Heath v. McCrea

Citations

• 20 Wash. 342
• 55 P. 432
• 1898 Wash. LEXIS 530

Syllabus

<p>STREET IMPROVEMENTS—RE-ASSESSMENTS—LIEN—INTEREST—COLLECTION IN INSTALLMENTS—JUDICIAL POWER OF CITY COUNCIL—DOUBLE TAXATION.</p> <p>Where an assessment for a street improvement was invalid for the reason that it included the valuation of improvements, on the abutting land, no part of the assessment could be enforced, although the valuations of lands and improvements was separately stated.</p> <p>The objection that an assessment for a street improvement was not restricted to the benefits received could not be urged upon foreclosure of the assessment, when not raised prior to the confirmation of the assessment by the city council.</p> <p>A statute authorizing city councils to sit as boards of equalization and pass upon the validity of re-assessments for local improvements is not unconstitutional on the ground of conferring judicial powers on such bodies.</p> <p>The power of cities to make assessments for local improvements payable in installments, without the issuance of bonds, is conferred by Bal. Code, § 789 (1 Hill’s Code, § 520), which authorizes cities to provide for the manner of collecting such assessments.</p> <p>In making a re-assessment to pay the expense of a local improvement, the city may properly provide for the payment of interest maturing on deferred installments of the assessment.</p> <p>The fact that an assessment is made payable in installments does not prohibit the property owner from paying the whole amount at one time, when there is no express prohibition in the ordinance providing therefor.</p> <p>A re-assessment for the cost and expense of local improvements, necessary because of the invalidity of a prior assessment, creates a lien upon the property benefited under the provisions of Laws 1893, p. 226 (Bal. Code, §§ 1139-1149), governing reassessments.</p> <p>The adoption by the city of Spokane of an amendment to its charter, known as “amendment No. 40,” providing for the levying of taxes to provide “moneys for the redemption and settlement of