Toof v. City of New Haven

• Decision Date: 12 February 1901
• Citation: 73 Conn. 543,48 A. 208
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: TOOF v. CITY OF NEW HAVEN.

48 A. 208

73 Conn. 543

TOOF

v. CITY OF NEW HAVEN.

Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut.

Feb. 12, 1901.

Appeal from superior court, New Haven county; Silas A. Robinson, Judge.

Action by Edwin J. Toof against the city of New Haven. Plaintiff appealed to the superior court under Sp. Act 1895, p. 578, from a valuation of his property by the board of relief. From the action of the superior court in reducing the valuation, defendant appeals, Affirmed.

The hoard of assessors of New Haven, in pursuance of a special act, valued four pieces of real estate belonging to the plaintiff. After a hearing before the board of relief, acting under the same special act, that board reduced the valuation of three pieces, and made no change in that of the fourth. Plaintiff then brought this appeal (which is authorized by the same special act) to the superior court. The court valued three pieces at sums less than those fixed by the board of relief, and made no change in the valuation of the fourth piece. The appeal to this court assigns error in certain rulings on admission of evidence.

A. Heaton Robertson, for appellant.

Henry G. Newton and Harrison Hewitt, for appellee.

HAMERSLEY, J. The special act "providing for the reassessment of all taxable real estate in the town of New Haven." as passed in 1895, and amended in 1897 and 1899 (Sp. Acts 1895, p. 578; Sp. Acts 1897, p. 1180; Sp. Acts 1899, p. 175), is independent of the provisions of the General Statutes (section 3802 et seq.) regulating the annual making for each inhabitant of a town of a list of all his taxable property, the amount of which list shall measure his ability to contribute to the payment of taxes for that year. The special act provides for an examination and valuation of all the taxable land in the town of New Haven at its present true and actual value, being the fair market value thereof, and not its value at a forced or auction sale. A period of five years is given for the completion of this task, which is imposed upon the board of assessors of that town as a special duty not included in the general statutory duties of the board. It also requires the board of relief of the town of New Haven to hear all persons dissatisfied with the valuation placed upon their property by the assessors in their report (to be filed by April 1, 1900), to view the property whose value is thus called in question, and to file a statement by July 1, 1900, of such changes as it thinks should be made in the value fixed by the assessors. The duty thus imposed upon the board of relief is a special and temporary one, wholly independent of its general statutory duties, and limited by the terms of the special act. The act also provides that any one dissatisfied with the report of the board of relief upon his property may take his appeal to the superior court on or before the first Tuesday of September, 1900, in the same manner that appeals may now be taken from town boards of relief to the superior court; and further provides that the list of the valuations of each piece of real estate in New Haven, sufficiently described to identify that piece, and of the names of the owners of such real estate, completed by the assessors by April 1, 1900, as modified by the board of relief, and subject to such further changes as shall be made in appealed cases, shall, on October 1, 1900, constitute the basis of the grand list of the city and town of New Haven for the year 1900, subject to such additional alterations as may thereafter be made according to law. The purpose of this special act is hardly...