Webster City v. Wright County
| Decision Date | 18 November 1909 |
| Parties | WEBSTER CITY, in the State of Iowa, as Trustee under the last Will and Testament of KENDALL YOUNG, Deceased, and F. D. YOUNG, SAMUEL BAXTER, E. D. BURGESS, J. W. YOUNG and W. J. COVIL, as Trustees of the Kendall Young Library and Trust Estate, Appellees, v. WRIGHT COUNTY, IOWA, W. H. TROWBRIDGE, as Treasurer of Wright County, E. M. CALLENDER, as County Auditor of Wright County, the Board of Supervisors of Wright County, Iowa, Appellants |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Appeal from Wright District Court.--HON. W. D. EVANS, Judge.
SUIT in equity to enjoin the collection of a tax upon certain real estate in Wright County, Iowa, upon the ground that the property against which it was levied and assessed was exempt from taxation in the year 1907. The petition also asked that the tax be adjudged illegal and void, and that the county treasurer be directed to cancel the same. The defendants demurred to the petition as amended, and, the said demurrer being overruled, defendants elected to stand thereon, and a decree was entered as prayed. Defendants appeal.
Affirmed.
Bradford Knapp, County Attorney, for appellants.
W. J Covil, for appellees.
OPINION
Kendall Young, now deceased, a resident of Hamilton County, died testate on June 30, 1896, seised of the lands now in controversy, containing about six hundred and forty acres. By his last will and testament he devised and bequeathed his entire estate, subject to the support of his widow during life, to the city of Webster City, Iowa, in trust for the establishment and maintenance of a free public library in said city, to be known as the "Kendall Young Library," on condition that the same be taken, held managed and controlled by certain persons, naming them, and their successors in office. All of said property was so devised by the testator as to constitute an endowment fund for the maintenance of the said library, save as a designated sum was to be used for the erection of a building and the purchase of books therefor. Pursuant to this devise, a public library was duly constructed in Webster City, Iowa, books purchased, and the library thrown open to the public. The trustees named in the will are plaintiffs in this suit and trustees of the said library. The defendants, in addition to the county, are the treasurer, the county auditor, and the board of supervisors thereof. The will was duly admitted to probate and an executor appointed, and on the 19th day of December, 1903, the property was turned over by the executor to the trustees for the purpose of carrying into effect the trust created by the will. The library building and equipment cost approximately $ 35,000, and it is now being administered by the trustees above named. It contains the usual reading rooms, books, stacks, lecture room, librarian's room, cataloguing room, and other apartments and furnishings necessary for institutions of like character. It now has between six thousand and seven thousand books, covering the subjects usually found in a first-class public library. It has a librarian, and is open to the public. The Wright County lands were and are now leased, and the rents and profits arising therefrom are used in support of the library. The total endowment of the institution is more than $ 125,000, and the annual income is something more than $ 4,000. The proper officials of Wright County assessed and valued the lands in controversy and levied taxes against the same as other like property in Wright County. This action was brought to cancel these taxes, and to enjoin the defendants from collecting the same. The sole question in the case is, are these lands exempt from taxation in virtue of section 1304 of the Code as amended by chapter 54, Acts 32d General Assembly. This section, as amended, reads as follows:
All grounds and buildings used for public libraries, including libraries owned and kept up by private individuals, associations or corporations for public use, and not for private profits, and for literary, scientific, charitable, benevolent, agricultural and religious institutions and societies, devoted solely to the appropriate objects of these institutions, not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres in extent, and not leased or otherwise used with a view to pecuniary profit, but all deeds or leases by which such property is held shall be filed for record before the property above described shall be omitted from assessment; the books, papers and apparatus belonging to the above institutions, used solely for the purposes above contemplated, and the like property of students in any such institution used for their education; money and credits belonging exclusively to such institutions, and devoted solely to sustaining them, but not to exceed in amount or income the amount prescribed by their charters or articles of incorporation; provided, however, that real estate owned by an educational institution of this state, as part of its endowment fund, shall not be taxed.
The italicized part of this section as quoted is the amendment to the section, known as chapter 54, Acts 32d General Assembly which went into effect July 4, 1907. The section as it originally read ended with the word "incorporation," just preceding the language italicized. This is deemed important in the construction of the proviso introduced by the subsequent legislative enactment. Appellants contend that, as taxation is the rule and exemption the exception, statutes providing for exemptions should be strictly construed, and no property relieved from its burden except such as clearly and fairly falls within the express terms of the statute. Pursuing this argument, they contend that a public library, such as the one above described, is not an educational institution within the meaning of the statute as amended. The trial court held that this library was an educational institution, and exempted the lands in controversy on the theory that they constituted an endowment fund for the library. This finding is challenged by appellants, and for them it is contended that the words "educational institution" have a distinct and certain meaning and are applicable only to schools, academies, colleges, and universities and the like--that is to say, a place where regular and systematic instruction is given by teachers and professors to a student body--that this is the popular understanding of the term, and that such must be presumed to have been the legislative thought and intent. They also say that as the library is in ...
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