City of Hannibal v. County of Marion

800 S.W.2d 471, 1990 Mo. App. LEXIS 1777, 1990 WL 198188
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 11, 1990
DocketNo. 58009
StatusPublished

This text of 800 S.W.2d 471 (City of Hannibal v. County of Marion) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Hannibal v. County of Marion, 800 S.W.2d 471, 1990 Mo. App. LEXIS 1777, 1990 WL 198188 (Mo. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

GRIMM, Judge.

This case involves the validity of § 20.25 of the City of Hannibal’s 1957 charter concerning its citizens’ exemption from paying county road taxes for roads or bridges outside its city limits. In response to the defendants’ summary judgment motion, the trial court found the provision unconstitutional and declared it “void and unenforceable.” Plaintiff City of Hannibal and Inter-venor Richard Schwartz appealed; however, the City dismissed its appeal. We affirm.1

I. Background

In 1873, Hannibal was a legislative charter city. In that year, the General Assembly adopted an act to consolidate into one act the various acts relating to Hannibal’s charter. Laws, 1873, p. 236. Article VIII of that act, entitled “Miscellaneous Provisions,” contains six sections. Section 1 is pertinent and states:

The city of Hannibal shall, at its own proper expense, make, maintain and keep in repair all streets, roads and bridges within the limits of the city, and provide for the maintenance and support of its own poor, and, in consideration thereof, the citizens of Hannibal shall be exempt from all county tax for the support of the poor, or for the construction or maintenance of any roads or bridges in any part of Marion county, outside of the limits of said city, or for paying for any right of way for the same; and if the county court of Marion county shall make any expenditure for the support of the poor, or for the construction, maintenance or repairs of any road or bridge, or right of way for the same, in any part of said county, outside of the limits of said city, and pay for the same out of the county funds, said county shall pay to the treasurer of the city of Hannibal, for the use of said city, a sum of money which shall bear the same proportion to the amount so expended, as the assessed value of all the property subject to county taxation in the city of Hannibal shall bear to the assessed value of similar property in the remainder of the city.

This provision, thus, was a part of Hannibal’s 1873 city charter. In 1875, the people of Missouri adopted a new constitution. It directed the General Assembly to enact laws for the organization and classification of cities and towns. Each class of cities was to possess the same powers and be subject to the same restrictions. Art. IX, § 7, Mo. Const. 1875. Existing cities could elect to become subject to, and be governed by, these general laws. Id.

Hannibal did not make such an election, and it continued as a legislative charter city. The provision remained a part of its charter. Its charter could not be changed because Art. IV, § 53 of the 1875 constitution specifically prohibited the General Assembly from passing “any local or special law ... changing” the charter of any city. This same prohibition is contained in our current constitution. Art. Ill, § 40(22), Mo. Const. 1945. Thus, after 1875, Hannibal’s legislative charter could not be changed.

In the 1945 constitution, however, provision was made for cities to “frame and adopt a charter for its own government.” Art. VI, § 19, Mo. Const. 1945. In 1957, Hannibal voters adopted a charter pursuant to this constitutional provision.

Hannibal’s 1957 charter contains § 20.25, entitled “City Exempt from County Poor and Road Tax.” This section begins: “There is hereby continued, accepted, reaffirmed, readopted and declared to be in full force and effect, the following” provisions of the legislative charter. Following this opening sentence is the 1873 statutory language set out above.

II. Validity of § 20.25

Intervenor Schwartz contends the 1873 statutory provisions were not abandoned, [473]*473but were “continued in full force and effect” by Hannibal’s 1957 charter § 20.25.

We look first to the 1945 Missouri Constitution, which was in effect when Hannibal adopted its charter. Article VI, § 19, pertains to the charter form of city government. It authorizes cities with a certain number of inhabitants to “frame and adopt a charter for its own government, consistent with and subject to the constitution and laws of this state.” 2 (emphasis added).

Hannibal charter § 20.25 is not “consistent with ... the constitution.” Section 20.-25 purports to exempt “the citizens of Hannibal” from all county taxes for the support of the poor, as well as road taxes. This section conflicts with Art. X, § 3, which provides: “Taxes ... shall be uniform upon the same class of subjects within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax.” 3

Marion County has the authority to levy taxes. Hannibal is within the territorial limits of Marion County. Therefore, all taxes within Marion County must be “uniform upon the same class of subjects.”

An exemption for “citizens of Hannibal” from certain Marion County taxes violates the requirement that taxes be “uniform upon the same class.” As pointed out in Marion County’s brief, the result of such an exemption would be “[a] Hannibal citizen’s property located in Marion County outside of Hannibal would be exempt because it was owned by a Hannibal citizen.” In addition, property in Hannibal owned by a non-citizen would be subject to tax, while property in Hannibal owned by a citizen would not be subject to tax.

Our position is supported by State v. Metro. St. Louis Sewer Dist., 365 Mo. 1, 275 S.W.2d 225 (banc 1955). There, the sewer district encompassed property located in the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County. The result of the district’s taxing method was to place a three cents tax per one hundred dollars assessed valuation on property in the county, but only two cents on property in the city. The court held the differing rates within the territorial limits of the district violated Art. X, § 3. Id. at 233.

Further, an exemption for “citizens of Hannibal” violates Article X, § 6. This section sets forth what property is exempt from taxation. It then continues: “All laws exempting from taxation property other than the property enumerated in this article, shall be void.”4 Nothing in Art. X, § 6 permits exemption from county taxes for “citizens of Hannibal,” and thus § 20.25 is void.

Intervenor Schwartz contends the 1873 act “was valid when enacted, has never been repealed by the legislature and was not abrogated by the subsequent Missouri Constitutions.” In support, he refers to State ex rel. Bannister v. Trustees of William Jewell C., 364 Mo. 199, 260 S.W.2d 479 (banc 1953). This case is not controlling.

Bannister is representative of a number of cases wherein the General Assembly had, in the early 1800’s, issued charters to educational institutions and granted the institutions exemptions from taxation. See, e.g., Washington U. v. Baumann, 341 Mo. 708, 108 S.W.2d 403 (banc 1937); Trustees of William Jewell C. of Liberty v. Beavers, 351 Mo. 87, 171 S.W.2d 604 (banc 1943).

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Related

State v. Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District
275 S.W.2d 225 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1955)
City of Hannibal v. County of Marion
745 S.W.2d 842 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1988)
Trustees of William Jewell College v. Beavers
171 S.W.2d 604 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1943)
Washington University v. Baumann
108 S.W.2d 403 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1937)
City of Hannibal v. County of Marion
69 Mo. 571 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1879)
State ex rel. Town of Kirkwood v. County Court
44 S.W. 734 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1898)
Lamar Township v. City of Lamar
169 S.W. 12 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1914)
State ex rel. Morgan v. Hemenway
198 S.W. 825 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1917)
State ex rel. Bannister v. Trustees of William Jewell College
260 S.W.2d 479 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1953)

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Bluebook (online)
800 S.W.2d 471, 1990 Mo. App. LEXIS 1777, 1990 WL 198188, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-hannibal-v-county-of-marion-moctapp-1990.