State v. Three States Lumber Co.

• Decision Date: 19 June 1906
• Citation: 198 Mo. 430,95 S.W. 333
• Parties: STATE ex rel. ASHBY v. THREE STATES LUMBER CO.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

95 S.W. 333

198 Mo. 430

STATE ex rel. ASHBY v. THREE STATES LUMBER CO.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

June 19, 1906.

1. LEVEES—DISTRICTS—ASSESSMENT FOR BENEFITS —VALIDITY.

Rev. St. 1899, § 8441, provides that after the formation of a levee district, the county court shall cause the assessor, at the first annual assessment to be made under the general revenue laws, to assess the value of all lands in the levee district subject to overflow and to be benefited. In 1892 the county court regularly organized a levee district and appointed directors, who qualified and organized the board of directors. In May following a majority of the directors prayed that the assessor be directed by the county court to assess the value of the lands included in the district. In 1899 the county court ordered the county assessor, at the first annual assessment to be made under the general revenue laws, to assess the value of the lands in the levee district. The assessor complied with the order. Held, that the assessment was valid as against the objection that it was not made at the first annual assessment after the levee district was organized.

2. SAME.

Under Rev. St. 1899, § 8441, requiring the assessor to assess the value of all lands in a levee district subject to overflow and to be benefited by the work, an assessment for benefits is not invalid because it does not cover lands in the district which, in the judgment of the assessor, will not be benefited by the levee.

3. SAME.

Under Rev. St. 1899, § 8437, providing for the assessment of lands in levee districts for benefits, and declaring that the taxes therefor shall be extended on the tax book on the real estate to be benefited situate in the levee district, an assessment of benefits for the construction of a levee in a levee district is not invalid because a part of the land within the district not benefited is not assessed, the statute implying that there may be lands in a levee district not assessed because not benefited.

4. SAME.

The fact that all lands in a levee district benefited by the levee may not have been assessed does not ipso facto render invalid an assessment against lands that are benefited by the improvement and are legally and properly assessed for levee purposes.

5. SAME.

The county board of equalization, equalizing assessments for benefits for the construction of a levee in a levee district, as authorized by Rev. St. 1899, § 8449, and raising the assessment for benefits, as authorized by section 9131, when proceeding regularly after proper notice, acts judicially, and its act in raising an assessment is not subject to collateral attack.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Mississippi County; Henry C. Riley, Judge.

Action by the state, on the relation of one Ashby, collector of Mississippi county, against the Three States Lumber Company. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals. Affirmed.

Russell & Deal, for appellant. Boone & Lee, for respondent.

BURGESS, P. J.

This is an action at the relation of the collector of Mississippi county to enforce the lien of the state and of levee district No. 1, of Mississippi county, for back taxes for levee purposes. The petition states a case of a levee district duly formed, embracing defendant's lands, an assessment therein made for levee construction according to the provisions of chapter 124, Revised Statutes, 1899, default in payment by defendant, and prays judgment. The answer is a general denial. The case was submitted to the court on an agreed statement of facts, from which it appears that at the August term, 1892, of the circuit court of Mississippi county, upon petition and notice as required by law, said county court duly organized a levee district designated as "District No. 1," embracing within its area about three-fourths of the county. At the same time the court appointed three directors of levees who duly qualified, and the board was organized as required by the statute. At the May term, 1893, of said county court, a majority of the board of directors presented to the court a petition representing that, after due consideration, they had agreed to build a levee on a certain line therein designated, subject to the approval of the majority of the landowners within a certain part of the district, specifying by metes and bounds an area of about one-third of district No. 1, and stating that, in the opinion of the petitioners, the land so designated would be greatly benefited by a levee to be built as they proposed, and praying that the assessor be directed by the court to assess the value of the lands included in that boundary, as required by sections 6679, 6680, and 6681, Rev. St. 1899. The assessment for the purpose indicated was made according to the order of the court. Thereafter, on December 7, 1899, said county court ordered the county assessor, at the first annual assessment to be made by him under the general revenue laws of the state, to assess the value of all lands in said levee district subject to overflow or inundation from the Mississippi and Ohio rivers or other water courses, and to be benefited by said work, having reference to the value of said lands without the work contemplated. In obedience to said order the assessor, after he had collected most of his assessment lists for state and county purposes from the landowners, appointed four deputies to do the work so ordered. Said deputies, in making said assessment, took no lists from the landowners, but used books which had been prepared by the assessor and in which the value of the lands, without reference to the work contemplated, was taken from the assessment books of the preceding year, and assessed the value of the lands as improved by said work. These books were returned to the assessor, and from them he prepared the assessment books which he filed in the office of the county clerk on January 20, 1900, delivering a copy thereof to the secretary of the board of directors of the levee district. This assessment did not include all of the lands in the district, but only such lands as the deputies thought would be benefited by the work contemplated. On June 11, 1900, the board of directors of the levee district called a meeting of the landowners thereof to be held on the 21st day of July, 1900, for the purpose of submitting to the landowners the reports, specifications, surveys, profiles, and estimates made by the engineer, also the assessment returned by the assessor, the notice of which meeting described the boundaries of the entire levee district, and was published as required by law. Said meeting was held, and the reports and estimates of the engineer and the assessment of the assessor were laid before the landowners, who voted a tax of 40 per centum on the valuation of said lands as fixed by the assessor against the lands, to pay for the work authorized. In April, 1901...