Casterton v. Town of Vienna

44 N.Y.S. 868
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedApril 10, 1897
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 44 N.Y.S. 868 (Casterton v. Town of Vienna) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Casterton v. Town of Vienna, 44 N.Y.S. 868 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1897).

Opinions

FOLLETT, J.

This action was begun March 19, 1895, to have it determined whether 79 acres of land, owned and occupied by the plaintiff, and situate in the town of Vienna, were assessable for taxes in that town, or in the town of Verona. The towns of Vienna and Verona adjoin each other, and are in the county of Oneida. In 1869 three adjoining parcels of land, aggregating 174 acres, situate in the town of Verona, were united in ownership, and were thereafter occupied by the owner as a single farm, which land has always been, and now is, assessed for taxes in that town. April 1,1871, the owner of the 174 acres, the plaintiff’s ancestor, purchased 79 acres of land [869]*869in the town of Vienna, adjoining the 174 acres, which 79 acres had always theretofore been assessed in the town of Vienna. Since April 1, 1871, these four parcels of land, amounting to 253 acres, have been occupied by the owner as one farm, the dwelling and farm buildings being upon that part of the farm situate in the town of Verona. In the years 1891 to 1894, inclusive, the 79 acres were assessed in both towns, and the owner has paid double taxes on that parcel, each town claiming the right to assess it. The plaintiff is indifferent which town his land is assessed in, but desires that it be determined in which town it is legally assessable, so as to avoid the payment of taxes in both towns. This action was brought for that purpose, and the towns answered separately, each claiming to be entitled to assess the property. Which town is entitled to assess the 79 acres is the only question involved in this appeal. At special term it was held That the 79 acres were assessable in the town of Verona, and a judgment accordingly "was ordered in favor of the plaintiff, with costs against the town of Vienna.

Between April, 1866, and August, 1870, one city, three villages, and thirty-nine towns in the counties of Oswego, Oneida, Madison, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Ulster, and Orange subscribed and paid for $5,856,800 of the capital stock of the New York & Oswego Midland Bailroad Company, as authorized by chapter 398 of the Laws of 1866 and the acts amendatory thereof and supplementary thereto.. To provide the means to pay for the stock, the bonds of the several municipalities were issued, and, although the stock became substantially valueless, to their credit it should be said that only one municipality contested the payment of its bonds, which town, however, ultimately paid and secured to be paid the whole amount of its bonds, with a small abatement of interest in arrears. The greater part of the bonds of these municipalities has been paid, and the remainder was refunded when the original bonds became due. This record of municipal integrity is believed to be uneqnaled in the history of municipal bonding for the construction of railroads. Among the towns bonded was Vienna, which, in January, 1868, issued bonds to the amount of $68,500, which was invested in the stock of the railroad. These bonds ran 20 years, and became due in January, 1888, at which time the town had paid $13,500 of its debt, leaving outstanding $55,000, which were refunded, pursuant to chapter 316 of the Laws of 1886. Two thousand dollars of said renewal bonds matured each 3ear for the first five years, and three thousand dollars each year for the next fifteen years; so that the last installment of said renewal bonds will not become due and payable until January, 1908.

When Vienna issued its bonds, the 79 acres were assessable in that town, and so remained until April 1, 1871, when the land became part of the farm of the ancestor of the plaintiff, and then it became taxable in the town of Verona, pursuant to section 4, art. 1, tit. 2, e. 13, pt. 1, Bev. St., which provided:

“Sec. 4. When the line between two towns or wards divides a farm, or lot, the same shall be taxed, if occupied, in the town or ward where the occupant resides; if unoccupied, each part shall be assessed in the town in which the same shall lie; and this, whether such division line be a town line only, or be also a county line.”

[870]*870By chapter 287 of the Laws of 1871 this section was amended so that it read as follows:

•“Sec. 4. When the line between two towns or.wards divides a farm or lot, the same shall be taxed, if occupied, in the town or ward where the occupant resides; except when such town line shall be also a county line, in which case each part shall be assessed in the town in which the same shall be situated, in the same manner as unoccupied lands are now assessed.”

By chapter 355 of the Laws of 1872, chapter 287 of the Laws of 1871 was repealed, and with it fell the section of the Revised Statutes first above quoted. People v. Board of Supervisors of Montgomery Co., 67 N. Y. 109; Harris v. Supervisors, 33 Hun, 279; Hampton v. Hamsher, 46 Hun, 144, affirmed 124 N. Y. 634, 26 N. E. 540.

May 11, 1886, an act entitled “An act to amend the Revised Statutes,” being chapter 315 of the Laws of that year, was passed, which provided as follows:

“Section 1. Article 1, of title two, of chapter thirteen, part one, of the Revised Statutes, is hereby amended by inserting immediately after section three thereof, the following, which shall be known as section four: ‘Sec. 4. When the line between two towns, wards or counties divides a farm or lot, the same shall be taxed, if occupied, in the town, ward or county where the occupant resides; if unoccupied, each part shall be assessed in the town, ward, village or county where the same shall lie.’
“Sec. 2. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed.
“Sec. 3. This act shall take effect immediately.”

From April 24, 1872, when chapter 287 of the Laws of 1871 was -epealed, until May 11, 1886, when the last act above quoted was passed, there was no general statute in this state providing that farms situated partly in one town and partly in another were assessable in towns other than those where the lands were situated, so that all lands were assessable in the town wthere situated, pursuant to sections 1 and 2, art. 1, tit. 2, c. 13, pt. 1, Rev. St. Permitting lands situated in one town to be assessed in another town is and always has been an exception to the general statutes regulating the assessment of realty.

By chapter 152 of the Laws of 1882, chapter 398 of the Laws of 1866 (the “Midland Bonding Act”) was amended, by adding thereto this section:

“Sec. 25. All real property assessed or liable to be assessed upon the assessment roll of any town at the time of issuing bonds by said town pursuant to this act, and all acts amendatory thereof, shall continue to be assessed and assessable for all purposes whatsoever in said town until said bonds, or any renewals thereof, are fully paid, and if the owner of such real property does not reside within said town, then such real property shall be assessed as nonresident land or to any occupant of said real property actually residing within said town.”

The section last quoted was found to be unjust in its operation,' for it provided that land assessed in a bonded town when it was bonded, whether in or out of the town, should continue to be assessable therein until the bonds were paid, so that in case a farm partly in a bonded town and partly in an unbonded one was after-wards divided, and the part in the bonded town owned by one proprietor and the part in the unbonded town by another proprietor, the land of the latter was assessable in the bonded town.

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Related

Wilcox v. Baker
47 N.Y.S. 900 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1897)

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Bluebook (online)
44 N.Y.S. 868, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/casterton-v-town-of-vienna-nyappdiv-1897.