The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1906-04-20
The CITY ASSESSMENT.
MeSSrs. Editors Of the Citisea.

comment and discussion: and he
lore the municipal authorities oct
farther or more deeply involved
III an lneXpedirnt and indefensible
measure it may not be ont of plare
10 call their attention to some of
the difficulties and obstacles which
confront them. To set forth those
dlfllcnltieS and obstacles plainly
and lntelllgently, it will be neceS-
Sary to state briefly some funda
mental principles which cannot be
dlSregarded or ignored by the
city. No well informed person
VIII pretend that municipal cor
poratlon possesses any powers
other than those which have been
conferred expressly upon it: aud
those necessarily or fairly implied
IN or incidental to the powers ex
preSsly granted, and those essen,
tGt to the declared objects IA d
purposes of the cOrporation-not
simply convenient, bur indiSpensi
BILE. (Heiskell VS.. Baltimore. 65
Md. l4S). When it comes to in
terpreting those powers, and es
pecially the power to levy local
taxes and to make the preliminary
assessment, which is a prerequi.
site of every ddcdl0rum tax. the
unvarying rule is that the con
Struction should be with Strlctness.
Judge Cooley states that The
reasonable presumption is held to
be, that the State has granted in
clear and unmiStakable terms, all
1t has intended to grant at all;
and whatsoever authority the mu-
nicipal officers assume to exercise.
they must be able To show the
warrant for in the w0rdS of the
grant. There is no inherent power
in the municipalities to levy taxes;
they can tax only as the State in
its wisdom has thought proper 10
permit, aud if the State has erred
iii the direction of strictness. the
Legislature alone can correct the
evil'. Cooley, on Taxation 209).
In speaking of the municipality
of Baltimore the Court of Appeals
held that the corporation was the
agent and representative of the
iuhabitan "entru>ted with pow
erS specially defned and limited,
which can be exercised IN the man.
ner and form only prescribed 10y
law" Horn VS.. Baltimore, 30 Md.
2lS). This statement is equally
applicable to the Mayor and Alder
men of Frederick.
The ordinance under which il is
proposed to make the new assess
ment provides that the assessors
shall distribute schedules to be
filled out and to be sworn to by
the tax payers. These schedules
have been distributed. They re
qniie the property owner to list
his real and, personal estate, his
bonds, stocks and securities, and
to place a value on each ten.
whilst a separate column is pro
vided for the assessors to record
their valuation upon the same
items Of property. Now, there is
not line. word or syllable in the
Charter of the City permitting or
empowering the Mayor and Alder
men to make up such schedule.
"Whatever authority the munich
pal authorities assume to exercise,
they must show the warrant for IN
the cords Of the grant," There is
no such authority in the City'S
Charter, and it cannot be implied
from any other power whatever.
If the Legislature had not by the
Act of 1896 Chapter l20-the gen
eral assessment law-Specifically
provided that the State Tax Com
missioner should make out blanks
and schedules. and if the same act
had not also declared that the
property owners should fill up the
blanks and should place their own
valuation on their own property,
neither the County Commission
erS nor the State and county as.
SCISSORS would have had the an
thority, as an incident of the
power to assess, TO prescribe any
such regulations. 1t was because
the General Assembly III express
terms provided for such blanks
aud schedules that they were law
fully issued under the assessment
law of 1896; and it is precisely be
cause the Charter of Frederick
does not provide for such blanks
and schedules that the Mayor and
Aldermen have no power to issue
them or to require them to be
filled mp. AS the city has no
power to send out those blanks or
schedules, it has no power to re
quire the property owner to fill
! them out, and it is equally with
out power to require the citizens
to swear to them. SO the first
step taken by the city in its new
assessment scheme is absolutely
! unlawful.
Rnt this is not all. To show