State ex rel. Godfrey v. O'Brien

95 Ohio St. (N.S.) 166
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 9, 1917
DocketNo. 15190
StatusPublished

This text of 95 Ohio St. (N.S.) 166 (State ex rel. Godfrey v. O'Brien) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Godfrey v. O'Brien, 95 Ohio St. (N.S.) 166 (Ohio 1917).

Opinion

Donahue, J.

The demurrer to the amended petition presents the question of the constitutionality of a number of sections of the act of the general assembly passed May 7, 1915 (106 0.‘ L., 246), entitled “An act to provide for the listing and valuation of property for purposes of taxation and to repeal certain sections of the General Code, relating thereto,” and the act of May 20, 1915 (106 O. L., 433), amending Sections 31, 32 and 39 of the former act.

Perhaps the most important question presented by the record in this case is the question of the constitutionality of Section 18 of the original act and Sections 31, 32 and 39, as amended May 20, 1915.

[171]*171Section 18 authorizes the county auditor, when he deems it necessary to enable an assessor to complete his work within the time prescribed, to appoint one or more assistant assessors for such ward, district, city, village or township.

Section 31 constitutes the county treasurer, prosecuting attorney, probate judge and the president of the board of county commissioners of each county, a county board for the appointment of three members of a county board of revision.

Section 32 authorizes this county board to appoint three competent persons who shall constitute the county board of revision.

Section 39 provides for the organization of the county boards of revision whose members are so appointed.

Section 1 of Article X of the Constitution of Ohio requires that “the general assembly shall provide, by law, for the election of such county and township officers as may be necessary.”

If assistant township assessors are township officers and the members of county boards of revision are county officers, these sections are in clear conflict with this provision of the constitution requiring township and county officers to be elected.

An examination of the sections of this act purporting to define the duties of assistant township assessors and the duties of boards of revision leaves no possible doubt as to the official character of either. But the mere fact that they are officers does not necessarily make them township or county officers.

[172]*172Section 17 provides for the election of a township assessor, and provides that he shall take and hold his office for the term of two years, from and after the first day of January following his election. It also provides that the assessor shall be a citizen, possessing the qualifications of an elector of the township.

Section 18 authorizes the county auditor to appoint an assistant assessor, who shall possess all the qualifications of an elected assessor, and, in the work assigned to him, perform all the duties and be subject to all the liabilities and penalties enjoined upon elected assessors by law. It would appear from this provision that an assistant assessor is entirely independent of the elected assessor in that township; that he is in no sense a deputy, but on the contrary performs the same duties and has the same power and authority as the elected assessor. If an elected township assessor is a township officer, an assistant township assessor appointed under the provisions of Section 18 is also a township officer.

A. county board of revision is appointed by a board whose members are county officers. It acts in an independent capacity, with authority to do and perform official acts for the whole county. .It is clothed with some part of the sovereign power of the state, to be exercised in the interest of the public as required by law. It is designated by statute as “The County Board of Revision.” Its official authority is coextensive with the territorial limits of the county. The salaries of its members are paid from county funds.

[173]*173These facts bring the members of the county board of revision clearly within the doctrine announced by this court in the case of State, ex rel. Armstrong, v. Halliday, 61 Ohio St., 171; State, ex rel., v. Brennan, 49 Ohio St., 33, and State, ex rel. Guilbert, v. Yates, 66 Ohio St,, 546, 550.

This court, however, in the more recent case of State, ex rel. Pogue, v. Groom, 91 Ohio St., 1, held that members of the county budget' commission are county officers. It is impossible to distinguish between members of the county budget commission and members of the county board of revision, unless, perhaps, it would the more clearly appear that the latter are county officers within the meaning of Section 1 of Article X of the Constitution of Ohio.

It is said, however, that the function of valuing property for taxation is neither a county nor a township nor a municipal function, but rather a state function, and that in the nature of things the state alone can deal with this problem through state agencies only. This claim overlooks the fact that county and township organizations are provided for by the constitution itself; that these subdivisions are agencies of the state, and '“constituent parts of the scheme of permanent organization of the government of the state.” State, ex rel., v. Yates, supra, 551.

The general assembly has in this act created certain township and county offices and conferred authority on the incumbents of these offices to perform certain duties incident to the exercise of the taxing power of the state. Whenever it does this it must observe the constitutional provisions in ref[174]*174erence to such offices. Under the laws of this state, the principal duties of county auditors and county treasurers relate to the levying and collection of taxes. Certainly it cannot be claimed that these officers are not county officers, and yet that contention would be equally as sound as the contention that members of county boards of revision- are not county officers, because their official duties are in connection with the exercise of the taxing power of the state.

It is conceded by counsel for defendants in error that if township assessors and members of the county board of revision are officers within the meaning of Section 20 of Article II of the Constitution, Sections 23 and 35 of this act are in conflict with that constitutional provision.

Section 35 authorizes the county commissioners to fix annually the compensation of the members of each county board of revision at not less than $3.50 nor more than $10 per day.

Section 23 provides that the compensation of assessors and assistant assessors shall not be less than $3 nor more than $6 per day, which compensation shall annually be fixed within such limits by the county auditor subject to the approval of the board of county commissioners.

This is an attempt to delegate to the auditor and board of county commissioners the legislative authority conferred upon the general assembly by Section 20 of Article II of the Ohio Constitution, to fix the compensation of all officers. These sections are in direct conflict with that constitutional provision and void. State, ex rel. Montgomery, v. [175]*175Rogers, 71 Ohio St., 203, 219; State, ex rel. Guilbert, v. Yates, 66 Ohio St., 546, 551, and Cricket et al. v. State, 18 Ohio St., 9.

Section 17 provides that the term of the assessors shall be two years.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
95 Ohio St. (N.S.) 166, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-godfrey-v-obrien-ohio-1917.