Chap. 54.—An ACT for the Re-assessment of Lands in the Common-
wealth.

In force February 1, 1872.

Whereas, complaints exist in divers counties in this com-
monwealth of inequality and imperfectness of the existing as-
sessment of the value of the lands therein:

§ 1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That upon the
petition of a majority of landholders in any county or corpo-
‘ration, or upon the petition of a majority of the board of su-
_pervisors of any county, or upon the petition of a majority of
landholders in any township of any county, it shall be the duty
of the court of such county or corporotion, at the March term
of said court, in the year 1872, to appoint and associate two
freeholders of said county or corporation, of experience and
judgment, with the assessor for said county or corporation who
acted as assessor under an act approved November 5th, 1870,
entitled ‘an act to amend and re-enact an act providing for
the re-assessment of the lands throughout the commonwealth,”
approved July 9th, 1870, in said county, corporation or town-
ship, who shall constitute a board of re-assessment, who shall
proceed to assess the value of lands and lots, with the improve-
ments thereon, in their respective counties, corporations and
townships, as the same are arranged and established by law.
Upon complaint made at any time, within the time prescribed
for correcting assessments of lands under this act, by three or
more citizens of any county, city or town of this state, (which
complaint shall be verified by affidavit,) that the lands or lots
of any person, situated in such county, city or town, were as-
sessed too low, the proper court of such county, city or town
shall appoint three intelligent and disinterested freeholders,
whose duty it shall be, after being first duly sworn, and giving
reasonable notice to the owner of the lands or lots so assessed,
to go.upon the property and examine the same and report
what, in their opinion, was the fair value of such lands or lots
at the time of their last assessment, upon the return of which
report and such other evidence as may be introduced, the
court, if satisfied that the assessment was too low, shall have
power to correct the same, and direct at what value the said
lands or lots shall be charged: provided, that a majority of
the common council of any city or town having a separate or-
ganization, and not forming a part of any tow uship, shall have
like authority to recommend a re-assessment of the lots and
improvements in such city or town as is hereby given to a ma-
jority of the supervisors of the counties touching re-assess-
ments therein.

2. Each assessor, before entering upon the duties of his
office, shall, before the judge of the county court of his county
in vacation, or before the said court in term, execute a bond,
with good security, in a penalty of five thousand dollars, con-
ditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of his office,
and shall moreover take an oath that he will faithfully and ¢
impartially, and to the best of his skill and understanding,
execute all the duties of his office according to law: provided,

if said qualification is in vacation, the certificate thereof and c
the oath shall be returned to the clerk of the county court, »
who shall record such certificate, and the fact of the taking of ¢ 4
the oath, in the minutes of the next term.

3. The said assessors shall, as soon as may be after their 4
appointment and qualitication as aforesaid, proceed to examine /,
in person all the lands and lots, with the improvements thereon, i1
within their respective counties and corporations, or townships
to be re-assessed, of which examinations the land-owner shall
be notified; and shall, upon such examination, assess the cash \
value thereof, and shall embrace in their assessments any and ,
all lands heretofore omitted to be assessed. And if at any © (
time the court shall be satisfied that any assessor appointed :
under this act will not, or that from any cause he cannot, per- >
form the duties devolved on him within’ the time prescribed, it a
may wholly supersede him, and appoint another in his place ;
but before any person so appointed shall enter upon the duties »
of his office, he shall take the oath and execute bond with se- i
curity, as prescribed by the second section of this act, in such
penalty as the court shall direct. In the performance of their 4
duties the assessors shall be guided, as far as may be, by the °
copies of the cxisting assessments for their respective counties p
and corporations, or townships, now on file in the clerks’ of- *
fies of their respective counties, cities and corporations; for
which purpose the clerks shall furnish to each board a certified ¢
copy of the same, with a copy of the list of grants so sent to +
him by the register of the land office, under the provisions of }
the third section of the act aforesaid, and of the list hereinafter
provided ; for which services the clerk shall receive such com- (
pensation, and shall be liable to such penalties, as are provided ©
for and prescribed by the said third section: and it shall be the
duty of the register, as soon as possible after the passage of }
this act, to transmit ‘to the clerk of each county and corporation
court of the state a list of all grants of land in said county or j;
corporation issued between the date of the lists made under
the provisions of the said third section and the time of making
the list hereby authorized. The cash value of lands, lots, and 3
improvements thereon, shall be fixed by first ascer taining the 3
value upon the usual credit in the neighborhood, and rebating
legal interest when interest is not usually allowed on such
ceredit or deferred payments.

