to the frontage and increasing the valuation accordingly, a court will enjoin the increase in the valuation: Deshler v. Sims, 2 O. N. P. (N.S.) 385, 14 O. D. (N.P.) 532.

Assessing improvements and betterments.

SEC. 5576. Such assessor, if he ascertains that, at the last quadrennial period or annual return, a mistake was made in the value of an improvement as betterment of real property, or that the true value thereof was omitted, shall return the correct value, having first given notice to the owner or agent thereof, of his intention so to do. Such addition shall be a proper subject for the determination of the next annual board of equalization upon the petition of the owner or agent of the property when filed for that purpose. (R. S. Sec. 2753.)

If by mistake a new building has been erroneously placed upon the wrong land, the auditor may correct such mistake, and place such increased value upon the proper land: Shields v. Gibson, 1 O. C. C. (N.S.) 532, 14 O. C. D. 673 [affirmed, without report, Shields v. Gibson, 70 O. S. 422].

If by mistake of the county auditor, a certain amount is added as the valuation of a new building to what is supposed to be the valuation of the land, whereas such valuation is not the valuation of the land alone but is in fact the valuation of the land and such new building, this is a clerical error which the auditor must correct; and the property owner is also entitled to have refunded to him the amount of taxes which he has paid by reason of such erroneous addition to the valuation of his property: State, ex rel., v. Lewis, 15 O. C. C. 279, 8 O. C. D. 276.

Cited Insurance Co. v. Hard, 8 O. N P. 36, 10 O. D. (N.P.) 469.

Collection of taxes on the foregoing.

SEC. 5577. Additions made by such assessor in conformity to the provisions of the next two preceding sections shall be listed upon the grand duplicate of the county and placed in the hands of the county treasurer for collection, subject to such modification, if any, as may be made by the next annual board of equalization. (R. S. Sec. 2753.)

Omitted taxes may be placed upon the current duplicate: Wade v. Kimberley, 5 O. C. C. 33. O. C. D. 18.

Since the addition made to the valuation of real property by the assessors is not subject to review by the courts in the first instance, but by a board, notice to the property owner is not necessary: Glenn v. Raine, 4 O. D. (N.P.) 517 [affirmed, without report, Glenn v Raine, 55 O. S. 682).

Destroyed property.

SEC. 5578. This section was repealed 103 v. 786. For similar section see Section 2591, 106 v. 263, § 63.

When reassessment of real property shall be made; duties of county auditor; who may petition for reassessment; appeal to board of revision; appeal to tax commission.

SEC. 5548. Each county auditor shall, annually, when so directed by the tax commission of Ohio, or when in his opinion it is advisable to reassess the real property, or any class thereof, in any district or part thereof, within his county, make and deliver to the assessor of such district an abstract from the books of his office, containing such description of such real property therein, together with such plat books and such lists of transfers of title to land made therein during the next preceding year as may be deemed necessary to enable the assessor to perform the duties imposed upon him by law in listing and valuing such property for taxation. Such abstracts, plat books and lists of transfers of title to land shall be in such form and detail as the tax commission of Ohio may prescribe. The board of county commissioners of the county, the board of township trustees of a township, the board of education of a school district, the council of a municipal corporation, or twenty-five taxpayers, owners of real property, in a district, may file with the county auditor a petition asking for a reassessment of the real property or a class thereof, in any township, school district or municipal corporation or part thereof. If the county auditor fails or refuses, for thirty days, to order such reassessment, the petitioners may, within thirty days thereafter, take an appeal to the county board of revision; provided, if such board is not in session at the time of taking such appeal, the same may be taken direct to the tax commission of Ohio. The county board of revision shall forthwith hear such appeal when filed with it, and may order a reassessment of such property, or dismiss such appeal, and certify its action to the county auditor. If the board orders a reassessment the county auditor shall proceed to have such assessment made in the manner provided herein. An appeal from the decision of the county board of revision on such appeal, may be taken to the tax commission of Ohio within thirty days after the decision of such board, by the petitioners or the county auditor. Such appeal shall be taken in the manner provided by Section 53 of this act. "The tax commission of Ohio shall hear all such appeals and make such orders as it deems proper thereon." (106 v. 260, Sec. 55. W. L. 50-51.)

For provisions relating to power of the tax commission to order a reassessment of real property and prescribing how reassessment shall be made when so ordered, see Sections 5624-4 and 5624-5 G. C. (106 v. 267, Sec. 79, 80.)

