termed delinquent; and that the several sums of taxes, interests, penalties, and costs as itemized accrued in regular order because of the nonpayment of the said taxes due upon the above-described property when the same became due; that the said taxes, interest, penalties, and costs for the respective year or years that are reported delinquent are just and true, and are a true and correct charge against the defendant, who has failed and refused to pay same, and the same are due, past due, and unpaid, and, although legally requested, defendant has failed and refused and still fails and refuses to pay the same to plaintiff's lawful damage; that the school board of said district did cause to be prepared, upon said failure and refusal to pay said taxes by said defendant, by and under the direction of the tax collector of said district, a list of all lands and lots and parts of lots, and the list of the real property described above, where delinquent taxes were past due, into a book called a "Delinquent Tax Record," giving the names of the owners of said property, a brief description of said property and other properties included therein, and the amount of taxes due; and said delinquent tax record was prepared and compiled in the manner and form required by law, and upon the completion of same was delivered to the clerk of said district, who certified the same to the said school board for their examination, approval, and correction, and, after same had been done in accordance with law, the said school board returned the said delinquent tax record to the said clerk to be recorded and was recorded in a book purchased for that purpose; that thereafter, and after the completion of the said delinquent tax record, the school board of said district caused the same to be published in a newspaper in said district once each week for three consecutive weeks; that after the 1st day of April after said taxes were past due and were delinquent the tax collector of said district mailed to the respective address of defendants, when and where known, a notice showing the amount of taxes delinquent, past due, unpaid, legally due, and assessed against the above-described property, and said notice was prepared in the manner and form as required by law, was signed and certified to by the said tax collector, and was stamped with his seal of office, and contained the names of the owners of said land, when known, together with a brief description of the above-described property and an itemized list of the amount of taxes, interest, penalties, and costs due upon said property, and a duplicate copy of said notice was furnished to plaintiff's attorney, and that said notices were mailed out in time to be received by said defendant at a time more than 30 days previous to the filing of this suit; that the tax collector and other legal officers of said district have done such acts, conditions, and things necessary to be done by law in levying, assessing, rendering, listing, and reporting the delinquency of the taxes, interest, penalties, and costs due by and from the said defendant, and have made and caused to be made such records and supplemental records as required by law; that its suit is instituted at and by the discretion of plaintiff's attorney and the school board of said district, and at and by their own election; that by reason of said listing, assessing, returning delinquent of said real estate, and by reason of the filing, approving, recording, advertising, and filing said advertised lists and other lists of said taxes, and by reason of the giving of due notice in writing to the owner of the delinquent real estate, as required by the Constitution and laws, by the officers and courts, and by reason of the nonpayment of taxes as above alleged, acting by virtue thereof, the plaintiff now has and asserts a prior lien on the above-described real property to secure the payment of the amount of said taxes, penalties, interest, and all costs which have accrued against said property and plaintiff brings this suit to enforce said lien.
Defendant answered by general demurrer, general denial, and specially alleging that said school district as at present was created by a special act of the Legislature of Texas, as shown by Special Acts of the Thirty-Seventh Legislature, p. 122; that by said act the boundaries of said district were so fixed as to embrace all the territory of the old Yorktown independent school district and the land of defendant, which was not in said old district prior to said act; that, prior to the passage of said act by which the new district was created, the old district had legally voted, issued, and sold its bonds in the sum of $30,000, of which $22,000 was unpaid at the time of the creation of the new district. He averred that the special act creating the new district is wholly void, first, in that it violates section 3 of articles 7 and 8 of the state Constitution, and also section 56 of article 3 of the Constitution; and, second, in that the caption thereof contains more than one subject. He averred that, if it be held that said special act is not wholly void, nevertheless so much thereof as provides for an election by the taxpayers of the new district to determine whether or not said taxpayers would assume the outstanding bonded indebtedness of the old district is void, in that there is no law authorizing such an election; that is, the Legislature was without authority to pass any act whereby property brought into the school district by said special act, which was not in the former district, might be taxed to pay the bonded indebtedness of such former district.
He alleged further that his property was not within the new school district on the 1st of January, 1921, and was not therefore subject to taxation by such district for that year; and he further alleged that the taxes sought to be collected from him for either of the years of 1921 or 1922 were not levied as required by law, nor was the law relating to the assessing of taxes and the collection of delinquent taxes complied with by the officers charged with the performance of the duties prescribed by such laws.
Facts.
Prior to the act of the Legislature set out below, the city or town of Yorktown constituted the Yorktown independent school district and had issued its bonds, for the purpose of constructing school buildings, in the sum of $30,000, of which $22,000 were unpaid at the time of the passage of the above-mentioned act. The special act of the Thirty-Seventh Legislature (Special Acts, Regular Session, Thirty-Seventh Legislature, p. 122), incorporating the Yorktown independent school district, omitting the description of the territory to be incorporated and the emergency clause, reads as follows:
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