4. As soon as the assessor shall have completed the assess- 7
ments in their respective counties and corporations, or town- b
ships, they shall make out two copies of the assessment in the F
forma in which the land books are now made out, and shall s
make and certify on oath that no lots or lands, with the im- },
provements thereon, are to their knowledge omitted, and that
there are no errors to their knowledge on its face ; and of these c
copies so certified one shall be filed and preserved in the ;
¢lerk’s office of the county or corporation, and the other for- 8
warded by mail, or other safe conveyance, to the auditor of
public accounts, on or before the first day of June. It shall
be the duty of the auditor of public accounts, as soon as.
practicable after the passage of this act, to prepare proper
forms of returns, so arranged as to show the lands and lots.
in each township separately, with blanks to be filled up by
the assessors, and instructions used, to cause the same to be.
printed, and to forward a sufficient number of copies for the
use of the assessors in such counties and corporations as.
shall avail themselves of the provisions of this act, to the
clerks of the courts of the several counties and corporations.

5. Any person feeling himself aggrieved by the assessment.
of his lands and lots, with the improvements thereon made,
under the provisions of this act, may, upon giving notice to
the assessors who made it, apply to the court which appointed,
at the first or second term after the assessment shall have been
filed in the clerk’s office, and not after, to have said assessment
corrected; which notice shall be in writing, and shall have ap-
pended thereto an affidavit that in the opinion of the affiant
the assessment is above the true value of the property assessed ;
which affidavit may be made by the owner, or his authonzed
agent. In all such applications the attorney for the common-
wealth in such court shall attend to the interests of the com-
monwealth; and if the court shall be satisfied that the assess-
ment is too high, it shall reduce the same to what, in its opin-
ion, is the true value of such property; but if it shall be of
opinion that the assessment is too low, then it shall increase
it in like manner; and such application shall have precedence
of all other causes pending in said court. In any case in
which the owner or his agent shall be dissatisfied with the
value assessed, because it is too low, the assessors shall adopt
the estimate of the owner or his agent; but in the case of any
appeal from their decision to the court, as herein provided,
costs shall not be taxed for or against the appellant or the
commonwealth: provided, however, that no alteration shall be
made by the court in the assessments as made by such assess-
ors, unless a majority of the assessors who made the asséss-
ment shall be present and be examined touching such altera-
tion. . |

6. It shall be the duty of the clerk of each county and cor-
poration court to certify forthwith, to the auditor of public
accounts, all changes made by the courts of their several coun-
ties and corporations, in order that the books of assessment in
which such alterations are made, and which are on file in the
- office of said auditor, may be so changed as to conform to the
alterations made by the court. And it shall be the duty of the
clerk, in like manner, to certify to the assessors whose assess-
. ment may be so changed or corrected, the revaluation made by
the court, that they may so correct the books on file with the
clerk in conformity with the said orders of revaluation.

7. Each assessor shall receive the sum of two dollars: for
each day he shall be necessarily employed in the duties of his
office, to be paid ont of the county ar eorporation levy of their
respective counties or corporations, or out of the township
levy of their respective townships, as the case may be. Their
accounts shall be made out and verified by them on oath.

8. The benefits of this act, as far as it applies to the re-
assessment of lands for eighteen hundred and seventy-two,
shall apply to all counties or corporations, or townships of
counties in the state, which may conform to its requirements,
and return the books of re-assessment to the auditor of public
accounts on or before the first day of June eighteen hundred
and seventy-two, as provided in section three of this act. The
superintendent of public printing is hereby authorized to print
and forward to each clerk of the county court of each county
in the state six copies of this act as soon as practicable after it
has received the approval of the governor.

9. This act shall be in force from its passage.