Tramel v. City of Dallas

560 S.W.2d 426, 1977 Tex. App. LEXIS 3665
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided November 3, 1977·No. No. 7992·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

CLAYTON, Justice.

The City of Dallas filed suit against A. L. Tramel and wife, seeking the recovery of certain paving costs and. foreclosure of a paving lien upon property of the defendants. Thereafter, pleas of intervention were filed by certain owners of property similarly situated as defendants, joining defendants in seeking a judgment declaring the paving assessments against their respective property to be null and void, on the grounds that the “statutory scheme” under which the paving assessments were made denies them equal protection of the law and violates the due process clause of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. This cause was tried before the court, and judgment was entered for the plaintiff City, and denying the relief sought by defendants and intervenors from which they appeal.

Appellants are owners of property abutting upon either Lake June Road or Elam Road in the City of Dallas, which properties were assessed under an improvement plan for the widening and improvement of such streets, jointly undertaken by the City of Dallas and the County of Dallas. Under this plan, the City assumed responsibility for improving Lake June Road from 370 feet west of Buckner Boulevard to Prairie Creek Road with the County improving the street from Prairie Creek Road eastward to L. B. J. Freeway; and the City assumed responsibility for improving Elam Road from Pemberton Hill Road to St. Augustine Road, and the County improving such street from St. Augustine Road eastward to Hickory Tree Road. The portions of the street improved by the City were situated wholly within the City of Dallas. The portions improved by the County were partly within and partly without the city limits of the City of Dallas.

Appellants were assessed approximately one-half the cost of paving and widening [428] along their abutting property of those streets which are being converted into main thoroughfares by the City and Dallas County. Other property along the same streets was not assessed because it abutted portions of the streets being improved by the County.

Appellants concede that the decision to assess owners of property abutting city-improved portions of the project was made by the City Council in accordance with Tex. Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 1105b (Supp.1977) *' with the exception of prior notice or hearing, such exception to be discussed in connection with appellants’ second point.

Appellants’ first point urges that “the statutory scheme under which appellants’ property was assessed violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

Appellants concede that under the statute it is discretionary with municipalities whether to undertake street widening projects; and if they do, whether to assess abutting property. While counties have not been granted the assessment power, they can and do, as in this case, undertake street projects inside city limits. Often, as in this case, a city and county will cooperate in improving particular streets. Property abutting city-improved portions is assessed; property abutting county-improved portions is not.

Under Section 3 the City has the legislative authority to determine the propriety and advisability of undertaking street improvement projects. It is within its discretion to determine whether a street should be improved or not; and if so, the same discretion should apply as to the advisability of improving a portion of a street or the entire street regardless of its length. If it determines to improve only a portion thereof, it would be exercising those acts in the exercise of powers entrusted entirely to its discretion.

The parties stipulated and agreed prior to the hearing in the trial court that “Public hearings were held by the City of Dallas on January 5, 1970, regarding the paving of Elam Road, and on August 21, 1972, concerning the paving of Lake June Road. Said hearings were held pursuant to and in accordance with Article 1105b. No other hearing was afforded the abutting property owners in connection with said paving assessment.”

Appellants make no complaint against the proceedings had under the statute leading up to the assessments or to the amount of the assessment.

The only complaint made is that the City has made improvements for which assessments were made against the abutting property owners along the street where improvements were made by the City, and no assessment was made as to those abutting owners along the street where the improvements were made by the County. Appellants concede that the County, having the power and authority to make such improvements, does not have the power to make assessments.

Basically, it is the contention of the appellants that the legal act of making the improvements by the City and making assessments therefor, combined with the legal act of the County in making improvements with no assessments, constitutes a “statutory scheme” under which paving charges were assessed which denies them “equal protection” of the law and violates the due process clause of the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution.

It is not mandatory that the City, when making a determination to improve a street within its limits, that it shall improve the entire street from beginning to end. Section 1 provides that the cities “shall have the power to cause to be improved, any highway, within their limits . . .” The statute further provides “that whenever the term ‘highway’ is used herein it shall include any street . . . , or any portion or portions thereof . . . .” Under this statutory provision, the City had the power [429] to determine that improvements would be made upon the entire street or a portion thereof. It is to be noted that appellants, even though they alleged in their pleadings that Article 1105b was unconstitutional, they did not take that position in the points presented and discussed in their brief. Their only complaint was as to the “scheme” of the assessments.

There can be no question as to the constitutional right to make the assessments against the appellants as was done in this case. It is stated in Gast Realty & I. Co. v. Schneider Granite Co., 240 U.S. 55, 58, 36 S.Ct. 254, 255, 60 L.Ed. 523 (1916):

“The legislature may create taxing districts to meet the expenses of local improvements, and may fix the basis of taxation without encountering the 14th Amendment unless its action is palpably arbitrary or a plain abuse. [Citing] Houck v. Little River Drainage Dist., 239 U.S. 254, 36 S.Ct. 58, 60 L.Ed. 266.”

In Hancock v. Muskogee, 250 U.S. 454, 459, 39 S.Ct. 528, 63 L.Ed. 1081 (1919), the United States Supreme Court holds:

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Tramel v. City of Dallas, 560 S.W.2d 426, 1977 Tex. App. LEXIS 3665 (Tex. Ct. App. 1977).

560 S.W.2d 426 (Tramel v. City of Dallas) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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