State ex rel. Joint Sch. Dist. No. 4 v. Becker

• Citation: 194 Wis. 464,215 N.W. 902
• Parties: STATE EX REL. JOINT SCHOOL DIST. NO. 4 ET AL. v. BECKER ET AL., TOWN BOARD.
• Decision Date: 08 November 1927
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Wisconsin

194 Wis. 464

215 N.W. 902

STATE EX REL. JOINT SCHOOL DIST. NO. 4 ET AL.

v.BECKER ET AL., TOWN BOARD.

Supreme Court of Wisconsin.

Nov. 8, 1927.

Appeal from a judgment of the Circuit Court for Rusk County; James Wickham, Circuit Judge. Affirmed.

Mandamus proceeding by State, on the relation of Joint School District No. 4 and others against C. F. Becker and others, constituting the Town Board of the Town of Big Falls, Rusk County, Wisconsin. Judgment for petitioners, and defendants appeal. Affirmed.--[By Editorial Staff.]

This was a proceeding by mandamus to compel the town board of the town of Big Falls, Rusk county, to apportion to the petitioning school districts the amount of money which the town received from the state treasurer on account of the assessment of a public utility therein, as provided by subdivision (1a), § 76.28, Stats. It appeared from the petition and return thereto that the public utility, on which the assessment was made and the tax paid in the town of Big Falls, was located wholly within each of said school districts, the school districts being coterminous. There were no other school districts in the town, in which any of the property of said utility was located. The cost of operating and maintaining the schools in said districts was more than 50 per cent. of the tax collected and returned to the town. The petitioner demurred to the return to the writ of mandamus, and the matter was decided upon the record so made. The state treasurer had remitted to the town of Big Falls $6,211.42 on account of the taxes on such public utility. The court entered judgment directing the appellants to remit 50 per cent. thereof to the treasurer of the respondent school districts. The town board appealed from the decision of the court, and assign as errors: (1) The court erred in denying the motion of the defendants to quash the petition and alternative writ of mandamus. (2) The court erred in sustaining the demurrer to the defendants' return to the alternative writ of mandamus and in directing the entry of judgment in favor of the relators. (3) The court erred in denyng the motion of the defendants to set aside the order of the court sustaining the demurrer of the petitioners to the original return of the defendants and for judgment, and the motion of the defendants for permission to file an amended return to the alternative writ of mandamus herein.Bagley, Spohn & Ross, of Madison, for appellants.

Carow & Goodsitt, of Ladysmith, for respondents.

CROWNHART, J.

Public utilities originally were assessed locally, as other property in the assessment district; that is, in the city, town, or village where located. Because of the difficulty of assessing such property when extended into two or more such districts, the Legislature created a substitute method of assessment by providing that the assessment of the utility should be made as a whole by the tax commission, the tax collected by the state, and distributed back to the various units entitled to a portion of the tax on an equitable basis. Section 76.28, Stats. This method has been held to be constitutional. Chicago & N. W. R. Co. v. State, 128 Wis. 553, 108 N. W. 557;State ex rel. Superior v. Donald, 163 Wis. 626, 158 N. W. 317.

[1] School districts were not then, and are not now, assessing districts. The law then and now provides that school districts determine the amount of money to be raised to operate the district school or schools, and that the clerk of the school district certify the amount to be raised to the town clerk. In case of a joint school district, the money to be raised is apportioned to the parts of the district located in the various assessing units, according to the assessed valuation for the previous year in such district, and then such respective amounts certified to the respective clerks of such units. Section 40.20, Stats. The clerk or clerks of the assessing unit or units then places the amounts so certified on the assessment rolls against the property in the school district. The amount thus assessed and collected is paid over to the school treasurer in due course. In the case of public utilities, the assessment is made by the tax commission, the tax is collected by the state treasurer, and distributed as provided by act of the Legislature. Section 76.28, Stats.

In 1925, the Legislature passed subdivision (1a), § 76.28, Stats., which reads as follows:

“In all counties having a population of fifty thousand or less, fifty per cent. of the amount of taxes received by any town or village from the state treasurer on account of the assessment of any street railway, light, heat, power or conservation company shall be retained by the treasurer thereof for general town or village purposes, and the remaining fifty per cent. shall be equitably apportioned by the town board or village trustees to the various school districts or parts of school districts in which the property of such company is located, in proportion to the amount which the property of such company within each such school district bears to the total valuation of the property of such company in the town or village or part thereof; provided, that no such school district shall in any event...