Wible v. City of Bakersfield

JAMES, J.

An adverse judgment was entered against the plaintiff in this suit and an appeal is taken therefrom.

The action was to quiet title to certain real property, some of it lying within and some without the corporate limits of the city of Bakersfield. The city of Bakersfield by answer alleged that certain liens in its favor existed against the property for municipal taxes which had not been paid by

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the plaintiff. On the lands lying without the city limits, the liens represented a levy for school purposes only. It appears that the city school district included, as is permitted by law, certain territory lying without the corporate limits of the municipality, and that the land of the plaintiff was all included within the limits of the municipal school district. It is claimed on behalf of appellant (1) that the assessment was void because the assessor did not, as required by the ordinance of the city, assess the property at its proper value, or that the assessment represented at all the judgment of the assessor in the matter, but that the same was arbitrary and discriminatory; (2) that the ordinance levying the tax for school purposes designated the territory affected as being that within the municipal limits only, and that therefore no legal levy was ever made upon the property lying without the municipal limits. These are the main contentions and those which have been principally discussed in the briefs.

1. The evidence showed that pursuant to the ordinance of the city, which provided that the assessor might use the county assessment-roll for the purpose of making up the assessment, 'the city assessor had that roll before her. At the suggestion of certain members of the city council and the city manager, and for the purpose of producing a sufficient amount of revenue, she fixed values upon all the property within the municipality sixty per cent above the value fixed by the county assessor on his roll—in other words, a horizontal raise of sixty per cent was made upon all property within the city proper. The property within the school district which lay without the municipal limits was not raised. As to the making of this assessment, the city assessor testified that she was satisfied to make the raise as suggested, and that when so made the valuations placed did not exceed the cash value of the property affected. In effect, her testimony was that the assessment when completed represented a fair valuation, in her judgment. What the character of the outside property was and whether the same proportionate increase in valuation was fairly applicable to that does not appear from the testimony. The plaintiff, however, did testify that in no case was the valuation fixed in excess of the market value of this property. It was admitted that all of the property within the city and all of