City & County of San Francisco v. County of San Mateo

CARTER, J.

The controversy presented by this appeal involves the extent to which the improvements on the land of a municipality lying outside its corporate limits are subject to taxation by the county in which such improvements are situated. There is no substantial dispute as to the facts. Prior to March 3, 1930, the Spring Valley Water Company, a public utility, owned two reservoirs, Crystal Springs and San Andreas, and the flume hereinafter mentioned, which facilities were used for impounding and distributing water for sale to the inhabitants of the City and County of San Francisco. Connecting these reservoirs was a flume con

[816]

sisting of two sections constructed of redwood. The dimensions of one section was 19,485 feet long, 28 inches high and 48 inches wide, with a capacity of carrying 17,500,000 gallons of water per day. It was constructed in 1900. The other section, built in 1898, was 9,940 feet long, 4 feet high and 6 feet wide, with a capacity of carrying 70,000,000 gallons per day. The flume and reservoirs were situated in San Mateo County. The flume was used to transport water from Crystal Springs reservoir to San Andreas reservoir owned by said company. On March 3, 1930, the plaintiff acquired the reservoirs and flume from the Spring Valley Water Company and continued the use of those facilities for the sale and distribution of water to its inhabitants. In 1931, plaintiff replaced the wooden flume with a concrete lined canal with the exception of a wooden flume 80 feet long used as a spillway. The first section of said canal had a carrying capacity of 60,000,000 gallons per day and the second of 80,000,000 gallons per day. Plaintiff also constructed in addition to the above, a concrete lined ditch 3,125 feet long and a pipe line 800 feet long. The concrete lined canal and ditch are used for the same purpose and as a part of the same water works system, and follow substantially the same course as the wooden flume. For the fiscal year 1936-1937, defendant county assessed to plaintiff 5.75 miles of flume, and levied a tax thereon against plaintiff in the sum of $583.30. The property taxed was presumably the old wooden flume. The assessed valuation upon which the tax levy was based was the same as that fixed when the Spring Valley Water Company owned the wooden flume. Plaintiff paid the tax under protest and brought this action to recover it. The trial court rendered judgment for defendants and plaintiff prosecutes this appeal therefrom contending that it is not subject to the tax because the wooden flume no longer exists since its replacement by the concrete lined canal, and that said canal is not taxable under section 1 of article XIII of the Constitution of California as amended in 1914.