Alpaugh Irrigation Dist. v. County of Kern

113 Cal.App.2d 286 (1952) ALPAUGH IRRIGATION DISTRICT, Appellant,

v.

COUNTY OF KERN, Respondent.

Civ. No. 8101. California Court of Appeals. Third Dist.

Sept. 26, 1952. W. E. James, LeRoy McCormick and Robert E. Moock for Appellant.

Norbert Baumgarten, County Counsel, for Respondent.

VAN DYKE, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment in favor of defendant in an action brought to recover taxes paid under protest. Appellant is an irrigation district and as such is exempt from taxation except as to lands and improvements thereon located outside of its boundaries which were subject to taxation when acquired by the district. (Const., art. XIII, 1.) The district in proper time filed with the State Board of Equalization a petition for the reassessment of its properties after the same had been assessed for purposes of taxation by the county assessor of the respondent county. A hearing was held and the petition was denied. [289] After exhausting its remedies before the board the appellant paid under protest that part of the taxes deemed by it to be invalid and filed this suit to recover the amount so paid. Appellant owns 1,444 acres of land within the boundaries of the respondent county. Numerous wells have been drilled into the subsurface strata of these lands, pumps have been installed and the water thus raised to the surface is collected into canals and transported without the county of Kern and into the adjoining county and delivered to the landowners in the above district. The water thus transported is ground water, that is, water which lies below the surface of the ground. For assessment purposes appellant's lands were described in seven parcels of varying acreage. As to six of those parcels the assessor first described what he called a water right related to the parcel and then described the parcel itself. As an example: "100% Int Water Rights All Sec 35 T25 R23. N 1/2 Excl of Water Rights Sec 35 T25 R23 320A. S 1/2 Excl of Water Rights & M.R. Sec. 35 T23 R23 320A." The land, exclusive of water rights, was assessed at about $2.50 per acre with some variations, and, generally speaking, lands surrounding that of the district were assessed at about the same figure. But the water rights ascribed to the various parcels received assessments at a much higher figure. Thus, Section 35 described above as to land value received a total assessment of $1,600, whereas the water rights ascribed to that section were assessed at $20,000, making a total assessment for the section of $21,600, or an average assessment per acre of $33.75. Although some complaint was made by the appellant that the land values alone were as to some parcels excessive, the main contentions revolve around the assessment of the water rights. Appellant states its contentions as follows: That the assessments of parcels 2 to 7 are void for the reason that they are not in proportion to the assessed value of surrounding lands, that the assessments constitute double taxation, that they violate the intent of section 1 of article XIII of the Constitution, that the splitting of the assessments on each parcel is contrary to law, that the assessments are not uniform, that they violate the provisions of the federal Constitution in that the lands are assessed for more than their actual cash value and that the water developed on each parcel is an improvement made by the appellant and therefore not assessable. Additionally, as to one parcel the