Vail v. Custer Co‪.‬

QUIET TITLE ? IRRIGATION DISTRICTS ? WATERS AND WATER COURSES ? TAXATION ? APPEAL AND ERROR. 1. Appeal and Error. An appeal presumes no error of the trial court. 2. Statutes. Taxation is in invitum, and taxing statutes are to be construed stricti juris. 3. Waters and Water Courses ? Special assessments. Charges made by irrigation districts are special assessments, and not taxes, although they are administered and collected in the same general manner as taxes, and, in order to be validly imposed, assessments must be made to individual landowners and based on individual ownership. 4. Waters and Water Courses ? Assessments void. Where irrigation districts purported special assessments on certain lands were made in block, and not individually on the lots contained in such tracts for certain years in question, such assessments preserved no special assessment lien, and were void, and a purported tax sale certificate on land covered by such assessments was likewise void. 5. Taxation ? Notice for tax deed. Where special assessments of a water district were insufficient to create a lien, the district was excluded from among parties to whom notice of application for tax deeds was required. 6. Taxation ? Extinguishment of lien. A sale of land for general taxes extinguishes a lien for special assessments even if such special assessments were properly certified. 7. Municipal Corporations ? Meaning of "special assessment." A "special assessment" differs from a tax in that a tax is levied for the general public good while an assessment is imposed against specific property to defray the cost of a specific benefit to the property, the benefit to be commensurate with the assessment. 8. Taxation ? Trust funds. Moneys collected through delinquent tax sales are in the nature of trust funds, to be held for distribution to the agencies concerned. 9. Taxation ? County not liable. Where no valid special assessment was made by a water district, - Page 206 against certain land, county which sold the land for taxes could not be held liable to the district for the amount of such void assessment. 10. Waters and Water Courses ? Statute of limitations. Where water district made a void assessment of charges against certain land, and an attempted assessment in a proper manner was not made until over 20 years later, such assessment was barred by statute. 11. Waters and Water Courses ? Lots remained in district and entitled to water. Mere fact that an irrigation district could not enforce charges against certain lots, due to void assessments thereof, did not mean that such lots were to be considered as out of the district, but such lots remained liable for assessment for maintenance and repairs, and were entitled to receive benefits of water upon the owners payment of the charges therefor.