Chap. 27.—An ACT to authorize and empower the council of Blackstone, Notto-
way county, Virginia, to appoint an assessor and have the real estate within
the limits of said town assessed as a basis of taxation for State, county, and
town purposes for the year 1903, and thereafter until the next regular assess-
ment: provided, the aggregate amount of the said assessment shall not be less
than the aggregate amount of the last assessment.

Approved July 28, 1902.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the council
of the town of Blackstone, Nottoway county, Virginia, be, and it is
hereby, authorized and empowered to appoint a suitable person assessor,
whose duty it shall be at once to assess all of the real estate within the
corporate limits of the town of Blackstone, Nottoway county, Virginia,
at its fair cash value, as required by the law of Virginia. And said asses-
sor is required to make an original and three copies of his book, which
shall contain the names of the owners of the land, a short description
thereof: the value of the land without improvements; the value of the
improvements, if any; and the total value of the land, including improve-
ments. And shall certify and make oath to the said book when com-
pleted, and shall return to the mayor of Blackstone one—the origi-
nal: to the clerk of the county court of Nottoway county one copy, to
the auditor of public accounts one copy, and to the commissioner of the
revenue for the district of Nottoway county, including Blackstone, one
copy. which shall be completed and returned not later than September
the fifteenth, nineteen hundred and two.

2. The said assessment shall furnish the basis of taxation for State,
county. and town purposes for the year nineteen hundred and three, and
thereafter until the next regular assessment of land in said county: pro-
vided, the aggregate value of the lands in the corporate limits of said
town thereunder shall not be less than the aggregate value under the last
regular assessment made during the year nineteen hundred.

3. The commissioner of the revenue for the district in the county of
Nottoway, which includes the town of Blackstone, shall make the assess-
ment provided for by this act the basis of taxation for nineteen hundred
and three for State, county, and town purposes, and thereafter until the
next regular assessment of land in said town: provided, the aggregate
amount thereof shall exceed the aggregate amount of the present assess-
ment. But if the assessed value of the land in said town under the
assessment provided for by this act shall be less than its present assessed
value, the said assessment shall be of no effect, and shall be disregarded
by said commissioner.

4. The assessor appointed under this act shall execute a bond in the
penalty of five hundred dollars, conditioned for the faithful performance
of his duties, with security to be approved by the council of Blackstone,
and shall take and subscribe before the mayor of said town the oaths re-
quired by State officers under the Constitution and laws of Virginia.

5. The council of Blackstone is authorized to pay said assessor out of
the treasury of said town reasonable compensation for his services.

6. This is an emergency act under the Constitution of Virginia, and
shall be in force from its passage.