Rogan v. Calvert County Com'rs

• Decision Date: 12 January 1950
• Docket Number: 140.
• Citation: 71 A.2d 47,194 Md. 299
• Parties: ROGAN et al. v. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF CALVERT COUNTY.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

71 A.2d 47

194 Md. 299

ROGAN et al. v. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF CALVERT COUNTY.

No. 140.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

January 12, 1950

[71 A.2d 48] Page 49

Hall Hammond, Atty. Gen., and Ward B. Coe, Jr., Asst Atty. Gen., for appellant.

Richard W Emory, Baltimore (David A. Harkness, Prince Frederick, on the brief), for appellee.

H. Vernon Eney, Baltimore, amicus curiae.

Before MARBURY, C J., and DELAPLAINE, COLLINS, GRASON, HENDERSON and MARKELL JJ.

DELAPLAINE, Judge.

This appeal brings here for review a petition for mandamus filed by the State Tax Commission of Maryland in the Circuit Court for Calvert County to compel the County Commissioners of Calvert County (1) to give the notices required by statute, Code 1939, art 81, sec. 24, as to all reassessments proposed by the Supervisor of Assessments for property in the first assessment district of Calvert County, naming therein such date for hearing as will permit the properties to be reassessed for the taxable year 1950, (2) to hear and determine all protests by taxpayers which may be filed pursuant to the notices, (3) to review and reassess all assessable property in the district, (4) to follow the instructions of the State Tax Commission as to the plan and method of assessment, and (5) to enter the resulting reassessments on the assessment rolls of the County.

It was conceded that Russell H. Owings, Supervisor of Assessments for Calvert County, reviewed all the properties in the first district prior to October 1, 1949, and recommended reassessments thereon. The County Commissioners, however, after sending notices of the proposed reassessments to some of the taxpayers, and later notifying a number of the recipients to disregard them, notified the State Tax Commission that they would not send out any of the remaining notices and would not place any of the proposed reassessments on the assessment rolls of the County for the reason that the Supervisor, acting upon instructions of the Commission, had used 1944 sales prices, building costs and rents as a standard of value. It was claimed that such valuations would violate the constitutional rights of the taxpayers in the first district until reassessments were made in the second, third, fourth and fifth districts, where properties were assessed according to 1941-1942 market prices.

The Maryland statute provides that in case any Board of County Commissioners shall neglect or fail to follow the instructions of the State Tax Commission, either as to the method or plan of assessment, the Commission may institute mandamus proceedings against the Board so refusing, and a mandamus shall issue compelling the Board to perform the statutory duties. Code Supp.1947, art. 81, sec. 184. The trial judge, however, held that the instructions issued by the Commission, upon which the proposed reassessments were made, violated constitutional rights, and therefore the County Commissioners were justified in refusing 'to participate in making assessments which will be unlawful.' He accordingly dismissed the petition for mandamus and entered judgment in favor of defendants for costs. From that judgment the Commission appealed to this Court.

In the City of Baltimore there has been continuous assessment since 1900, when the Legislature made it the duty of the Appeal Tax Court to make general revision of all the assessable property in the City once in every five years. Laws of 1900, ch. 347. But prior to 1914 assessments in the Counties of Maryland were reviewed only in pursuance of Special Acts of the Legislature. The assessment system in the Counties was glaringly discriminatory. Property was assessed at far less than its actual value, and there was no centralized control or uniformity of method. In 1914 the Legislature, acting upon recommendations of the Commission for Revision of the Taxation System which was appointed by Governor Goldsborough in 1912, Laws of 1912, ch. 779, created the State Tax Commission to provide for the equalization of assessments throughout the State by enforcing a continuing method of assessment and requiring that all property in the State be reviewed for assessment at least once in every five years. Laws of 1914, ch. 841. This legislation, however, did not contemplate rotation in reassessments. Moreover, the reform sought by it was impeded by a number of Special Acts postponing reassessments.

