Ingersoll v. Town of Deer River

147 N.W. 439, 125 Minn. 452, 1914 Minn. LEXIS 793
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedMay 22, 1914
DocketNos. 18,565 — (57)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 147 N.W. 439 (Ingersoll v. Town of Deer River) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ingersoll v. Town of Deer River, 147 N.W. 439, 125 Minn. 452, 1914 Minn. LEXIS 793 (Mich. 1914).

Opinion

Bunn, J.

Tbe town of Deer River is a duly organized town in Itasca county, and tbe village of Deer River is a duly organized village whose corporate limits are wholly witbin tbe boundaries of tbe town. On September 1, 1906, tbe town issued road and bridge bonds to tbe amount of $12,000, which are still unpaid. These bonds were authorized by a town election held in a school bouse witbin tbe limits of tbe town and outside of tbe village limits. At this election 30 votes were cast, all in favor of tbe issuance of tbe bonds; of these votes, 23 were cast by residents of tbe town who lived outside of tbe village; four were cast by residents of tbe village, and three by persons whose residence was not disclosed by tbe evidence. Tbe bonds were issued and sold, and tbe proceeds used exclusively for road and bridge purposes of tbe town entirely outside of tbe corporate limits of tbe village, except that a portion of tbe proceeds was used under tbe exclusive direction of the town board in the construction of a road, part of which traverses the west line of tbe village limits. Tbe village council of tbe village took no part in tbe con[454]*454struction of such road, or any road constructed by the town with the proceeds of the bonds. The town has always paid the interest on the bonds.

On November 6, 1906, the village of Deer Eiver was separated from the town for election and assessment purposes, under the provisions of E. L. 1905, § 708, and has since then been a separate election and assessment district. Upon such separation, the county auditor of Itasca county attempted to apportion between the town and the village the bonded indebtedness before mentioned, using the assessed valuation of the taxable property in each as a basis. This valuation was $92,136 for the property within the village limits, and $71,153 for the property without these limits. Each year thereafter, without the knowledge or acquiescence of the village or its officers or taxpayers, the auditor levied and collected taxes upon the property in the village for the purpose of paying the village’s proportion of the bonded indebtedness and interest. Of the taxes thus collected the sum of $1,047.35 was paid over to the village, and $2,679.48 subsequently collected was paid to the county treasurer of Itasca county and was in the county treasury at the time this action was tried.

Plaintiff is a property owner and taxpayer in the village. He brought this action to enjoin the defendant Spang, county auditor of Itasca county, from drawing his warrant upon the treasury for any part of the funds therein realized from the taxes levied on property within the village, to enjoin him from paying such funds or any thereof to the town of Deer Eiver or to the bondholders, to enjoin the levy of taxes for 1913 and subsequent years upon property in the village to pay or provide a sinking fund to meet any of such bonds or interest, and to compel him to pay to the village the fund above specified, and all other funds coming into the treasury as proceeds of the taxes levied upon village property to pay the bonds or interest. The auditor was made a defendant, as was the town of Deer Eiver and the village. The town answered, opposing the relief asked, while the village joined in the prayer of plaintiff. The decision of the trial court was that plaintiff and the village were entitled to the relief [455]*455demanded in the complaint. Judgment was entered accordingly, and the town of Deer Diver appealed therefrom to this court.

A single question is presented on this appeal. Was property within the corporate limits of the village, subject to taxation to pay any portion of the bonds issued by the town ? All other, questions, such as whether the remedy is the proper one, and whether the village is, in any event, entitled to have paid to it the funds raised from the taxation of the property of its residents, are eliminated by agreement of counsel, as well as by the failure of appellant to raise any such questions in its brief.

The bonds were issued by the town pursuant to authority conferred at a town election, and the proceeds were used exclusively for road and bridge purposes of the town under the direction of the town board. The fact that four residents of the village voted at the town election is not material, nor is the fact that part of the proceeds went to construct a road on the boundary between the town and the village. The question whether property within the village may be taxed to pay part of the indebtedness created by the town in issuing its bonds was decided in the negative in Bradish v. Lucken, 38 Minn. 186, 36 N. W. 454, and State v. Peltier, 103 Minn. 32, 114 N. W. 90. It is vigorously and ably argued by counsel for appellant that these decisions do not apply to the facts here, that they are in effect overruled by Love v. Town of Preston, 112 Minn. 459, 128 N. W. 673, and that, if they do apply and have not been overruled, the cases were wrongly decided and should be now overruled.

Bradish v. Lucken was decided in 1888, prior to the enactment of chapter 52, p. 58, Laws 1897, and chapter 124, p. 260, of the same laws, providing that any incorporated village situated in one or more townships may be made a separate election and assessment district and separated from the town in which it is situated, “for all purposes.” See also section 708, E. L. 1905; Laws 1911, p. 195, c. 154. The village of Fisher, within the town of Fisher, had been reincorporated under the provisions of Laws 1885, p. 148, c. 145. (The village of Deer Eiver was organized under the same law.) It was held that the village still remained liable for its proportion of the general township indebtedness previously incurred, and also for [456]*456its proportion of certain town charges for general township purposes, but that, in respect to roads and bridges, the township officers had no jurisdiction or authority within the limits of the village, and that the latter was not liable to be taxed for the expenses of township roads and bridges.

State v. Peltier was decided in 1907. The village of Staples was organized within the territorial limits of the town of Staples, pursuant to Laws 1885, p. 148, c. 145. In 1902, pursuant to Laws 1897, chapters 52, 124, the village was separated from the town and became a separate, election and assessment district. In June, 1900, the voters of the town, including those in the village, voted to issue bonds, the proceeds to be used in building and repairing roads and bridges of the town. The bonds were issued, and it was attempted to levy a tax upon the taxable property in both the town and the village to pay such bonded indebtedness. It was held, following Bradish v. Luchen, that prior to the separation from the town in 1902, the village was not liable fo.r the payment of any part of the road and bridge bonds. It was further held that there was no statute that undertook to impose upon the village a liability for any part of the township indebtedness for which it was not liable before the separation. Laws 1897, p. 59, c. 52, § 3, then in force, provided, in case of the separation of villages from towns, that if the village and the town had theretofore jointly or together contracted any bonded or other indebtedness, the county auditor should apportion the taxes to meet such indebtedness between the taxable property of the town and village respectively. It ■was decided that’ this statute manifestly referred to indebtedness for which the village was liable before the separation; that is, to indebtedness contracted for municipal purposes other than for roads and bridges.

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Related

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251 N.W. 680 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1933)

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Bluebook (online)
147 N.W. 439, 125 Minn. 452, 1914 Minn. LEXIS 793, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ingersoll-v-town-of-deer-river-minn-1914.