Show SCHOOL TAX IS VALID Judges rierritt Bartch and King Unanimously So Decide PROPERLY USED POWER DELEGATED BY THE LEGISLATURE TO THE BOARD OF EDUCATION The Board Made n Valid Levy and the Assessors Work ill Compnt lug the Per Centage Is Slmpl Perfunctory Other Opinions Opin-ions Handed Down and Mlscella neous Business Transacted Uj tie Supreme Court The supreme court yesterday rendered ren-dered the opinion in the school tax case In which the board of education of Ogden City was the plaintiff and I appellant and > Frank B Hurlbut I county collector and Moroni F Brown county assessor of Weber county the defendants and appellants The case was argued and submitted on Friday and a full statement appeared in yesterdays yes-terdays Herald Judge King delivered the opinion orally which was concurred in by Chief Justice Rierritt and Associate Justice Bartch A written opinion will I be prepared and placed on file Judge King Delivers the Opinion Judge King made a brief statement of the case saying that A C Emerson Emer-son on behalf of the board of education educa-tion had obtained a wit of mandate to compel the defendants to place on the assessment roll the estimated amount 540000 required by the board t maintain the public schools the estimate having been prepared by the board of education and certified to the assessor and collector The later refused to collect the tax or place it on the assessment roll on the ground that FirstThe legislature has not conferred con-ferred upon any officers the power to levy the tax in question nor to extend ex-tend the levy upon any tax roll SecondThe legislature has not provided pro-vided for any tax roll upon which a levy for the city school tax of Ogden City can be extended Third The legislature has not conferred con-ferred upon any officers the power to equalize the tax In question FourthThe legislature has not con ferred upon any officers the power to collect the tax in question Fifth Even if the legislature has at tempted t delegate to the defendants the power and authority to levy the tax in question the act delegating such a power is void A motion to quash the writ of man date was sustained by Judge Smith in the Fourth district court The defendants argued that the law of 1892 was a practical repeal of that of 1890 By the law of 1890 the free school system was established and I under that law i was clear that the assessor and collector were required to collect the tax and turn i over to the board at education The act of 1892 abolished the offices of city assessor and collector and It was contended deprived the board of the power of collecting the school tax In 1894 the law was again amended amend-ed in such a way that it was a substantial sub-stantial reenactment of the 1S90 law The opinion of the court is said Judge King that the laws of 1892 and 1894 provide in effect that the county assessor and collector shall perform the duty of the city collector Power existed in the legislature to subdivide the county in the way that it had done and for economys sake it abolished the offices of city assessor and collector collect-or and by this means also obtained uniformity In the assessments Does the acts of 1892 and 1S94 deprive the board of education of the power to carry into effect its mandates We think not Tie Board Properly Used Its Power It is contended that there is an attempt at-tempt by the legislature to illegally I delegate power to levy taxes t the I assessor and collector The legislature has authority to delegate the power Ito tax to a proper ibody I did so we think in this case and the body t which the power was delegated Is the board of education The board exercised exer-cised this power and properly performed per-formed a legislative duty The board made an estimate as near as may be of the amount needed for school purposes pur-poses certified the same by Its president presi-dent and clerk to the county assessor This constituted the levy and the work to be done by the assessor and cal lector in computing the percentage which would be required to raise the necessary 40000 was simply per unctory an act of mathematical calculation cal-culation and In view of the context was in no sense a levy and the power to tax was in no manner delegated to the assessor and collector or usurped by him if he had performed that act The assessor and collector refused to extend the tax on the tax rolls or col loot the same but < we think he ought to have done i The contemporaneous construction of the act should betaken taken into account We think the lower court has erred and the order Is that the judgment of the lower court be reversed and the mandatory writ to compel the collection collec-tion of the tax be issued |