State ex rel. Special Road Dist. No. 13 of Cole County v. Cole County
| Decision Date | 07 December 1927 |
| Docket Number | 26354 |
| Citation | 300 S.W. 267 |
| Parties | STATE ex rel. SPECIAL ROAD DIST. NO. 13 OF COLE COUNTY v. COLE COUNTY et al |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
H. P Lauf, of Jefferson City, for appellants.
D. W Peters, of Jefferson City, for relator.
Mandamus.
The relator is special road district No. 13 of Cole county; the respondents are Cole county and the judges of the county court of that county. The proceeding was commenced on February 2, 1924, in the circuit court. The alternative writ sets forth, in substance, that the county court of Cole county at its regular May term, 1921, levied for road and bridge purposes a tax of 15 cents on the $ 100 valuation on all taxable property in Cole county; that there was collected as taxes under said levy, on property lying and being within the territorial limits of special road district No. 13, the total sum of $ 1,464.77, which was duly paid over by the collector of revenue to the treasurer of Cole county; that said special road district was duly organized November 9, 1921; that the county court caused a warrant to be drawn on the treasurer of Cole county in favor of said district in the sum of $ 668.48; and that on or about the 15th day of February, 1923, relator made a demand upon the county court for the balance of the tax fund due it, to wit, $ 796.29, but that said court has at all times refused, and still refuses, to pay relator said sum, or any part thereof.
The command of the writ is:
'* * * You and each of you * * * immediately after receipt of this writ * * * do without further excuse or delay draw your warrant for the sum of $ 796.29, in favor of the commissioners of special road district No. 13 of Cole county, Mo., and turn the same over to them or to the treasurer of said district, and * * * do away with and annul any order of your court contrary to this order or show cause,' etc.
The return, after denying generally the allegations of the alternative writ, avers: (1) That relator was not in existence at the time the levy was made, and for that reason is not entitled to any taxes collected under it; (2 and 3) that relator was entitled only to such part of said taxes, if any, as were collected after its organization, the amount whereof cannot be ascertained from the county records; (4) that relator did not make a timely or proper demand for the taxes before instituting this proceeding; and (5) that the whole of said taxes has been 'received and spent by and for said relator.'
The facts disclosed by the evidence, in their last analysis, are briefly these: The road and bridge tax collected under the 1921 levy, on property within the relator district, was $ 1,245.59. This was turned over to the county treasurer by the collector as it came in; that is, at intervals of 30 days beginning on the 15th day of November, 1921, and ending March 15, 1922. February 15, 1922, the county court of its own motion caused to be drawn a warrant against the road and bridge fund in favor of relator for $ 668.48. This amount was placed to its credit on the books of the county treasurer and was subsequently checked out by it in payment of divers and sundry items of expense incurred in improving its roads. On June 6, 1922, the county court by an entry of record ordered 'that $ 500 be and is hereby...
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