Board of Education of Paris Union School District v. Board of Education of Non-High School District

231 Ill. App. 415, 1923 Ill. App. LEXIS 174
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 10, 1923
DocketGen. No. 7,555
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 231 Ill. App. 415 (Board of Education of Paris Union School District v. Board of Education of Non-High School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Board of Education of Paris Union School District v. Board of Education of Non-High School District, 231 Ill. App. 415, 1923 Ill. App. LEXIS 174 (Ill. Ct. App. 1923).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Shurtlepp

delivered the opinion of the court.

This action is in assumpsit, with declaration consisting of the common counts, for tuition of pupils from nonhigh school territory of Edgar county, Illinois, who attend high school in Paris Union School District during the year 1920-1921. Towards the end of the school year in question, appellee presented to appellant a statement of the number of pupils who had attended the high school from nonhigh school territory, together with an itemized statement of the cost of maintaining the school, in which was included a charge for use and depreciation of school plant. Appellant accepted the statement of the number of pupils and the cost of maintaining the school, except as to the items for use and depreciation, and paid to the treasurer the sum of $15,151.65, and refused to pay the remainder claimed to be due appellee on the items for use and depreciation.

After this action was commenced, the stipulation set out in appellant’s statement was entered into from which it will be seen that appellant now admits that it owes appellee $1,524.42, but denies the remainder of the amount, $3,200.30, found by the trial court to be due appellee.

The only questions submitted to the trial court for decision were: (1) Should the depreciation of two per cent be based on the original cost of the building and equipment, stipulated at $90,000, or upon the market value of such building and equipment upon the day stipulated within the year for which tuition is claimed; and (2) should the five per cent for use of the building, ground and equipment be based on the original cost when same were acquired by the district, or upon the stipulated value of the same upon the day agreed upon, within the year for which tuition is claimed? ■

Section 96 of chapter 122 provides: “The tuition paid shall in no ease exceed the per capita cost of maintaining the high school attended, «excluding therefrom interest paid on bonded indebtedness, which shall be computed by dividing the total cost of conducting and maintaining said high school by the average number of pupils enrolled, including tuition pupils.” [Cahill’s Ill. St. ch. 122, ff 104.]

In People v. Chicago & N. W. Ry. Co., 286 Ill. 384, it was held (p. 395): “The ‘total cost’ of maintaining such high school should include all expenses incurred by the high-school district in maintaining such high school, the rental of any buildings therefor not owned by the high-school district, and a reasonable charge for the use and depreciation of buildings owned by the high-school district.”

Some question is raised by appellant as to the right of appellee to recover for the use of lands or grounds, inasmuch as the court in People v. Chicago & N. W. Ry. Co., supra, in construing the act under which this suit is brought, and defining the term “total cost,” confines the term “reasonable charge for the use” to the subject of “buildings” and appellant contends that appellee should not be permitted to recover for the use of “land” or “ground.” However, the stipulation signed and submitted by both parties was in part as follows:

“That the questions in this case to be tried by the court are:
“(1) Shall the depreciation of two per cent be based upon $90,000, the original cost of building and equipment, or upon $153,000, the fair cash market value of the building and equipment as of May 31, 1921.
“ (2) Shall the five per cent for use be based upon $100,000, the original cost of grounds, building and equipment, or upon $173,000, the fair cash market value of the grounds, building and equipment as of May 31, 1921, ’ ’ so that we do not deem that that question is in this case, whatever the correct rule may be.

Appellant contends that under the United States War Revenue Act, as it relates to an income tax and war profits and excess profit, that “invested capital” is not based upon the present net worth of the assets as shown by appraisal, but upon actual cost, and that “appreciation of assets” cannot be included in “invested capital,” quoting La Belle Iron Works v. United States, 256 U. S. 377, 41 Sup. Ct. 528, and appellant contends that the proper allowance for depreciation is that amount which should be set aside each year in accordance with a consistent plan by which the aggregate of such amounts for the useful life of the property will suffice, with the salvage value at the end of such useful life to provide in place of the property its cost. Article 161, U. S. Revenue Act.

Depreciation does not apply to land apart from the improvement. Article 162, U. S. Revenue Act.

It is true, that in the stipulation as to the figures of the cost of land, buildings and equipment purchased, erected and procured by appellee in 1904, the parties have made use of the term “invested capital” as of that time, but the question is still raised as to whether the statute in question is to be construed the same and operates in a like manner as the federal acts of 1918. The stipulation also covers the “fair cash market value” of the property as of the time used. Appellant relies substantially upon the foregoing authorities and contends that the rate of depreciation and stipulated percentage value of use and occupation should be applied to the original cost to appellee, of the property.

As to the term “invested capital,” as used in the U. S. Revenue Acts, appellee insists that “by referring to the federal statute and the case of La Belle Iron Works v. United States, cited by appellant, wherein such statute was interpreted, it will be seen that such statute was passed as a war measure ‘on the eve of our entry into war, and in order to provide “a special preparedness fund” for army, navy and fortification purposes,’ and for the purpose of determining what the statute defined as ‘Excess Profits’ on which such tax should be computed, the said statute provided for an excess profits tax on corporations and partnerships equal to eight per cent of the amount by which their net income exceeded $5,000 plus eight per cent of the actual ‘invested capital.’ In another section of the statute for the purpose of determining the amount of such excess tax, ‘invested capital’ was defined as ‘actual cash paid in.’ It appears perfectly clear that department regulations and rules cited, were for the sole purpose of administering the particular statute wherein Congress has specifically defined ‘invested capital’ as ‘actual cash paid in’ and had specifically fixed the same as the amount on which the eight per cent deduction should be computed, in determining how much should be called ‘excess profits’ and taxed accordingly.

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231 Ill. App. 415, 1923 Ill. App. LEXIS 174, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/board-of-education-of-paris-union-school-district-v-board-of-education-of-illappct-1923.