Chap. 197.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 36 and 39 of chapter 482
of the acts of assembly of 1928, entitled an act to provide a new charter
for the town of Waynesboro, Virginia, and to repeal all acts or parts of
acts in conflict therewith. [H B 80]

Approved March 22, 1930

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tions thirty-six and thirty-nine of chapter four hundred and eighty-
two of the acts of assembly of nineteen hundred and twenty-eight, be
amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 36. General taxes—(a) The council may impose a tax
of one dollar per annum upon all residents of the town who have at-
tained the age of twenty-one years for school purposes.

(b) The council may impose a tax upon every dog in the town
unless the general law of the State provides for such tax on behalf of
the town. | , ,

(c) The council of the town of Waynesboro is authorized to and
shall annually order a town levy for so much, as in their opinion is
necessary to be raised in that way, in addition to what may be re-
ceived for licenses and from other sources, to meet the appropriations
made and to be made and all sums required by law to be raised for
the purposes of the town. ‘The levy so ordered may be upon all per-
sons in the said town above the age of twenty-one not exempt by law
from the payment of the State capitation tax, and upon any property
therein subject to local taxation and not expressly segregated to the
State for purposes of State taxation only.

It 1s hereby expressly provided that said council shall, in its discre-
tion, be authorized to fix such annual levy on property subject to taxa-
tion in the town of Waynesboro, for town purposes, without any
limit as to the rate thereof, any provisions of the general laws of the
State to the contrary notwithstanding, provided that said council shall
not fix such levy on property partially segregated to the State for pur-
poses of State taxation at a higher rate than is or may be permitted by
the general laws relating thereto.

(d) If the commissioner of revenue ascertains that any person
or any real or personal property, has not been assessed for town taxa-
tion for any year, or that the same has been assessed at less than the
law requires for any year, or that the taxes thereon for any cause have
not been realized, it shall be the duty of the commissioner to list the
same, and assess town taxes thereon at the rate prescribed for that
year, adding thereto interest at the rate of six per centum per annum.
Where the same was omitted by no fault of the person charged with
the taxes, no interest shall be charged.

(e) The provisions of this charter, in so far as applicable, with
respect to the collection of taxes shall apply to the assessment and
collection, and to the administration of the assessment and collection
of taxes on personal property and all classes thereof.

(f{) All goods and chattels of any person against whom taxes for
the town are assessed, may be distrained and sold for said taxes when
due and unpaid in the same manner and to the same extent that goods
and chattels may be distrained and sold for State taxes.

Section 39. Tax lien on real estate-——A lien shall exist on all real
estate within the corporate limits for taxes, levies and assessments, in
favor of the town, assessed thereon, from the commencement of the
year for which the same were assessed. The council may by ordi-
nance permit taxes to be paid in semi-annual installments. The coun-
cil shall require all real estate, delinquent for the nonpayment of taxes,
levies, or assessments thereon or against the same, to be sold for the
said taxes, levies, or assessments, and may cause a good and sufficient
deed to be made to the purchaser, his heirs or assigns.

Delinquent list—The treasurer shall make out and deliver to the
council at its regular meeting in July of each year hereafter, a list of
all of the real estate upon which taxes, levies, or assessments are due
and unpaid for the previous year. The treasurer upon the direction
of the council shall sell at public outcry all said real estate, after ad-
vertising the time and place of sale once a week for four successive
issues of a newspaper published in the town, in which shall appear a
description of the real estate as shown on the books of the commis-
sioner of revenue, and the name of the owner thereof at the time it
was returned delinquent, with the amount of taxes, levies or assess-
ments against each parcel.

Sale-—If the taxes, levies, or assessments with interest and costs
are not paid before the date of sale, the treasurer shall make sale of
the said parcels of real estate to satisfy the taxes, levies, assessments,
and interest thereon to the highest bidder. The sale may be adjourned
from day to day until completed. The treasurer shall execute to the
purchaser a certificate of sale, in which the real estate purchased shall
be described, and the total amount of taxes, levies, or assessments, with
interest and the costs shall be specified. The treasurer shall not di-
rectly or indirectly be a purchaser.

When bid in for the town.—If no bid is made, or such bid shall not
be sufficient to satisfy the taxes, levies, or assessments, with interest
and costs, the treasurer shall purchase such parcels of real estate for
the town. He shall execute his certificate of sale to the town and de-
posit it with the clerk of the council.