In 1935 the Legislature authorized the State Tax Commission to enforce and execute a continuing method of assessment, and to require than all property in the State be reviewed and assessed at least once in every five years. This Act declared that the Commission was not required to order a general assessment of all property, or all property of any class, in any County at least once in every five years, but could order and enforce reassessments annually by classes or districts. Laws of 1935, ch. 468, Code Supp.1935, art. 81, sec. 166. This Act, which was the first in Maryland expressly authorizing rotation in assessments, demanded that all assessable property in every County be reviewed at least once in every five years, but did not make the rotation method mandatory. The Legislature also authorized nine Counties in 1937 and fourteen Counties in 1939 to make general reassessments. In 1937 the Legislature authorized the County Commissioners of Frederick County to appoint two assessors who, with the Supervisor of Assessments, were to constitute a Board of Assessment to make a general review of all assessable property in the County once in every five years. Laws of 1937, ch. 345. In 1939 the Legislature authorized the continuous assessment plan for Anne Arundel and Harford Counties. Laws of 1939, chs. 185, 206.

In 1941 the Maryland Tax Revision Commission, appointed by Governor O'Conor in 1939, Laws of 1939, ch. 262, reported that many assessors in the Counties were still assessing property at far less than its value and there was a general failure to apply common standards in determining value; that many of the assessors lacked the training or experience needed to cope with the problems arising from growth of population and changing conditions; and that general reassessments made after long postponements were disproportionately expensive compared with continuous reassessments. The Legislature, carrying out the recommendations of the Tax Revision Commission, directed the State Tax Commission to enforce and execute a continuing method of assessment so that all assessable property in every County and in Baltimore City shall be thoroughly reviewed at least once in every five years. The Act then provided: 'It shall be the duty of the Commission, after consultation with the local assessing authorities, to establish five districts or five classes of property in each county and in Baltimore City, and to require that the property in one of the said districts or classes be reviewed and reassessed each year in rotation.' Laws of 1943, ch. 717, Code Supp. 1947, art. 81, sec. 175(8).

In compliance with this statute, the Commission established five districts in Baltimore City and five districts in each County of the State except Washington County, where the Commission established five classes of property. The first district in Calvert County, as in 21 other Counties of the State, was reviewed in 1944, the second district in 1945, the third district in 1946, the fourth district in 1947, and the fifth district in 1948. Thus, during the period of five years from 1944 to 1948, all assessable property in the State was reviewed. In view of the requirement of the law that the property in one district shall be reviewed and reassessed each year in rotation, the Commission ordered that the properties in the first district of Calvert County be reviewed again in 1949 for the taxable year 1950.

It has long been recognized in this State that the Legislature has the power to divide any County into taxing districts, and that each County or taxing district can have its own rate of taxation without contravening Article 15 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights. Daly v. Morgan, 69 Md. 460, 16 A. 287, 1 L.R.A. 757. This Court has held that the provision in the amendment to Article 15 of the Declaration of Rights, made by Chapter 390 of the Laws of 1914, ratified in November, 1915, declaring that all taxes to be levied by the State for the support of the State Government, and by the Counties and by the City of Baltimore for their respective purposes, shall be uniform as to land within the taxing district, refers to levies of taxes and not to assessments. Leser v. Lowenstein, 129 Md. 244, 250, 98 A. 712.

The purpose of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States is to protect every person within the State's jurisdiction against intentional and arbitrary discrimination, whether occasioned by the provisions of a statute or by improper enforcement of a statute. Intentional and systematic undervaluation by assessors of other taxable property in the same class violates the constitutional right of a person taxed upon the full value of his property. However, mere errors of judgment on the part of State or County officials in making assessments will not support a claim of such discrimination. There must be something which in effect amounts to an intentional violation of the essential principle of practical uniformity. The good faith of such officials and the validity of their actions will be presumed. When their actions are assailed, the burden of proof is upon the complaining party. Sunday Lake Iron Co. v. Township of Wakefield, 247 U.S. 350, 38 S.Ct. 495, 62 L.Ed. 1154; Sioux City Bridge Co. v. Dakota County, Nebraska, 260 U.S. 441, 43 S.Ct. 190, 67 L.Ed. 340, 28 A.L.R. 979.

It is not an infringement of the...