Opinion
No. 35695
Decided February 25, 1959.
Taxation — Applications for exemption from and remission of taxes — Jurisdiction of Board of Tax Appeals to consider — Treasurer's certificate that taxes paid, necessary — Payment under Whittemore arrangement — Application of payments.
APPEAL from the Board of Tax Appeals.
In 1950, this court decided that the Cleveland Municipal Stadium and parking lot No. 1 adjacent thereto were not exempt from taxation for the year 1948, for the reason that they were not then public property being used exclusively for a public purpose ( City of Cleveland v. Board of Tax Appeals, 153 Ohio St. 97, 91 N.E.2d 480, 16 A.L.R. [2d], 1354).
In 1957, the city of Cleveland, pursuant to Section 323.43, Revised Code, entered into a Whittemore undertaking with the county auditor for the installment payment of delinquent taxes on the subject property for the years 1948 to 1956, inclusive, and at the time paid part of the delinquent taxes.
In February 1958, in respect to the same property, the city filed with the Board of Tax Appeals an application for exemption from taxation for the year 1958 and an application for remission of taxes for the years 1948 to 1957, inclusive, claiming that the property is and was being used exclusively for the public purpose of the operation of a public stadium. Attached to the application for exemption is the county treasurer's certificate that all taxes and charges for the year 1947 and prior thereto have been paid in full, and that the taxes, assessments and penalties for the tax years 1948 to 1956, inclusive, and all taxes for 1957 have not been paid and are a lien on the premises.
The county auditor moved that both applications be dismissed on the ground that the board is without jurisdiction to hear the applications since the taxes for 1948 had not been paid. The board found that the subject property was not used for an exclusively public purpose in 1948, as was previously decided by the board and by this court, and that, since the 1948 taxes have not been paid in full, the board is without jurisdiction to hear either application on its merits, and dismissed the same under authority of Section 5713.08, Revised Code.
An appeal from the decision of the Board of Tax Appeals brings the cause to this court for review.
Mr. Ralph S. Locher, director of law, Mr. Joseph H. Crowley and Mr. Richard O. Horn, for appellant.
Mr. John T. Corrigan, prosecuting attorney, Mr. George W. Leddon and Mr. A.M. Braun, for appellees.
Section 5713.08, Revised Code, provides that the Board of Tax Appeals shall not consider an application for exemption of property "unless the application has attached thereto a certificate or affidavit executed by the county treasurer certifying that taxes, assessments, penalties, and interest levied and assessed against the property sought to be exempted have been paid in full to the date upon which the application for exemption is filed."
There is no indication in the record made before the Board of Tax Appeals as to the application by the Treasurer of Cuyahoga County of the payments made by the city of Cleveland under its Whittemore undertaking. In the absence of a showing that such payments were applied by the county treasurer to the year 1948, resulting in payment in full for that year as required by the above-quoted section, this court will not speculate as to such application. The necessary result is that the decision of the Board of Tax Appeals must be, and it hereby is, affirmed.
Decision affirmed.
WEYGANDT, C.J., ZIMMERMAN, STEWART, MATTHIAS, BELL and HERBERT, JJ., concur.