Report of sale-—The treasurer shall within thirty days after the
sale is completed make a report thereof, showing each parcel of real
estate sold, the date of sale, the name of the purchaser, the amount of
purchase money for each lot, and the report shall be filed with the
clerk of the council and by him recorded in a book kept for the pur-
pose.

Redemption.—The owner of any real estate so sold, his heirs or
assigns, or any person having a right to charge such real estate with
a debt, or otherwise interested therein, may redeem the same by paying
the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, at any time within two years from
the date of sale, the whole amount paid by such purchaser and such
additional taxes thereon as may have been paid by the purchaser, his
heirs or assigns, with interest and costs; or if purchased by the town,
540 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY [vaA.

with such additional sums as have subsequently accrued for taxes,
levies, or assessments thereon, with costs, if the same had not been pur-
chased by the town, with interest. If the purchaser, his heirs or as-
signs, does not reside or cannot be found in the town, or refuses to
receive the same, payment may be made to the town sergeant.

Redemption by persons under disability——Any infant, insane per-
son or person in prison, whose real estate may have been so sold, or his
heirs, may redeem the same by paying to the purchaser, his heirs or
assigns, within two years from the removal of their disability, the
amount for which the same was sold, with interest and costs as afore-
said, and such additional taxes, levies or assessments on the real estate
as may have been paid by the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, and the
appraised value of any improvements that may have been made thereon,
with interest on the said items at the rate of six per cent, from the time
they may have been made. Upon such payment, and the payment of
such additional sums as may have been incurred by the purchaser in
obtaining a deed within two years after the removal of such disability,
the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, shall at the cost of the original
owner, his heirs or assigns, convey to him or them, by deed with spe-
cial warranty the real estate so sold.

Application for deed.—If any real estate so sold be not redeemed
within the time allowed for redemption, the purchaser, his heirs or
assigns may thereupon petition the council that the real estate be con-
veyed to him, and after due notice to the party or parties for whose
delinquent taxes, levies or assessments, the said real estate was sold,
and similar notice to the owner as shown by the records of the clerk’s
office of the circuit court of Augusta county, either by personal service,
or in the event personal service cannot be had by reason of non-resi-
dence, or disability of any kind, by publication once a week for four
successive weeks in a newspaper published in the town, at the ex-
pense of the applicant, the said council shall determine whether all the
requirements as to the assessment, the sale, the purchase, and the
period of redemption shall have been complied with, and if upon such
inquiry it be ascertained that the same has been regularly complied with,
and that the purchaser, or his heirs or assigns, is entitled to a convey-
ance of the said real estate, the council shall direct the same to be con-
veyed by the clerk of the council. Where the purchaser has assigned
the benefit of his purchase, the deed may be with his consent evidenced
by his joining therein, or by writing annexed thereto, executed to his
assignee. And if the purchaser shall have died, his heirs or assigns
may move the council to order the clerk of the council of the town
to execute a deed conveying the property to such heirs or assigns. Such
inquiry shall be deemed to be conclusive as to the regularity of all
proceedings connected therewith, but nothing contained in this section
shall apply to real estate purchased by the town at the delinquent tax
sale.

Purchase by town.—Any real estate purchased by the town at a
delinquent tax sale provided for herein not redeemed in accordance
with the provisions of this charter shall be disposed of by the town in
such manner as the council may prescribe; but only after the town shall
have obtained a deed therefor from the clerk of the circuit court of
Augusta county in a proceeding to be conducted in said court, similar
to the proceeding above authorized, on a petition filed in the name of
the town, and such deed recorded as provided in the following para-
graph.

Effect of deed—When the purchaser of any real estate sold for
taxes, levies, or assessments, his heirs or assigns, shall have obtained
a deed therefor, and within sixty days from the date of such deed shall
have caused the same to be recorded, all the rights or title to such estate
shall stand vested in the grantee in such deed as it was vested in the
party assessed with the taxes, levies, or assessments, on account whereof
the sale was made, at the commencement of the year for which said
taxes, levies, or assessments were made or in any person claiming under
such party; and the title of the purchaser shall not be defeated, except
by showing that the real estate was not subject to the taxes, levies, or
assessments for which it was sold; or the taxes, levies or assessments
for the year for which it had been sold had been paid.