Ohio Fuel Oil Co. v. Price
| Decision Date | 23 November 1915 |
| Docket Number | 2840. |
| Citation | 87 S.E. 202,77 W.Va. 207 |
| Parties | OHIO FUEL OIL CO. v. PRICE ET AL. |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
Submitted November 16, 1915.
Syllabus by the Court.
The personal property owned and operated by a public service corporation is assessable by the board of public works without regard to the situs of such property, whether connected with or disassociated from the immediate use and operation of property employed by it in serving the public. And, when such property is assessed by the board of public works, the local assessing authorities cannot lawfully alter or modify the assessment so made. It is final and conclusive unless appealed from in the manner and within the time provided in secton 94, c. 29, Code 1913 (sec. 979).
By enacting chapter 29 of the Code (secs. 885-1021) the Legislature intended to devise and establish a symmetrical and harmonious general scheme or system for the assessment and taxation of personal and real property, to the end that each species of taxable property shall bear no more than its equal or just proportion of the governmental expenses, and for the administration and supervision of such scheme or system it appointed and designated the state tax commissioner and the board of public works, and on them conferred ample authority to supervise and administer such scheme or system and due weight and credit must be accorded to the action of such officials in the performance of the respective duties so assigned to them, by all local assessing or taxing authorities.
If such local authorities increase or modify any assessment or valuation made by the board of public works, and the taxes based on such increase or modification are sought to be enforced by the sheriff of any county by a sale of property levied on, equity will, at the suit of the owner, enjoin such enforcement, notwithstanding the failure of the owner to appeal from such reassessment and revaluation in the manner and within the time allowed by chapter 29, Code (secs 885-1021).
Appeal from Circuit Court, Roane County.
Bill by the Ohio Fuel Oil Company against J. P. Price and others. From a decree for defendants, complainant appeals. Reversed, and injunction reinstated and perpetuated.
O. J. Wilkinson and Edward M. Burdette, both of Charleston, and Ryan & Boggess, of Spencer, for appellant.
H. C. Ferguson and Harper & Baker, of Spencer, for appellees.
The appellant, Ohio Fuel Oil Company, a corporation organized and doing business under the laws of this state, by its bill complains that its property located in Roane county was twice assessed for taxation and taxed in that county; once by the board of public works, once by the county authorities. Price, sheriff, the county court, the board of equalization and review of that county, and the individual members of such board were made defendants to the bill. It prayed and was awarded an injunction, inhibiting defendant Price from selling such property levied on to enforce payment of the taxes alleged to have been illegally charged to plaintiff upon the valuation thereof unlawfully fixed by the board of equalization and review as amended by the county court. On final hearing on pleadings and proof, the injunction awarded was dissolved, and the bill dismissed; and plaintiff brings the case here for review on appeal.
The company now owns and operates, and from 1910 to 1913 did own and operate, oil and gas properties in Lincoln, Roane, and other counties in this state. While the property located in Lincoln then was, and presumably still is, operated for the production of gas, that in Roane is devoted to the production of oil for the private use and benefit of appellant. The gas produced from the Lincoln property appellant furnishes and sells at a profit to consumers applying therefor, subject to such rules and regulations as the operator from time to time may prescribe. As to the property devoted to public use, the Ohio Fuel Oil Company was, during the years mentioned, a public service corporation. It supplied gas as fuel for consumption by its patrons for heat and light. The service was general. Any one conveniently situated in respect to its property was entitled to receive and was furnished gas subject to such rules and regulations. Indeed, the charter of the company and nature of its business are conceded to be such as properly to characterize it as a corporation serving the public in Lincoln county, or such of the residents thereof as apply for such service--a public utility corporation. And upon this theory the board of public works required the company, under the provisions of chapter 29, Code (secs. 885-1021), as construed by such board, to return to it for assessment and levy all the taxable properties of every description, wherever located, owned by the company in this state. Such returns were made, and such properties assessed and charged with taxes, and the taxes paid by the company, for the years 1910 to 1913, inclusive, and distributed or credited to the county and district funds entitled thereto in the several counties wherein any part of such property was located, Roane county receiving and disbursing its proportionate part.
With knowledge of such assessment, taxation, and distribution, so far as his county was interested, the assessor of Roane county did not list or assess the property owned by the Ohio Fuel Oil Company, located in that county, for taxation therein. However, the board of equalization and review corrected his returns, and entered such property, determined its value, and certified the result to the county court for the purpose of extending the levies fixed by such court. The assessment so made and certified by the board of equalization and review the county court reduced, for the alleged purpose of securing uniformity in the assessment of like properties owned and operated by other corporations engaged in that county in producing oil for their individual benefit. Plaintiff having paid the taxes charged against it upon the assessment made by the board of public works for previous years, and the county of Roane and the several subdivisions thereof having received and appropriated to public uses their several distributive shares or proportions of the taxes so assessed and paid, including the year 1913, without complaint or objection therefrom, or any attempt on their part to reassess such property, the question demanding an answer on this appeal is whether the board of public works, under whose control, for the purpose of taxation, chapter 29 of the Code places the property of all public service corporations engaged in business in this state, or the assessing and taxing authorities of Roane county, had the exclusive right and power, for the purposes of taxation, to deal with the property owned and operated by appellant in that county.
That the properties owned and operated by the company in Lincoln and Roane counties were devoted to purposes wholly different, one public, the other private, that such properties were not in any manner connected or associated except by ownership and management, and that the annual returns therefrom were disproportionate, are facts conceded and admitted, if indeed such concession were at all material.
While neither the board of public works nor the state tax commissioner is a party to this proceeding, the respective rights and duties thereof, under statutory enactments pertaining to taxation, indirectly are the subject of investigation herein; for the solution of the questions raised depends upon the construction of such statutes. By that process alone can the matters in issue be resolved. If the Legislature constituted the board of public works as the sole medium for the assessment of the properties of public service corporations engaged in the performance of public functions in this state, and empowered such board to determine, within certain limitations and restrictions, what properties so owned and operated, in relation to their uses and locations, come within their jurisdiction, inferior assessing and taxing bodies must yield to the judgment of their superior, and abide its determination upon the question of such jurisdiction.
That the Legislature intended by such enactments to devise and establish a symmetrical and harmonious system of taxation, to the end that each kind of property shall bear no more than its equal and proportionate of the governmental expenses cannot reasonably be doubted, whatever defects may unavoidably have escaped detection. As part of the system so devised, provision was made for a state tax commissioner, who was thereby charged with the duty of supervising the operation of the entire system, and, in an advisory capacity, to give aid and assistance to the board of public works. For these purposes, he is endowed with authority, ample and sufficient, to effectuate his supervisory and advisory functions. By section...
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