Board of Commissioners v. Gregory
Board of Commissioners v. Gregory
Opinion of the Court
This was an action by John N. Gregory, late treasurer of Morgan county, against the Board of Commissioners of that county, to recover an additional compensation for the collection of delinquent taxes for the’ years 1873 and 1874. At the request of the defendant, the court made a special finding of the facts. The facts as found may be stated as follows :
That from the 5th day of August, 1873, until the 21st day of March, 1878, the plaintiff: was the duly elected, quali
From these facts the court came to the conclusion, that the plaintiff was allowed to charge a commission of five per cent, for collecting delinquent taxes for the years 1873 and 1874, and that he was consequently entitled to recover the-additional four per cent, so claimed by him, that is to say,, the said sum of $389.82.
The defendants excepted to the conclusions of law thus-drawn by the court, but the court, notwithstanding, rendered judgment against them for said sum of $389.82. Error is assigned upon the conclusions of law as above stated.
The principal question involved in this case was settled in-favor of the appellee by the case of Foresman v. Johnson, 65 Ind. 132. In that case it was held, and we think held correctly, that, under section 155 of the act of December 21st, 1872, for the assessment and collection of taxes, 1 R. S.
Section 5 of the áct of March 8th, 1878, regulating the fees and salaries of certain officers, Acts 1873, p. 124, which continued in force until superseded by the act of March 12th, 1875, provided that a county treasurer should receive five per centum on all delinquent taxes collected, when paid voluntarily and without levy.
This latter section, when taken in connection with section 155 of the act of December 21st, 1872, supra, must also be ■construed to have applied to all delinquent taxes collected ■during the current year, when paid voluntarily and without levy, and without reference to the particular time of the year at which such delinquent taxes may have been collected.
The conclusion is inevitable that the appellee was entitled to charge and to receive a commission of five per centum on •■all delinquent taxes collected by him from the duplicates of the years 1873 and 1874, and that the judgment below ought to be affirmed.
The judgment is affirmed, with costs.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.