Frazier v. Schultz
Frazier v. Schultz
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal from a judgment canceling as void a certain contract for tbe collection of taxes as entered into between tbe county commissioners and tbe sheriff of Divide county. Tbe relator filed a petition in tbe district court for a writ of certiorari, in wbicb it is set up that, without jurisdiction and without authority in law, tbe county commissioners entered into a contract with tbe sheriff with reference to all delinquent personal property taxes for the years 1918 to 1922, both inclusive, and for all years _ prior thereto, whereby tbe sheriff was to receive compensation for bis efforts in tbe collection of such taxes amounting to 2ñ per cent on all taxes collected for tbe years
Section 2113 of tbe Compiled Laws for 1913 reads as follows:
“In any county where for any reason personal property taxes tbat have been delinquent more than one year remain unpaid, uncancelled or not put into personal property tax judgment, or in any county -where delinquent taxes have been put into tax judgment, tbe commissioners of such(county may contract with tbe sheriff of tbe county to pay him a percentage of such delinquent personal property taxes, or personal property tax judgments, as compensation for collecting tbe same, in lieu of or in addition to tbe compensation now provided .by law. And such expense of collection shall be borne pro rata by the state, county, city, village, township or school district in which .such tax is laid.”
At tbe time of tbe enactment of this section as chapter 164 of tbe Laws of 1901, tbe sheriffs compensation was on a fee .basis. In 1911 tbe legislature, by tbe enactment of chapter 275 of tbe Laws of 1911 (Comp. Laws 1913, §§ 3520 to 3526), provided that the salary of the sheriff should be regulated by tbe population of bis county according to tbe last preceding official state or federal census. Tbe language employed to express tbe measure of compensation is as follows: “Provided, tbat no sheriff shall receive more than fifteen hundred dollars for bis personal services in any one year in counties having a population of less- than five thousand,” with increasing amounts dependent upon population and ending with tbe further proviso “tbat no sheriff within tbe state of North Dakota shall receive for bis personal services more than thirty-five hundred dollars in one year.” In addition to tbe salary it was provided tbat tbe sheriff or bis deputies should be allowed ten cents a mile for each and every mile necessarily traveled
In 1915 the legislature enacted a comprehensive act regulating the salary of county auditors, treasurers, registers of deeds, county judges, states’ attorneys and assistants, clerks of district courts and sheriffs, specifically repealing § 1 of the 1911 Act (Comp. Laws 1913, § 3520), and substituting a new section in its place containing a different salary scale. The wording is substantially the same in that it provides “that no sheriff shall receive more than fifteen hundred dollars for his personal services in any one year in counties having a population of less’ than seven thousand,” etc. (Laws 1915, § 6, chap. 112), the section concluding, however, as follows: “All moneys received as fees of every nature, kind or description in his official capacity, or commissions and compensation for services on boards created by law, excepting mileage and livery, shall be paid by the sheriff at the end of each month into the general fund of the county.” In 1921 another act was passed, similar in scope to chapter 112 of the Laws of 1915. This act (Sess. Laws 1921, -chap. 52) purports in its title to repeal chapter 112 of the Laws of 1915 and all acts and parts of acts in conflict. The repealing clause, however, is not as comprehensive as the title indicates.
This court, upon different occasions, has considered the effect of somewhat similar legislation. In the case of Sargent County v. Sweetman, 29 N. D. 256, 150 N. W. 876, it was held that a law which made it the duty of a county judge to issue marriage licenses and record marriages, and wffiich provided that he should be entitled to a fee of one dollar from the applicant, w'as not so inconsistent' with a law fixing the salary of a county judge that the two could not coexist. It is also held that, in the absence of a law' making it the duty of a county jiidge to furnish certified copies of his records when required, he was entitled to retain fees charged for such services. In the case of Sargent County v. Cooper, 29 N. D. 281, 150 N. W. 878, it was held that an act fixing the salary of county treasurers was not so inconsistent with an act under which the county treasurer w'as entitled to commissions on school land collections that the two could not coexist.
The court, in comparing the two, said, at page 286 of the opinion (29 N. D. 281, 150 N. W. 878) : “Second, as we view it, there is no repugnancy betw'een the two acts. The former is a part of a comprehensive law' enacted as chapter 118, Law's of 1893, providing, as its title discloses, Tor the management, control and disposal of university, school and other public lands of the state, and the management of the funds arising therefrom/ etc.; while the latter is a general statute fixing the salary of county treasurers.”
It was also held in the latter case that there w'as an irreconcilable conflict between a statute authorizing a county treasurer to retain one per cent of all funds derived from the sale of bonds for the erection of buildings as his compensation for receiving and disbursing the same, and a subsequent act placing such officer on a salary basis and fixing a maximum allowance therefor.
In the case of State ex rel. Braatelien v. Drakeley, 26 N. D. 87, 143 N. W. 768, it w'as held that an act regulating the salary of the county auditor and which required him to account monthly for “all moneys
Tbe contention in the instant case that tbe county commissioners have been shorn of their power to contract witb tbe sheriff witb reference to tbe collection of delinquent personal property taxes under § 2173 of tbe Compiled Laws for 1913, and that tbe sheriff may no longer have any interest in the compensation to be paid for that service, derives its greatest force from tbe language of tbe salary acts of 1911 and 1915, to tbe effect that the sheriff shall receive no more “for bis personal services” than tbe amount stipulated, and tbe further expression, found alone in tbe 1915 act, that be shall turn in to tbe general fund of tbe county all moneys received as fees of every nature, kind or description in bis official capacity or bis commissions and compensation for services on boards.
In view of tbe change of policy involved with regard to the collection of delinquent taxes and of tbe lack of any apparent purpose to change or reduce tbe authority of the board of county commissioners witb reference to a subject previously committed to it, we are of tbe opinion that the subsequent legislation prescribing tbe salary of (be sheriff does not effect a repeal of § 2173 of tbe Compiled Laws for 1913. As we view tbe matter, none of tbe subsequent legislation purports to cover tbe subject covered by § 2173, and tbe repugnancy between this section and tbe subsequent acts fixing tbe salary of county officers, including sheriffs, is not such that tbe two cannot coexist. Tbe salary acts may well comprehend all services that might be required of tbe sheriff in tbe ordinary course of discharging tbe duties of bis office, as distinguished from those which bad previously been declared to be a matter of contract adjustment or regulation and concerning which there bad been implied, if not expressed, freedom of choice as to whether tbe
The judgment appealed from is reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- R. W. FRAZIER v. CARL SCHULTZ, H. H., Lohmeyer, and C. H. Wolter, as County Commissioners in and for Divide County, North Dakota, and W. J. Hayes, Sheriff of said County
- Status
- Published