It will be noted that the first sentence of this section does not specifically require assessment or reassessment of real property. The force of this provision is, however, to require the auditor to make and deliver to assessors abstracts, lists of transfers and plat books necessary to enable the assessor to perform the duties imposed upon him by law, when a reassessment is authorized to be made. A. G. R. 1916.

Under the Parrett-Whittemore act (106 v. 246) the appraisement or assessment of real property is limited to the control of the state tax commission and the reassessment thereof to the control of the tax commission, the county auditor and such officers and boards as are mentioned in section 5548 G. C. and an annual appraisement of real estate is not in any wise required unless so ordered by the tax commission of Ohio. — A. G. R. 1916. The county auditor as the chief assessing officer of his county, can always direct and if necessary order a reassessment of real property under the conditions prescribed in section 5548

G. C., and assessors and assistant assessors are at all times under his direction and subject to his orders. A. G. R. 1916.

Where a reassessment of real property is ordered by the tax commission, the discretion to determine whether said assessment shall be made by the assessor of the district in which the property is located or by an assistant assessor or assistant assessors, appointed by the county auditor, is vested in the county auditor, as the chief supervising, assessing officer of the county, and the state tax commission may not interfere with the exercise of this discretion. A. G. R. 1916.

County commissioners to have maps made.

SEC. 5549. If, in the opinion of the county commissioners, it is necessary to the proper appraisal of the real estate of such county, on or before their June session, one thousand nine hundred and thirteen, and every fourth year thereafter, they may advertise for four consecutive weeks in one or more newspapers of general circulation in the county, for sealed proposals to construct the necessary maps and plats to enable the assessors in the county, or any district thereof, to correctly reappraise all real estate. The maps and plats shall be made under the supervision of the county auditor, and such advertisement shall particularly specify the extent and character of the work to be done. Each bid shall be accompanied by a good and sufficient bond of not less than one thousand dollars conditioned that said bidder will not fail or refuse to enter into contract in accordance with the advertised proposals, in case his bid is accepted. The commissioners shall open the bids on the day named in the advertisement. and, within three days thereafter, award the contract to the lowest and best bidder, if, in their opinion, it is to the interest of the county so to do, or they may reject any and all bids. (R. S. Sec. 2789.)

Bidder to give bond; payment, etc.

SEC. 5550. If the contract is awarded, the bidder to whom it is awarded, shall forthwith give a good and sufficient bond, with two or more sureties, in an amount of not less than two thousand dollars, nor more than ten thousand dollars, as required by the county commissioners, conditioned for the prompt, faithful, accurate performance of the work to be done. On completion of any city, village, township, or district, the work shall be paid for out of the county treasury, on the warrant of the county auditor, after it has been duly accepted and approved by the county commissioners. No bill shall be allowed until the auditor and commissioners are satisfied that the labor has been performed in accordance with the contract on file with the county auditor. In counties or districts having no map, the commissioners shall furnish it under the provisions of this chapter. (R. S. Sec. 2789.)

Tax maps of sub-divisions, etc.

SEC. 5551. The board of county commissioners may appoint the county surveyor, who shall employ such number of assistants as are necessary, not exceeding four, to provide for making, correcting, and keeping up to date a complete set of tax maps of the county. Such maps shall show all original lots and parcels of land, and all divisions, subdivisions and allotments thereof, with the name of the owner of each original lot or parcel and of each division, subdivision or lot, all new divisions, subdivisions or allotments made in the county, all transfers of property showing the lot or parcel of land transferred, the name of the grantee, and the date of the transfer, so that such maps shall furnish the auditor, for entering on the tax duplicate, a correct and proper description of each lot or parcel of land offered for transfer. Such maps shall be for the use of the board of equalization and the auditor, and be kept in the office of the county auditor. (R. S. Sec. 2789a.)

Where county commissioners appoint the county surveyor as tax map draughtsman under section 5551, G. C., and provide him no assistant as such, the county surveyor is not authorized to detail an assistant appointed under section 2788, G. C., or 7181, G. C., to do any of the tax map work. A. G. R. 1915, p. 2078.

Under Section 5551, General Code, the county commissioners are authorized to appoint the County surveyor to make, correct and keep up to date, a set of maps of the county. When the surveyor refuses to act in accordance with such appointment, the only alternative granted by the statutes is the method provided by Section 5549, General Code, for sealed proposals upon advertisement and bids, for the construction of the necessary maps during quadrennial appraisement years. A. G. R. 1912, p. 1485.

Draughtsman and assistants; compensation, how paid.

