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In re Poughkeepsie & Eastern Railway. Co.

46 N.Y.S. 884 Court N.Y. App. Div. Decision date 1897-06-15 English

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p. 884
In re POUGHKEEPSIE & E. RY. CO.
(Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department.
June 15, 1897.)

Headnote

Taxation—Review of Assessment.
Where the value put on relator’s railway by town assessors was not excessive under the evidence, the assessment will not be reduced mn certiorari, as the assessors had jurisdiction of the subject of taxation, and of relator so far as the railway was in the town, and their acts will not be reviewed, in the absence of evidence that they were capricious or arbitrary.
Appeal from special term, Dutchess county.
Application by the Poughkeepsie & Eastern Railway Company for a reduction of the assessment of its property by a writ of certiorari. From an order denying the writ, petitioner appeals.
Affirmed.
The following is the opinion of Mr. Justice BARNARD at special term:
No case is made for a reduction of the assessment by a writ of certiorari. The assessors had jurisdiction of the subject of taxation, and of the relator, so far as the railroad was in the town. The general rule is that where a body of assessors have made the assessment, using their judgment, and not capriciously or in an arbitrary manner, the assessment will not be reviewed. People ex rel. Edison Electric Illuminating Co. v. Barker, 139 N. Y. 55 , 34 N. E. 722 ; People ex rel. Edison General Electric Co. v. Barker, 141 N. Y. 251 , 36 N. E. 196 ; People ex
p. 885
rel. Equitable Gas Light Co. v. Barker, 144 N. Y. 102 , 39 N. E. 13 . In the absence of evidence to the contrary, the assessors are presumed to have done their duty. People ex rel. Manhattan Ry. Co. v. Barker, 146 N. Y. 304 , 40 N. E. 996 . Upon the evidence, the value put upon the land is not excessive. The railroad owns a strip of suburban and farm land adjacent to the city of Poughkeepsie, some 66 feet in width, and some 3 miles in length. The present corporation bought a road of 34 miles for $50,000 and over, on foreclosure, and at once put it in order, at an expense of $150,000, or about that sum. The road is not completed. Prom Stissing to Pine Plains it has not been built, but the corporation obtained a right to use the track of another road for that distance. At the actual cost paid for it at a recent sale, the road is worth for its whole length $6,000 a mile. A reasonable discrimination in favor of the town land next to the city of Poughkeepsie may properly be made, and it was made in respect to the two other roads running through the town. Under the proof given on the trial, the assessment appealed from cannot be reduced.
Motion denied, with $10 costs.
Argued before GOODRICH, P. J., and CULLEN, BARTLETT, HATCH, and BRADLEY, JJ.
Prank B. Lown, for appellant.
Wood & Morschauser, for respondent.

Order affirmed, with $10 costs and disbursements, on opinion of special term. All concur.

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