United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Valley Farms Co. v. County of Westchester, 261 U.S. 155 (1923)

Valley Farms Co. v. County of Westchester

No. 136

Argued January 24, 1923

Decided February 19, 1923

261 U.S. 155

Syllabus

1. A state legislature may, without notice to property owners, establish a sewer district and direct that the cost of the sewer be assessed upon the real property within the district in proportion to its value as ascertained for purposes of general taxation. P. 261 U. S. 162.

2. It is not a valid objection to such an assessment, under the Fourteenth Amendment, that the property assessed can receive no direct benefit where it ultimately may be benefited by future extensions of the sewer. P. 261 U. S. 163.

3. Nor is it of importance from the constitutional standpoint that the sewer had been completed before the boundaries of the district were established. P. 261 U. S. 164.

4. Where the state law gives the property owner an opportunity to be heard upon the valuation of his property for general taxation, he is not entitled under the Amendment to a further hearing on that subject when such valuations are used as bases for apportioning special assessments. P. 261 U. S. 164.

193 App.Div. 433, 231 N.Y. 558, affirmed.

Error to a judgment of the Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division, entered on mandate of affirmance from the Court of Appeals, and directing dismissal of the complaint in an action brought by the present plaintiff in error to declare void a special tax assessment and to restrain its collection.

Page 261 U. S. 158