SEC. 5552. The board of county commissioners shall fix the salary of the draughtsman at not to exceed two thousand dollars per year. They shall likewise fix the number of assistants not to exceed four, and fix the salary of such assistants at not to exceed fifteen hundred dollars per year. The salaries of the draughtsman and assistants shall be paid out of the county treasury in the manner as the salary of other county officers are paid. (R. S. Sec. 2789b.)

Duties of district assessor.

SEC. 5553. An assessor, from the maps and descriptions furnished him by the county auditor and other sources of information, shall make a correct and pertinent description of each tract and lot of real property in his district. When he deems it necessary to obtain an accurate description of any separate tract or lot in his district, he may require the owner or occupier thereof to furnish it, with any title papers he has in his possession. If such owner or occupier, upon demand, neglects or refuses to so furnish a satisfactory description of such parcel of real property, the assessor may employ a competent surveyor to make a description of the boundaries and location thereof, and a statement of the quantity of land therein, and the expense of such survey shall be returned by such assessor to the auditor of the county, who shall add it to the tax assessed upon such real property, and it shall be collected by the treasurer of the county with such tax, and when collected, shall be paid, on demand, to the person to whom it is due. (R. S. Sec. 2790.)

For the history of earlier legislation upon this subject, see Lessee of Buckley v. Osburn, 8 O. 181.

Description and value of real estate.

SEC. 5554. The assessor, in all cases, from actual view, and from the best sources of information within his reach, shall determine, as near as practicable, the true value of each separate tract and lot of real property in his district, according to the rules prescribed by this chapter for valuing real property. He shall note in his plat-book, separately, the value of all dwelling houses, mills, and other buildings, which exceed one hundred dollars in value, on any tract or plat of land not incorporated, or on any land or lot of land included in a municipal corporation, which shall be carried out as a part of the value of such tract. He shall also enter therein the number of acres of arable or plow land, meadow and pasture land, and wood and uncultivated land, in each tract, as near as possible. (R. S. Sec. 2790.)

Cited Kendrick v. Farquhar, 8 O, 189; In re O'Brien, 2 O. N. P. (N. S.) 421, 14 O. D. (N. P.) 319; Barney Manufacturing Co. v. Commissioners, 11 Dec. Rep. 790, 27 Bull. 366.

The provision of this section which requires a separate valuation of buildings and of land does not apply to assessments which are levied for local improvements: Findlay v. Frey, 51 O. S. 390 [reversing Frey v. Findlay, 7 O. C. C. 311, 4 O. D. 611.]

Inasmuch as section 5554, G. C., provides that the assessor in all cases from actual view, and from the best sources of information within his reach, shall determine as near as practicable the true value of each separate tract and lot of real property within his dictrict, according to the rules prescribed by law for valuing real property, the county auditor is without authority to direct the assessors to fix "unit" or "tentative" values of real property and he may not himself or through his deputies or assistants fix such values. A. G. R. 1916.

Mortgages; copy furnished owner.

SEC. 5555. The assessor shall ascertain from the owner or agent, the amount of the mortgage indebtedness upon each tract and lot in his district, and report the aggregate amount to the county auditor. Before he makes his returns to the county auditor, he shall deliver to the owner or agent of any tract or lot in his district. by mail or otherwise. if known, and a resident of the district, a true and certified copy of the valuation of each tract or lot, also of any building or buildings thereon, so valued by him. The blanks necessary for the purposes of this and the next two preceding sections shall be furnished by the county auditor, and paid for by the county commissioners out of the county treasury. (R. S. Sec. 2790.)

Assessors to have certain sections platted, etc., and plat recorded.

SEC. 5556. When an original survey, section, tract. or lot has become divided into such small parcels or fractions, as to render the description of the several parts thereof indefinite and doubtful, the assessors of real property in their several districts. when appraising any such survey and section, tract, or lot, or part thereof, so divided. shall cause the said section, or such parts thereof as may be necessary. to be accurately platted and laid out into such subdivisions as the different titles to the land therein may require. and number the said fractions or subdivisions as fractions or subdivisions of said section. tract, or lot or part thereof. so such parts thereof as may be subdivided. and deliver the plat so numbered to the recorder of the county who shall accurately record it. From and after such record has been made, the numbers so given to said subdivisions or fractions shall be a sufficient description of the land so platted numbered, and recorded. for all purposes of taxation and conveyancing. (R. S. Sec. 2791.)

