Ritterbusch v. Havinghorst

• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: HAYES, J.
• Citation: Ritterbusch v. Havinghorst, 29 Okla. 478, 118 P. 138, 1911 OK 315 (Okla. 1911)
• Decision Date: 26 September 1911
• Docket Number: Case Number: 1891
• Parties: RITTERBUSCH, County Treasurer, v. HAVINGHORST, City Treasurer.

1911 OK 315

118 P. 138

29 Okla. 478

RITTERBUSCH, County Treasurer, v. HAVINGHORST, City Treasurer.

Case Number: 1891

Supreme Court of Oklahoma

Decided: September 26, 1911

Syllabus

¶0 TAXATION--Collection of Delinquent Street Assessments--Distribution of 18 Per Cent Interest. By section 727, Compiled Laws 1909, a county treasurer, to whom the city clerk of any city has certified a delinquent installment of an assessment for street improvements, is required to place such assessment and interest thereon on the delinquent tax list of the county, and collect the same as other delinquent taxes are collected, and thereupon pay to the city treasurer said installment of assessment and interest thereon collected, including the 18 per cent. per annum interest accruing on the installment assessment after its maturity until paid.

Error from District Court, Logan County; A. H. Huston, Judge.

Submission of controversy by C. R. Havinghorst, City Treasurer of Guthrie, against Fred W. Ritterbusch, County Treasurer of Logan County. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant brings error. Affirmed.

This is a proceeding instituted in the court below upon an agreed statement of facts, for the submission of a controversy, under the provisions of section 4717 of Wilson's Rev. & Ann. Statutes.

The facts material to the consideration of the only question of law the proceeding presents, condensely stated, are: That installments of assessments in certain improvement districts in the city of Guthrie, levied against abutting property by ordinance of the city council, for the purpose of paying bonds issued in payment for the paving of streets in said districts, and maturing on the 1st day of September, 1909, were not paid at maturity. The city clerk, who had, as required by law, given notice of the maturity of said assessments and interest thereon, certified, after the installments became delinquent, the same, as required by law, to plaintiff in error, the county treasurer of Logan county, who will hereafter be referred to as the county treasurer. The county treasurer spread said delinquent assessments and interest thereon upon the delinquent tax lists of the county, and proceeded to collect, and collected, same as delinquent taxes are collected. The statute authorizing assessments against abutting property for paving purposes provides that such assessments shall bear 7 per cent. interest per annum until paid, payable in each year at such time as the several installment assessments are made payable each year; and, if any assessment or interest is not paid when due, such assessment shall thereafter bear interest at the rate of 18 per cent. per annum until paid.

Defendant in error, the city treasurer of Guthrie, and hereafter referred to as such, has demanded of the county treasurer that he turn over to him all assessments and interest thereon collected by the county treasurer. The county treasurer refuses to pay over any sum collected by him in excess of the principal of the assessments and interest thereon at the rate of 7 per cent. per annum. The judgment of the trial court was that the county treasurer should turn over to the city treasurer all sums collected by him on said assessments, including the principal of the assessments and the 18 per cent. interest accruing thereon after the maturity of the assessments, and a writ of mandamus was awarded to the city treasurer, commanding the county treasurer to do so.

James Hepburn, County Atty., for plaintiff in error

Tibbetts & Green, for defendant in error

HAYES, J.

¶1 (after stating the facts as above). It is the contention of the county treasurer that the moneys in the sum of 18 per cent. per annum on the assessments after maturity until paid, collected by him by reason of the provisions of the statute, are the property of Logan county, and that it is his duty to account for and pay over to the county all sums collected by him and remaining in his hands after paying to the city the principal of said assessments and 7 per cent. interest thereon. The statute governing this matter is to be found in that portion of section 6 of the act of the Legislature, approved April 7, 1908 (section 727, Comp. Laws 1909), which reads as follows:

"It shall be the duty of such city clerk, not less than thirty days and not more than forty days before the maturity of any installment of such assessments, to publish in two successive issues of a daily paper, or in one issue of a weekly newspaper, published and of

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