Court Opinion

ID: 6668328
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-07-20 21:07:40.838324+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:00:24.880010
License: Public Domain

By Garber, J.,
dissenting:
I think the commissioners exhausted the jurisdiction conferred upon them by the statute, when they considered and denied the application to equalize. The grant of power to the commissioners must be strictly construed. 7 Ohio Stats. 115. And so construed, it seems to me that the legislature contemplated one application only by the person aggrieved. Upon such application, the commissioners are given the power, either to modify or wholly to discharge the assessment. By their refusal, on the first application, to modify it, they virtually affirmed its validity — they adjudged that the whole amount was properly assessed. And such their adjudication was, by the very terms of the statute, a final determination of the' matter. Practically, too, this construction of the statute seems fair and just. It gives to the party aggrieved ample opportunity to show any cause he may have, why the assessment should be either totally set aside, if illegal, or reduced in amount, if excessive ; and only denies to him the right to litigate his claim by piecemeal.