Mayor of Baltimore v. Jenkins

Pearce, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This appeal is from a judgment and order of the Baltimore City. Court, striking out an assessment of $4,700 made by the Appeal Tax Court of Baltimore City, December 27th, 1901, for the year 1902, upon a lot of ground with the improvements thereon, at the corner of Fulton and Pennsylvania avenues, belonging to. John Jenkins.

This lot is 60 feet front by 150 feet in depth, and on October 1st, 1901, was owned by the Committee of the Baptist Church in the city of Baltimore, being then improved by a one-story frame church, the premises being used exclusively for public worship. Under the law .of Maryland, neither buildings used exclusively for public worship, nor the grounds appurtenant thereto, are subject to State or city taxation. On October 4th, 1901, John Jenkins contracted to purchase said lot and building and on November 16th, 1901, the Committee of the Baptist Church executed and delivered a conveyance thereof to him. Section 171 of the New Charter of Baltimore City provides that “the valuation of the property subject to taxation in the city of Baltimore, as it shall appear upon the assessment books of the Appeal Tax Court on the first day of October in each and every year, shall be final and conclusive, and constitute the basis upon which taxes for the next ensuing fiscal year shall be assessed and levied; provided, that the foregoing provision shall not apply to property in the city liable to taxation, and which may have escaped, or which may have been omitted, in the regular course of valuation, but such property shall be valued and assessed, and the owner or owners ¹⁹⁴ thereof charged with all back or current taxes, justly due thereon, whenever the same may be discovered and placed upon the assessment books.” The same section further provides that as soon as practicable after the first day of October in eách year, a statement shall be rendered by said Court to the City Collector and to the Board of Estimates, showing the valuation and assessment of all the property subject to taxation in said city, as it shall appear upon the assessment books of said Court on said first day of October, which statement shall constitute the taxable basis for the next ensuing fiscal year, and after the levy of taxes, shall be designated as the tax roll for said year.

In the course of the testimony taken in the Baltimore City Court, it was shown that the property ceased to be used for church purposes after November 18th, 1901, and that Mr. Jenkins purchased it with the view to the erection of a store thereon, but we do not think that its abandonment as a house of public worship, or the purchaser’s intention as to its future use, are material for our consideration, under the plain and imperative provisions of the city charter to which we have referred, and which we regard as conclusive of the correctness of the order of the learned Judge below. The purpose of these provisions,