Chap. 116.—An ACT to provide for the assessment of real estate in this
) state in the year 1885, and every fifth year thereafter.

Approved November 27, 1884.

1. Beit enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
it shall be the duty of a board, consisting of the judge, com-
monwealth’s attorney, and clerk of the respective county, cor-
poration and bustings courts of the several counties and cities
of the state, on or before the first day of January, in the year
eighteen hundred and eighty-five, and every fifth year there-
after, to appoint proper persons to assess the cash value of
all lands and lots, together with the improvements thereon,
within their respective counties and corporations: provided,
that there shall be but one assessor for each corporation, ex-
cept the city of Richmond, where there shall be three, and
for each county as many as there are commissioners of the
revenue for the same. And no person shall be appointed
assessor for any county or corporation who is not a resident
inthesame. In those counties in which two or more assessors
are to be appointed, the board shall appoint one for each dis-
trict in which there is a commissioner of the revenue, and if
at any time the board shall be satisfied that any assessor ap-
pointed under this act will not, or that from any cause he

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cannot perform the duties devolved on him within the time
prescribed, the said board may wholly supersede him and
appoint another in bis place, or appoint one or more assistants
to aid him in his duties, as shall be deemed most expedient;
but before any person thus appointed, shall enter upon the
duties of his office, be shall take the oath and execute the
bond prescribed 1n the second section.

2. Each assessor, before entering upon the duties of his

office, shall, before the judge of the county or. corporation
court of his county or corporation in vacation, or before the
said court in term, execute a bond, with good security, in the
penalty of five thousand dollars, conditioned for the faithful
performance of the duties of his office according to law:
provided, if said qualification is in vacation, the certificate
thereof and the oath shall be returned to the clerk of the
county or corporation court, who shall record such certificate
and the fact of taking the oath in the minutes of the next
term. '
3. The register of the land office, as soon as possible after
the passage of this act, shall forward to the clerk of each
county and corporation court a list of all grants of land
within his county and corporation issued between the thirty-
first day of December, eighteen hundred and eighty, and the
time of making out such lists; and it shall be the duty of the
clerk, without unnecessary delay, to deliver to the assessor of
such county or corporation the said lists of grants, with a
copy of the land-book for his county or corporation last re-
turned, and a list of the conveyances recorded since the said
book was made out. In any county in which there shall be
more assessors than one, the clerk shall furnish to each of
them a copy of the list of grants and of the land-book, and
also a list of conveyances as aforesaid for the district for
which he is appointed. For the services aforesaid, the clerk
shall receive such compensation as the court of his county or
corporation may think proper to allow, which shall be em-
braced in and paid out of the first corporation or county levy
made after the services shall have been rendered. And any
clerk who shall fail to perform any duty hereby enjoined
upon him, shall be fined, for the use of the literary fund, a
sum not exceeding one hundred dollars, at the discretion of
a jury. |

4, The said assessors shall, immédiately after their appoint-
ment, proceed to examine all the lands and lots, with the
improvements thereon, within their respective counties, dis-
tricts and corporations, and shall, upon such examination,
ascertain and assess the cash value thereof.

5. In any county or city in which there is more than one
assessor, such assessors, prior to the completion of their labors,
shall assemble at least once in each district, for the purpose
of consultation, with a view of equalizing the assessment of
lands in their respective districts, and in their counties and
cities, as far as practicable.
6. As soon as the assessors shall have completed the assess-
ments in their respective counties, districts or corporations,
they shall make out three copies of the assessment, in the
form in which the land-books are now made out, and shall
certify on oath that no lots or lands are omitted, and that
there are no errors on its face; and of those copies so certi-
fied, one copy shall be filed and preserved in the clerk’s office
of the county or corporation, and another copy forwarded by
mail or other safe conveyance to the auditor of public ac-
counts at Richmond, and another copy shall be delivered to
the commissioner of the revenue of the county, district or
corporation, on or before the first day of June, in the year in
which the assessment is made: provided, that for good cause
shown, the judges of the county and corporation courts of
this commonwealth may extend the time of making the
returns of said assessment to the first day of July next suc-
ceeding. Each assessor who shall fail to comply with any
requirement of this section, shall forfeit all right to compen-
sation for his services. 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 commissioner of the reve-
nue’s district separately, with blanks to be filled up by the
assessors, and cause the same, with proper instructions, to be
printed, and forward a sufficient number of copies for the use
of the assessors to the clerks of the courts of the several coun-
ties and corporations.

7. Any person feeling himself aggrieved by the assessment
of his lands or lots made under the provisions of this act,
may, upon giving notice to the assessor and to the attorney
for the commonwealth, apply to the court of the county or
corporation in which the land lies, at any time prior to the
first day of March next succeeding such assessment, and not
after, to have the assessment of his lands or lots corrected,
which notice shall be in writing, and shall have appended
thereto an affidavit that in the opinion of the affiant the
assessment of his lands or lots is above the true value thereof,
which affidavit may be sworn to by the owner or his duly
authorized agent. In all such applications it shall be the
duty of the attorney for the commonwealth in such court, to
attend to the interest of the commonwealth. And if the
court shall be satisfied that the assessment is too high, it shall
reduce the same to what is, in its opinion, the true value of
such lands or lots; 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 over all other
causes pending in said court; but in cases of appeal from the
decision of court, as herein provided for, costs shall not be
taxed for or against the appellant or the commonwealth: pro-
vided that the court shall have power at any time, to correct
an assessment as to quantity of land or error in the extension
of figures.
8. It shall be the duty of the clerk of each county or cor-
poration court, to certify to the auditor of public accounts all
charges made by the courts of their several counties and cor-
porations aforesaid, in order that the books of assessment in
which such alterations have been ordered, and which are on
file in the office of the said auditor, may be so changed as to
conform to the changes made by the court, and it shall
be the duty of the clerks aforesaid, to certify in like manner
to the assessor whose assessments are so changed or corrected,
the changes made by the court, that they may so correct the
books on file with the clerk in conformity to the said orders.

9. Each assessor and assistant assessor shall receive the
sum of two dollars for each day he shall be necessarily em-
ployed in the execution of the duties of his office. The
accounts shall be made out and verified, by affidavit made be-
fore the clerk of the county court, in which it shall be stated
that the time for which said per diem is claimed, was abso-
lutely necessary, and when said accounts shall be so made out
and verified, they shall be paid out of any money in the trea-
sury not otherwise appropriated.

10. The taxes for the year eighteen hundred and eighty-
five, shall be extended upon the basis of the assessment of
real estate made under this act. |

11. Chapter thirty-two of the Code of eighteen hundred
and seventy-three, and all acts and parts of acts inconsistent
with this act are hereby repealed.

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