Mason v. New Haven Tp. Sup'rs
| Decision Date | 10 October 1890 |
| Citation | 82 Mich. 435,46 N.W. 727 |
| Court | Michigan Supreme Court |
| Parties | MASON, County Treasurer, v. SUPERVISOR OF THE TOWNSHIP OF NEW HAVEN. |
Application for mandamus on the relation of Ezra Mason, county treasurer of the county of Shiawassee, against the supervisor of the township of New Haven.
Selden S. Miner, (Marston, Cowles & Jerome, of counsel,) for relator.
It appears from the record in this case that in the year 1870 the board of supervisors of Shiawassee county apportioned to the township of New Haven in said county the following taxes:
State taxes ... $ 219 40
County tax ...... 811 23
Ditch tax ..... 2,553 31
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Total ...... $3,583 94
The township treasurer made his returns to the county treasurer February 6, 1871, when he paid the said county treasurer in cash and orders $91.58, and returned lands to the amount of $3,492.43, which it is stated balanced the account between the township and county. Among the lands so returned were certain lands for drain taxes, such taxes here in issue, and upon four descriptions, amounting, in the aggregate, to $518.37. These taxes, at some time previous to 1880, were declared void by the circuit court for the county of Shiawassee, but at what particular date this judgment was rendered does not appear. The drain for which these lands were assessed was a county drain, and the tax was levied by the county drain commissioner. In 1880, the auditor general to whom these lands had been returned by the county treasurer, and who had credited the amount of the taxes to the county as against the state, charged back these taxes, so declared void, to the county of Shiawassee, sending the following statement to the county treasurer:
Exhibit A.
Statement of lands in Shiawassee county returned delinquent for taxes and this day charged back to county.
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Year DESCRIPTION Sec'n Town Range A Drain Total Inter'st Expenses REASON
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1870 W 1/2 of W 13 8 N 3 E 40 $100 98 $100 98 $90 08 $ 94 Declared
1/2 of S.W. void
1/4 by Ci-
rcuit
1870 W 1/2 of S E 14 8 N 3 E 80 41 88 41 88 37 36 1 12 ' ' ' '
1870 E 1/2 of S E 14 8 N 3 E 80 173 54 173 54 154 81 1 39 ' ' ' '
1870 E 1/2 of N W 24 8 N 3 E 80 201 97 201 97 180 18 1 41 ' ' ' '
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The taxes ran with interest as computed by the auditor general amounting, June 30, 1880, to $985.66. Upon receiving this statement, no steps were taken under the drain law to reassess these taxes upon the lands benefited by the drain, and no call was made upon the township to pay the amount of these rejected taxes until November 2, 1889, when the board of supervisors, at an adjourned meeting, passed a resolution ordering the county treasurer to charge these taxes against the township of New Haven, and commanding the supervisor of said township to spread the same on his roll, with compound interest on the same from June 30, 1886, to February 1, 1890. The county clerk, in accordance with said resolution, reported such amount, with compound interest as aforesaid, in all, $1,226.47, to the said supervisor. The supervisor refused to spread the same upon his roll, and hence this controversy. We are asked to issue a writ of mandamus to enforce this order of the board of supervisors. We must decline to do so. The township has never had any concern with this money, or with the taxes, save the collecting of them. What money the township treasurer was enabled to collect upon the county drain levy...
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