Simmons v. Board of Supervisors of Scott County

• Decision Date: 03 November 1890
• Citation: 8 So. 259,68 Miss. 37
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Parties: R. T. M. SIMMONS v. BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF SCOTT COUNTY

8 So. 259

68 Miss. 37

R. T. M. SIMMONS v. BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF SCOTT COUNTY

Supreme Court of Mississippi

November 3, 1890

October 1890

FROM the circuit court of Scott county, HON. A. G. MAYERS, Judge.

The appellant filed his petition before the board of supervisors of Scott county at its regular meeting in March, 1890 praying a reduction in the assessment of certain of his lands. His petition alleged that the lands were assessed in 1889 at fifty cents per acre, which was a fair and proper valuation; that at the meeting of the board of supervisors in August of that year, held for the purpose of examining and approving the assessment roll, petitioner examined the roll and found no change in said assessment, but that afterwards during the same meeting, the board, without notice to him raised the assessment to $ 1 per acre, which he claims is an excessive valuation. The petition was sustained by the testimony of appellant and of the tax-collector, both of whom swore that fifty cents an acre was a proper valuation of the lands. The appellant also testified that since the assessment he had sold a large quantity of said land on a credit of fifty cents per acre, and that he was willing to take that price for all of it.

It is admitted that the assessment was raised by the board of supervisors at its meeting in August, 1889, as alleged in the petition. The board having refused the application petitioner appealed to the next term of the circuit court. Counsel for the board of supervisors moved the circuit court to dismiss the appeal because not taken within the time prescribed by law, their contention being that the right of appeal must be controlled by § 504 of the code, which provides that appeals from any decision of the board of supervisors as to assessments for taxes must be taken within five days after the adjournment of the meeting at which the decision complained of is rendered. This motion was sustained and the appeal dismissed, and from this action of the circuit court petitioner appeals.

Section 499 of the code of 1880 provides among other things that "any person dissatisfied with any assessment may file his objections thereto in writing on or before the first Monday in August, which shall be filed by said clerk and preserved with said rolls, and any person failing to file objections as herein provided for shall be concluded by said assessment, and precluded from questioning its validity after the approval of such assessment roll by the board of supervisors."

By § 503 of said code it is provided that the board of supervisors of each county shall hold a meeting at the court house on the first Monday of August to hear objections to the assessment and to examine the same; and by § 504 the right is given to any person aggrieved by any decision of the board as to the assessment of taxes to appeal to the circuit court within five days after the adjournment of the meeting at which the decision is made. Section 2351, code 1880, is the general statute providing for appeals from any judgment or decision of the board of supervisors to the next term of the circuit...