Natatorium Co. v. Board of Com'rs of Ada County

174 P.2d 936, 67 Idaho 143, 1946 Ida. LEXIS 134
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 5, 1946
DocketNo. 7227.
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 174 P.2d 936 (Natatorium Co. v. Board of Com'rs of Ada County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Natatorium Co. v. Board of Com'rs of Ada County, 174 P.2d 936, 67 Idaho 143, 1946 Ida. LEXIS 134 (Idaho 1946).

Opinions

*145 HOLDEN, Justice.

Preliminarily, the motion of respondent and cross-appellant, Natatorium Company, to strike from the record the “memorandum decision” of the trial judge is presented. It appears the “memorandum decision” was included in and made a part of the record on appeal. It is not properly a part of the record. The motion is granted and the “memorandum decision” stricken. Sec. 7-1107, I.C.A.; Williams v. Boise Basin Mining, etc., Co., 11 Idaho 233, 81 P. 646; North Robinson Dean Co. v. Strong, 25 Idaho 721, 730, 139 P. 847; Corker v. Cowen, 30 Idaho 213, 215, 164 P. 85; Baldwin v. Singer Sewing Machine Co., 48 Idaho 596, 593, 284 P. 1027; Clark v. Clark, 58 Idaho 37, 41, 69 P.2d 980; Stearns v. Graves, 61 Idaho 232, 246, 99 P.2d 955.

Respondent and cross-appellant, Natatorium Company, hereinafter referred to as the Company, for many years has been, and still is, engaged in the business of selling natural hot water for heating residences in Boise. Apparently it is the only concern known to be engaged in the business. Its stock is owned by the Boise Water Corporation whose stock in turn is owned by the General Water, Gas and Electric Company. July 16, 1943, the Company filed written objections to and protest with the Ada County Board of Equalization, protesting the assessment of its properties made by the Assessor of the County for the year 1943. The protest was levelled against the formula used by the Assessor, by which the Assessor arrived at a capitalized value of the properties of $495,000, a physical valuation of $160,921, or a composite value of $327,-960, the composite value being reduced one-half, or to $163,980, to make that value, $163,980, conform to the actual value at which other property in Ada county was assessed. On the hearing of the Company’s protest, the Board used the same formula as the Assessor, excepting the Assessor had capitalized net income, or net earnings, before taxes, while the Board arrived at valuation (capitalized) after deducting federal income taxes.

August 6, 1943, the Company appealed to the district court from the action and order of the Board, dated July 19, 1943. The appeal from the Board was heard December 14, 1943. Findings of fact and conclusions of law were made and entered June 29, 1944, and on the same day judgment was entered thereon reversing and modifying the order of the Board. September 14, 1944, the Board appealed from the judgment of the district court and thereafter and on the 25th day of September, 1944, the Company also appealed.

It appears from the record, and the court found, property in Ada county for the year 1943 was generally assessed on a basis of fifty per cent, of its value; the court also found the value of the property of the Company at 12:00 M. on the second Monday of January, 1943, for taxation purposes, was $80,460.50; the trial court held the *146 method of assessment used by the Assessor and the method of equalizing the assessment used by the County Board of Equalization, in assessing the property of the Company for 1943, was illegal; it further held the assessment of the property of the Company for the year 1943, as made by the Assessor, and as equalized by the County Board of Equalization, was arbitrary and capricious. In fixing "the value of the property of the Company for taxation purposes at $80,460.50, the trial court refused to and did not consider the factor of the earnings of the Company.

The controlling question presented on these appeals, is: Where, as here, neither the stock, property nor system like that of the Company was every sold on the open market, can the Assessor use a capitalized earning power formula as one factor in determining the cash value of the Company’s system for taxing purposes ?

The Company, as we understand it, first insists 'the use of a capitalized earning power formula as one factor in evaluating its property, is an assessment of inc-ome, but, nevertheless, then says “no issue was taken to the principle, of which our statute is declaratory, that earning capacity is a factor in valuation.”

We quote pertinent provisions of our “Revenue and Taxation” statute:

Sec. 61-102, I.C.A. “All real and personal property subject to assessment and taxation must be assessed at its full cash value for taxation for state, county, city, town, village, school district and other purposes, under the provisions of this act, with reference to its value at twelve o’clock meridian, on the second Monday of January in the year in which such taxes are levied, * *

Sec. 61-111, I.C.A. “Value defined. — ’ By the term ‘value,’ ‘cash value’ or ‘full cash value’ is meant the value at which the property would be taken in payment of a just debt due from a solvent debtor, or the amount the property would sell for at a voluntary sale made in the ordinary course of business, taking into consideration its earning power when put to the same uses to which property similarly situated is applied.”

Sec. 61-202, I.C.A. “Criteria of value.— In ascertaining the value of any property the assessor shall not adopt a lower or different standard of' value because the same is to serve as a basis of taxation, nor shall he adopt as a criterion any value or price for which the property would sell at auction or at forced sale, or in the aggregate with all the property in the taxing district; nor, on the other hand, shall he adopt a speculative valuation, or one based upon sales made upon the basis of a small cash payment and instalments payable in the future, but he shall value each article or piece of property by itself and at such sum or price as he believes the same to be fairly worth in money at the time such assessment is made. * *

*147 It will tie noted Section 61-102, supra, requires all property must be assessed at its full cash value; that section 61-111, supra, defines “value” ; that by the term “value,” “cash value,” “full cash value,” the legislature says, “is meant the value at which the property would be taken in payment of a just debt due from a solvent debtor, or the amount the property would sell for at a voluntary sale made in the ordinary Course of business taking into consideration its earning p-ower when put to the same uses to which property similarly situated is applied" (emphasis added) ; it will be further noted section 61-202, supra, provides that:

“In ascertaining the value of any property the assessor shall not adopt a lower or different standard of value because the same is to serve as a basis of taxation, nor shall he adopt as a criterion any value or price for which the property would sell at auction or at forced sale, or in the aggregate with all the property in the taxing district; nor, on the other hand, shall he adopt a speculative valuation, or one based upon sales made upon the basis of a small cash payment and instalments payable in the future, but he shall value each article or piece of property by itself and at such sum or price as he believes the same to be fairly worth in money at the time such assessment is made.”

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Bluebook (online)
174 P.2d 936, 67 Idaho 143, 1946 Ida. LEXIS 134, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/natatorium-co-v-board-of-comrs-of-ada-county-idaho-1946.