Thogmartin v. Nevada School Dist.

• Decision Date: 03 May 1915
• Docket Number: No. 11558.,11558.
• Citation: 176 S.W. 473,189 Mo. App. 10
• Parties: THOGMARTIN et al. v. NEVADA SCHOOL DIST.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

176 S.W. 473

189 Mo. App. 10

THOGMARTIN et al. v. NEVADA SCHOOL DIST.

No. 11558.

Kansas City Court of Appeals, Missouri.

May 3, 1915.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Vernon County; B. G. Thurmond, Judge.

Action by T. L. Thogmartin and others against Nevada School District. From a judgment for defendant, plaintiffs appeal. Affirmed.

A. J. King, H. C. Clark, and W. H. Hallett, all of Nevada, Mo., for appellants. W. M. Bowker and Chas. E. Gilbert, both of Nevada, Mo., for respondent.

TRIMBLE, J.

The city of Nevada, Mo. (a city of the third class) by ordinance, directed that Washington street in said city be paved, curbed, and guttered; and appellants were the contractors who did the work and received from said city special tax bills for said improvements.

Respondent is organized under the statute as a city school district, and the school grounds front on said street. Appellants brought suit against said school district to recover a money judgment on the two special tax bills issued against the school grounds for paving that portion of the street on which the grounds abut. A demurrer to the petition was sustained, and appellants bring the case here.

No ground is perceived for disturbing the judgment. It is true the constitutional exemption of the property of the state, counties, and other municipal corporations, from taxation does not apply to special assessments for local improvements. So that it is within the legislative power to make a public school pay its share of the expense of a local public improvement, but the Legislature must do so by express enactment or by clear implication. Mere general language is not sufficient. City of Clinton v. Henry County, 115 Mo. 557, 22 S. W. 494, 37 Am. St. Rep. 415; City of St. Louis v. Brown, 155 Mo. 545, 56 S. W. 298; Mullins v. Mount St. Mary's Cemetery Ass'n, 239 Mo. 681, loc. cit. 689, 144 S. W. 109.

Appellants claim such authority is given by section 9254 of the Act of April 3, 1911 (Session Acts of Mo. page 337). The portion claimed as conferring such authority is found on page 338 and reads as follows:

"All lands owned by any county or city, and all other public lands, cemeteries, and railroad rights of way, fronting or abutting on any of said improvements shall be liable for their proportionate part of the cost of such improvement, and tax bills shall be issued against such property as against other property, and any county or city that shall own any such property shall out of the general revenue funds pay any such tax bill and in any case where any county or city, or railroad company, shall fail to pay any such tax bill, the owner or holder of same may sue such county, city, or railroad company on such tax bill, and be entitled to recover a general judgment against such county or railroad company."

It will be noticed that school districts are not mentioned in the act, though counties and cities are specified, followed by the words "and all other public lands, cemeteries, and railroad rights of way." A school district is not a part of the county, nor is it a municipal corporation. State ex rel. v. Gordon, 231 Mo. 547, loc. cit. 575, 135 S. W. 44. And the title to its property is vested in the school district as a public, and not as a municipal, corporation. State ex rel. v. Henderson, 145 Mo. 329, 46 S. W. 1076. School districts are distinct...