State v. City of St. Louis

• Decision Date: 22 June 1904
• Citation: 183 Mo. 230,81 S.W. 1104
• Parties: STATE ex rel. BARBER ASPHALT PAVING CO. v. CITY OF ST. LOUIS et al.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

81 S.W. 1104

183 Mo. 230

STATE ex rel. BARBER ASPHALT PAVING CO. v. CITY OF ST. LOUIS et al.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

June 22, 1904.

MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS — STREET IMPROVEMENTS — ASSESSMENT DISTRICT — LOTS FRONTING ON STREET — UNPLATTED TERRITORY.

1. Where special tax bills to pay for a street improvement made under a valid ordinance have been issued, but are not enforceable because the assessment district was not defined and established according to the charter, the holder is entitled to new special tax bills, though the ordinance providing for the improvement undertook to define the assessment district, and in this respect only violated the charter.

2. Under a charter provision that, if property adjoining an improved street is divided into lots, the line of a special assessment district shall be drawn so as to include the entire depth of lots fronting on the improved streets, a tract platted into ten lots, five of which front on the improved street and five on the next street, should be included in the assessment district only to the middle line between the streets, though the owner has disregarded the lot lines, and used the entire tract as one residence lot.

3. This is true, also, of an unplatted tract lying between the two streets.

4. Platted lots, fronting on the improved street and extending in their depth beyond the middle line, should all be included.

In Banc. Mandamus by the state, on the relation of the Barber Asphalt Paving Company, against the city of St. Louis and others. Writ awarded.

Finkelnburg, Nagel & Kirby, and Allen C. Orrick, for relator. Charles W. Bates, for respondents.

GANTT, J.

This is an original proceeding in this court by the relator to obtain a peremptory writ of mandamus against the city of St. Louis and its board of public improvements, directing them to receive and cancel certain special tax bills heretofore issued by said board to the Gilsonite Roofing & Paving Company in payment for work and material done and furnished by said company in the reconstruction of Grand avenue, in said city, from La Fayette avenue to Papin street, which said special tax bills had been duly assigned to and become the property of the relator, the Barber Asphalt Paving Company, and to issue in lieu thereof new and other special tax bills, based upon a district established in accordance with the provisions of the amended charter of St. Louis. The petition was filed, and the defendants waived the issuance of the alternative writ, and entered their appearance and demurred to the petition as and for the alternative writ. The petition alleges the incorporation of relator and its right to do business under the laws of this state; that on the recommendation of the board of public improvements of the city of St. Louis there was passed by the municipal assembly and approved by the mayor of said city, on or about April 16, 1902, an ordinance known and designated as "Ordinance No. 20,666," entitled, "An ordinance to reconstruct Grand avenue, from La Fayette avenue to Papin street." The ordinance is then set out in hæc verba, prescribing in detail the kind and nature of the material of which said pavement was to be constructed, and the various proportions and dimensions thereof, and in section 4 thereof defined the benefit or tax district which should be subjected to the cost of said improvement and the levying of the special tax thereon, and for the issuance of special tax bills as required by the charter as amended. It is then alleged: That the board of public improvements advertised for the work to be done as provided in said ordinance, and the contract was awarded to the Gilsonite Paving & Roofing Company. That said company performed the work prescribed in the ordinance and completed the reconstruction of Grand avenue in accordance with the terms thereof. That thereafter there were made out and delivered by the president of the board of public improvements, and by him registered in his office in full, special tax bills in favor of said Gilsonite Roofing & Paving Company for the reconstruction of said Grand avenue under said Ordinance 20,666, which were certified and delivered by the president of said board to the comptroller of said city, and which were by him in turn registered and countersigned and delivered to said Gilsonite Roofing & Paving Company in payment of said work. That thereafter said tax bills were assigned to relator herein. That the assessment district, for said work upon which said special tax bills were issued, was not established in accordance with the provisions of the charter of said city, in this: that said district included the whole of the property belonging to Mathilda Manley, running from Grand avenue to Carr Lane avenue, in city block No. 1279, whereas, only that portion of said property west of a line midway between Grand avenue, the street to be improved, and Carr Lane avenue, the next parallel street thereto, should have been included in said assessment district, for the reason that the property of said Manley was originally platted into ten lots, numbered 8 to 12, inclusive, and from 15 to 19, inclusive, lots 8 to 12, inclusive, fronting on Carr Lane avenue, and running west to the midway line between said Carr Lane avenue and said Grand avenue, and lots 15 to 19, inclusive,...