The herald., 1895-11-27
THE ROSEDALE SCHOOL TAXES
Judge York Decides That the
Levy Must Stand
THERE WILL BE NO REBATE
School District Taxes Are Not General
County Funds
They Can Only Be Used for the Purpos. for
Which Thev Are Levied-LegaI
Points Involved

In sustaining the demurrer interpos.d
in the case OF Aaron Smith aga nst the
county of los Angeles, Judge York yes
terday deci led the case ald, passed upon
an important question in regard to
school district taxes. Judge York's Upin-
ION is as follows:
The paii tiff in this actirn alleges tat
on the 44th dal If : .ptemb Der, 1891. the
bOart CT supervisors or the county of Les
Angeles, at the time OF tho levy of taxes
fur county purposes, b7 on order PASS,
at q session of said board on that day,
and entered up,n its minutes, determined
that. whereas stho bonds of that sch Of
district in the county OF Los Angeles
known as the Roscd lie school distfi I
had tn, r, tofOre been sued and w,re
then outstan dinr, and that in order to
pay the interess thereon for the fi'cal
year 1870, and t laca in thr slnki
fund for the redemption OF said b n $
tie amount and sums by the law req IRE
to b. therein laced, it was II cesar
that the sum OF $1,000 sAou.d be raised
by taxat on upo1 the taxable property 6 +
sa Il school DIS rlct; and thereupon is
was further determined by sa d boar
at there shout he and there was levi Il
utoi ecah 500 of taxable property n
pos- Of paying the interest on said bon C
nd pla ing in the sinking fund fra g
re !emption thereof tor tia said ifs |
year lSy4-5 the sum of 20. That the &C.
Irmination that xln,6lo would be rt-
CURED as afure, al VS. bas q upoI an
est mat furnished sad bard of super
visors by the coanty au itor Of Los An
geles county; that the equallzed value IF
all the pr pertv confined in said Rose.
dale school district. as shown by the gen
erai assessment ron for the year 1854 5,
after deuuc;iug 10 per cent for antIci.
patei delnquencies from the aggregate
ass ssfd value Of said property in said
district, as 1t appeared ON sad general rs
sessment rolf, was the sum of 500 90;
and the result obtained by dividing the
said sum OF $40. bio so Levied as aforesaid
b! the said equalized value, less "a d 10
per cent ST Ows that to rl'se said sum of
SO. 6l0. but Sl.06 ,houl nav bean levied
upon each sal 500 nj taxable property
in said Ro,edAle school district. That
plaintiff her in. was the owner an
II possession OF csrtan taxable
property IN the said Resodale school d s.
trict for the fiscal year 1915, of the a.
sessei value, as appears by the peneral
asse sment roll If said fiscal year, of $50,
and paid to the tax coll, ctur OF said
county of Los Angeles PRIOR to the pre-
complaint specified, upon such assessed
valuation, at the rate OF $l.20 for each.
500 thereof, tu-wit, the sum of 1870
whereas, in fact the said MgttisOn should
Lave paio the sum of but 81 06 upon each
$lUO of said assessed valuation, and ny
making such payment paid to the said
county tax collector the sum OF 50. % in
ton for s,iu fiscal year That there re-
mains in the Rosedal, school district
building fund, after tina princil al and
tefest of all outstanding bonds Of said
school district have been paid which fe Ii
dur wit in the fiscal We r - 40, the sum
o $7,2i9 o.. Tn 4 said Madison on the
10TH dly of May. 1875, by duly verified
and attested claim pre-. ented 10 and filed
with the clerk of said beard, upjn sid
day, demanded OF said defendant the re-
turn of said sum of 1913. nat sid de-
fendant, IL roIeh its said Doard of supel
vis' rs, on the 9th day of June, 1895, dIsal
low "a and refused to pay SAID claim and
ave ever since refused TO allow or ply
lie sa ne. That on the Ssh day Of June,
1895, the said s. a. Matti -on, for valu-
able consideration, solo, assigned and
tr. sferred 10 the llaintiff herein his
$ idc lain for the said sum of 50. -. That
the cause of action herein involves the
lie ality of The tax levy in said Ro edale
school district by SAID BOARD of supervis-
ors, and praying judgment aeainst the
defendant for the sum of SO. % and inter.
est thereon at the legal rate from the st.
day of June, 1895, ana for costs of suit.
The defendant appeared by the district
attorney and deDIurrei to the plaintiffs
comp aint and specinai as grounds of the
d III urrer that the coinpla mt does II IT
state f4cls sufficient to constitute a cause
OF action.
Thereafter the defendant filed herein
what he denomInates special de-
murrer, "in which he specifies as ounds
OF his demurrer that tie taxes all, ged to
have been pa d by plant II are neither
county nor state taxes nor any taxes I'M
der the control of defendan Il ii that
the defendant as a municipal cofpor. on
has no inter- st in nor contrul OF the mon
ey alleged to have been pa d by the plain
tiff.
That paner demon mated ESP cial de
murrer" by the defendant il not rlead-
ing recognized by the Ctde of Civil Pro-
ceuure OF this state. 1t comes nearer to
the specifications of section 430, &. e. p.
providing for q nom joinder of parties e.
but to raise that ground OF de-
m urrer the dem, RI nrst sTe'ify in
what the non-jOind col s.st wLi3h this
special demurrer dres not
The only demurrer, III refore. properly
etore the court is the general demurrer.
That dem urTcr raised the question as to
whether the county is able at @all in
this action for the money alleged to h ave
been lille lily llscted as taxes on behalf
of the Rus dale school dis. rict. rne
m ney, nv all me all ito. $ If tie com
plant could not have been C llecied by
the county for any other par ose than
that DESIGNATED in the complaint, and
could nat be apple by the COO ty to any
other use than the USE for which it was
collected. The county became the trGs-
tee for the Roseae schoul district in the
holding and disbursine of tn fund. The
county of Los Angeles is not sh wa by
tn complaint t have ever made aey
claim t. tn fund ether than IN trust for
the Rosedale s'hool district t. II the -
ty. therefore, were compelled to pay from
tho general fund If the county the
amount alleged to have BEEN ill.g"llv