Apple Valley Ranchos Water Co. v. County of San Bernardino

Plaintiff water company appeals from (1) an order denying its motion to vacate findings and order of the board of supervisors of defendant county, which fixed the assessed valuation of plaintiff’s water distribution lines, and (2) an order refusing to set the matter for retrial. As will appear, plaintiff has failed to establish error in the proceedings below. The orders appealed from will accordingly be affirmed.

Plaintiff owns a water distribution system, including pipelines extending through land subdivided into some 9,000 building lots, of which only about 935 were occupied and served by plaintiff during the taxable years here involved (1958-1959; 1959-1960). For some reason, perhaps because of the physical distribution of the users’ homes, the entire pipeline system was in service. The lines had been installed by the subdivider at a cost to it of nearly 1.5 million dollars, and at a cost to plaintiff of an additional $78,320. In 1958 the assessed valuation of the pipelines and service connections as set by the assessor was $165,470, and in 1959 it was $167,780. 1 Over plaintiff’s protests and requests for reduction for each of the two years, the board of supervisors upheld…