This provision applies to land without the limits of a municipal corporation, as well as to land within such limits: Mitchell & Watson v. Treasurer, 25 O. S. 143.

Owner of land to produce to county auditor survey, etc., in certain cases.

SEC. 5557. When the assessor has neglected to plat and number such divisions, or the survey, section, tact, lot, or part thereof, is subdivided after the assessment and appraisal thereof, and in the opinion of the auditor of the county it is required to be platted and numbered for the purpose of a pertinent description thereof upon his duplicate, the auditor may require the owner or owners, occupier or occupiers, of such section, tract, lot, or part thereof, to produce to him at his office the title papers and surveys of the several subdivisions thereof, as well as of the survey, section, tract, lot, or part thereof, subdivided, on a day certain, not longer than thirty, nor less than ten days from the date of such notice. (R. S. Sec. 5791.)

County auditor may require owner to make survey, etc.

SEC. 5558. If the owner or owners, occupier or occupiers, of a survey. section, tract, lot, or part thereof, so subdivided, fails to appear when so required, and produce the title papers, or so producing them, the auditor, without a survey, can not plat and number said subdivisions, he may require such owner or owners, occupier or occupiers, to cause such subdivisions to be surveyed, platted and numbered within twenty days, and said survey and plat delivered to the recorder of said county for record. If such survey and plat is not made and delivered to the recorder within the time required, or the owner or owners, occupier or occupiers, or any of them, have not appeared when so required, the auditor may cause the subdivision or subdivisions of such survey, section, tract, lot, or part thereof, to be surveyed, platted, and numbered by the county surveyor and recorded by the county recorder. The expense of the survey and record so made by the order of the county auditor shall be reported to him by the surveyor and recorder, and by said auditor added to the tax on such subdivisions in proportion to the quantity of land in each, which shall be collected as the other taxes against them, and when collected paid over to the parties entitled thereto on the warrant of the auditor. (R. S. Sec. 2791.)

Plat to be recorded, etc.

SEC. 5559. When the title papers are produced to the auditor, he may plat, allot. and number said subdivisions. if practicable. The plat so made by the auditor shall be recorded upon the records of deeds of the county. After it has been so platted and numbered by the auditor. or by the surveyor. it shall be sufficient for all purposes of taxation to enter such sudivisions upon the duplicate by the numbers thereof, as provided by law for separate parcels of land, which shall be a pertinent and sufficient description thereof. (R. S. Sec. 2791.)

Tracts to be valued separately; rules therefor.

SEC. 5560. Each separate parcel of real property shall be valued at its true value in money, excluding the value of the crops growing thereon. The price for which such real property would sell at auction, or at forced sale, shall not be taken as the criterion of the true value, and where the fee of the soil of a tract. parcel or lot of land. is in any person natural or artificial, and the right to minerals therein in another, it shall be valued and listed agreeably to such ownership in separate entries, specifying the interests listed, and be taxed to the parties owning different interests, respectively. (R. S. Sec. 2792.)

The constitutional and statutory provisions on the subject require each parcel of real property to be valued at its true value in money: McCurdy v. Prugh, 59 O. S. 465; State, ex rel., v. Lewis, 64 O. S. 216.

If an estate has been granted in a part of a building which amounts to an interest in real property, the question whether the lessee is to pay taxes upon his interest separate from that of the lessor depends upon the terms of the lease: Cincinnati College v. Yeatman, 30 O. S. 276.

The term "right to minerals" means a title, which in legal effect severs such minerals from the soil: Jones v. Wood, 1 0. N. P. 155, 2 O. D. (N. P.) 75. Jones v.

Petroleum and natural gas are minerals within the meaning of this section: Wood, 1 O. N. P. 155, 2 O. D. (N. P.) 75.

A license to dig and mine minerals in consideration of pay therefor and a certain percentage of the minerals to the owner of the fee, does not convey the minerals in fee to the party to whom such license is issued; and his interest is, accordingly, not to be taxed separately from the interest of the owner: Jones v. Wood, 9 O. C. C. 560, 6 O. C. D. 538 [affirmed, without report, Wood v. Jones, 54 O. S. 627.1

A written agreement between the vendor and vendee of coal, with reference to the apportionment of the valuation upon the tax list, is not conclusive upon the auditor: Dye v. State, 73 O. S. 231. Upon the question of the taxation of coal, see, also, Edwards v. McClurg, 39 O. S. 41.

Deductions by assessor.

SEC. 5561. The assessor shall deduct from the value of such tracts of land, as provided in the next preceding section, lying outside of municipal corporations, the