Teale v. Stillinger

Citations

• 95 Ohio St. (N.S.) 129

Syllabus

<p>Office and officer — Compensation—County treasurer — Preparation of tax receipts — Contract with successor void, when.</p> <p>1. A county treasurer is prohibited by statute from receiving any compensation for the performance of official duty in excess of that provided by law, and he cannot by the use of the public office and the public records, stationery and data do indirectly during his term of office what he is prohibited from doing directly.</p> <p>2. A county treasurer is required by law to deliver to every person paying taxes into the treasury a receipt specifying the land, lot, and the property on which the tax is assessed, which receipt is required to be prepared in the manner and with the details prescribed by the statute. The preparation of such receipt is an official duty, whether done at the time or in advance and in anticipation of the payment, and the fact that the term of office of a treasurer who had prepared such receipts expired before they were to be used and delivered to the taxpayers constitutes no justification for the receipt by such treasurer of extra compensation for their preparation, either from the public treasury or from his successor in office.</p> <p>3. A contract which provides for the payment of such services by the succeeding treasurer to his predecessor in office is against public policy, illegal and void.</p>