| Show 9 POWER OF THE COUNTY COURTS the territorial board of equalization Equa liea hiving having called upon the law firm of bennett marshall bradley for a deaki opinion as to the power of the respective c un county cour cours s of atle use tf to in this territory to reduce the atton of taxable property by a fixed per cent has haa received the following opinion territorial board of Gentie gentlemen wen you have asked us ua for on a opinion as to the power of the county courts of the respective coun ties tl in this thie territory to reduce the of all taxable property therein by a fixed per cent we think the only power such burte our 0 urta te have bave in the matter to la to act in individual baw on an made they are more mere creatures crea turea of the statute od must look to it for all of their powers here their are derived from sedition 2027 complied compiled laws lawa of utah as amended in 1890 lwe of utah 1890 page 62 52 the important portion of which in ia as aa follows fol lowa thi county court 0 of each county shall hau on the return of the assessment roll appoint a time to bear camplan ate deter determine iDine the and collect collectors orys 0 o also alao determine the rate pr per cent of the county tax for the cur rent year too clerk of the county coon shall within twenty days daya after receipt of the assessment roll set the amount of tax in the proper column opposite the name or de crip tion of P property to arty and furnish the collector with ramee al aid roll on receipt of 01 the assessment roll from the clerk the collector shall furnish to each ecob taxpayer by mail postage prepaid pre paid or leave at his reald reside enod lioa or usual place or business it if kuon a I 1 otice of ef the amount of tax assessed him and of the day fixed by the board of e equalization for hearing cm implants plants which notice shall sh all be walled mailed at least ten days before the first day ol of hearing anil and return said assessment at roll tu to the county court ahu shall constitute a board of eq equalization and shall have power to determine all complaints made in regard to as eseed value of any property and may change and correct auy A aay valuation either by adding thereto or deducting upon the giffing of complaints the board way may sub ie JB a and administer oaths to wit nesi 9 and hear bear and take such euch evidence in relation to the subject pending as an in its ite discretion it ic may deem proper and if the board of equalize equalization aaion eh all I 1 fl find ad it necessary to add to she he amassed agae eced valuation of any property on the assessment roll they ahall direct the clerk t give notice to the persons interested ed by letter postage prepaid pre paid deposited in the or otherwise naming the day when they hall act in the case and allowing a reasonable time for such auch party to appear J THE DUTY OF 01 THE ASSESSOR the duty of fixing the value of property for taxation is ia vested in the assessor asae under our statutes ata tutee it is ia made his duty to ascertain by diligent lu in and exa minati n all property in his hie county real and personal subject to taxation and to determine the fair cash baeb val value ab of a such ach property JIP to insure the performance of this duty the assessor Is made liable on hl his official bond on account of property seat seed by him at less than its cash value THE POWER OF THE equalizers I 1 iii a the statutes of the various states boards of review or equalization are provided for one or botu bogli of the fol following I 1 ow purposes first to examine individual jual assessments with a view to correct errors and inequalities or second to examine the assessments a a whole with a view to determine whether they are relatively equal as between different parts of a district within which a tax is to be laid and it if not liot to make them so BO by increasing those which are too low and diminishing those which are too high it will be seen that a uniform reduction of the entire assessment of the county would not the latter purpose because it would not tend to correct inequality itt itle and our statutes have limited the power of county courts to effecting the first purpose this thin purpose can be completely at bained by authorizing such courts to act in individual cases on complaints and in accordance accor danue with evide ce if it was intended that it should act on the entire roll on their own motion without evidence it would doubtless have been made their duty to diligently inform themselves by examination of the values of thelinda the linds assessed and some same safeguard against assessment at less that the cash value of property assessed would have been enacted MAY CORRECT ERRORS ONLY the county court of each county to is required to appoint a time to hear bear complaints pla ints not to make an original assess ment sod and it is in only because it shall have power to determine all complaints made in regard to assessed aae eseed value of any property fl that it may change and correct any valuation either by adding thereto or deducting therefore the reform As AB such euch court in changing chang ng an assessment reviews the d discretion of the as sessor escor as to matters of fact its power should not be extended beyond the plain language of the statute As an in the statute its if power to change or correct to is given as an incident to its power to haarand hear and determine complaints and is but the means of executing its determination we think it has no power to so change and correct the assessment in the absence of ef such complaints and this to is in accordance with the california decisions under the revenue act of 1861 which does not differ materially from the statute in question other reasons could be found against the exercise of the power to the extent claimed its only moral justification woula be an actual error in the assessment which was to be corrected la in this manner it would be improbable to say may the least that the assessor had bad assessed all the many classes of property just the same per cent above the real value besides this the law provides that money loaned on hand band or on deposit shall be assessed atias at its legal value leaving no room for discretion nod and to justify a uniform decrease in all of such assessments it debould appear that the assessor in violation of his oath had deliberately to in all car cases cares es assessed such money to in axce excess of its legal value respectfully BENNETT MARSHALL BRADLEY |
