Scott v. St. Johnsbury Acad.
| Decision Date | 03 October 1912 |
| Citation | 84 A. 567,86 Vt. 172 |
| Parties | SCOTT v. ST. JOHNSBURY ACADEMY. |
| Court | Vermont Supreme Court |
Exceptions from Caledonia County Court; Willard W. Miles, Judge.
Action by J. W. Scott against the St. Johnsbury Academy for the collection of taxes. There was a judgment for defendant, and plaintiff brings exceptions. Affirmed.
Argued before ROWELL, C. J., and MUNSON, WATSON, HASEL/TON, and POWERS, JJ.
Robert W. Simonds and J. Rolf Searles, both of St. Johnsbury, for plaintiff.
Harry Blodgett and Alexander Dunnett, both of St. Johnsbury, for defendant.
The suit arises from an attempt on the part of the town of St. Johnsbury to tax certain real estate belonging to the St. Johnsbury Academy, and comes to this court on the plaintiff's exception to a judgment for the defendant. The case was heard below on the report of a referee, from which it appears that five different pieces of property were involved; but at the hearing before us counsel for the plaintiff expressly abandon any claim on account of all save two, which are called, respectively, the Colby House and the Ide House.
The only question made is as to the taxability of the property. The Colby House was involved in Willard v. Pike, 59 Vt. 202, 9 Atl. 907, and it was then held to be exempt from taxation. The statute, in all respects here material, remains as it was then; nor have the facts materially changed, for it then appeared that all or a part of the property was rented for a boarding house for academy and other boarders; that a part was occupied by one of the professors of the academy; and that the income from the property was used for the general purposes of the institution. While now the findings are that the property is now in four parts; that one is rented for a boarding house for students and others; that the others are rented for tenements; and that the rents are used for the running expenses of the school. If it should be urged that the fact that only a part of the property is now directly devoted to school purposes, while before all of it was, it would be enough to say that this makes it stand just as the Club House stood before, and the Club House was held to be exempt in the Willard Case. We cannot hold this property to be taxable, without rejecting the conclusions of that case, which we are unwilling to do.
There is another reason why the fact that only a part of these premises is directly used for school purposes would not avail in this suit. If we should hold that so much as is used as a boarding house for students is exempt and the rest taxable, the case would stand like Johnson v. Jones, 83 Atl. 1085, and the whole tax would be uncollectible.
The Ide House does not appear to have been involved in Willard v. Pike. It was bought with money taken from the endowment funds of the institution. It is rented, and the income is used for the support of the school. Its standing differs from that of the Colby House...
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