Chap. 177.—An ACT to authorize and empower the several magisterial dis-
tricts of King William county to levy a license tax on all vehicles used
or operated in the said districts, for the purpose of raising revenue for
the construction, improvement and maintenance of the public highways
and bridges of said districts in said county. (H. B. 428.)

Approved March 21, 1914.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
the board of supervisors of King William county be, and hereby
is, authorized and empowered to levy an annual license tax for the
construction, improvement and maintenance of the public roads
and bridges of Mangohick, Acquinton, and West Point magisterial
districts, or any one of them, upon the conditions hereinafter
provided. The circuit court of said county, upon the petition of
a majority of the board of supervisors of said county, or upon
a petition of twenty-five freeholders of any magisterial district or
districts in said county, shall make an order requiring the judges
of election at the next election of county officers, or at any other
time not less than thirty days from the date of such order, which
shall be designated therein, to open a poll and take the sense of the
qualified voters of such magisterial district or districts on the
question, whether the board of supervisors of said county shall
levy an annual license tax on all vehicles used or operated in said
district or districts, for said purposes herein mentioned, under the
provisions of this act. The order shall designate the magisterial
district or districts of said county in which said election shall be
held. The qualified voters at any special election held under this
act, until otherwise provided by general law, shall be those qualified
to vote at the preceding November election, and those who may
have come of age and registered since said preceding election,
except those who by commission of crime ‘or removal from the
district or districts have disqualified themselves to vote.

2. The regular election officers of said county, in and for the
said district or districts, at the time designated in the order author-
izing the vote, shall open polls at the various voting places in the
said district or districts, including the polls at the voting places
in the incorporated towns within such district or districts, and
shall conduct such election and close the polls in such manner as
is provided by law in other elections; and at said election each
qualified voter who shall approve the annual license of said
vehicles, as herein mentioned, shall deposit a ticket or ballot, on
which shall be written or printed the words “for license tax,” and
each qualified voter who shall oppose such a tax shall deposit a
ticket or ballot whereon shall be written or printed the words
“against license tax.” The judges of election at the several voting
places shall, immediately after the closing of the polls at each of
the said places, count the ballots deposited, and shall, within two
days after said election, make return thereof, as is provided in
other elections. Said ballots shall be printed and furnished by the
regular election officers.

3. The commissioners of election of said county shall, within
two days after the judges of election have made returns of the
poll books and ballots as aforesaid, meet at the office of the clerk
of King William county, and, having taken an oath before said
clerk. faithfully to discharge their duties, canvass the returns and
certify the results thereof to the circuit court of said county, and

‘to the board of supervisors of said county.

4. If it shall appear by the report of the commissioner that
a majority of the qualified voters of the district or districts in
which said election was held are in favor of levying an annual
license tax on all vehicles in said district or districts, for the
purpose herein set forth, the circuit court of said county, or the
judge thereof in vacation, shall enter of record an order requiring
the supervisors of the county of King William to proceed at their
next meeting to carry out the wishes of the voters as expressed at
the said election.

5. Whenever the sense of the qualified voters of any district
or districts shall be taken on the question, whether the board of
supervisors of said county shall levy said license tax for the said
purpose, the said election and returns shall be subject to the
inquiry, determination, and judgment of the circuit court of the
said county, upon the written complaint of fifteen or more of the
qualified voters of such district, of an undue election or a false
returns, two of whom shall take an oath that the facts set fort'
in said complaint are true to the best of their knowledge and
belief, and the court shall, in judging such election and returns,
proceed upon the merits thereof and determine concerning the
same according to the Constitution and laws of this State; but
such complaint shall not be valid unless it shall have been filed
within thirty days after said election in the clerk’s office of the
vircuit court of King William county. The board of supervisors
of said county shall be made a defendant by summons or notice to
its chairman of the filing of the complaint, and after such service
of notice on the chairman of the said board, either party upon
reasonable notice to the other, shall be at liberty to take depositions
to sustain or invalidate such election. Service of notice an any
three of the complainants shall be sufficient. The court shall
proceed at its next term, after such service of summons or notice,
to determine the contest without a jury on the evidence, oral or
written, unless good cause be shown for a continuance, and shall
make a proper record of its judgment. If the judgment be that
the election is a valid one, in favor of the license of said vehicles
in said district or districts, or either of them, the court shall make
an order in conformity with the preceding section.

6. Upon the receipt of said order from the said judge of court.
the board of supervisors of said county at their next meeting, or
as soon thereafter as practicable, shall, for each year, levy an
annual license tax on all vehicles used or operated in the said
magisterial district or districts in said county according to the
following schedule, to-wit: on every tumbril cart, a license tax of
fifty cents: on every double wagon, one dollar; on every single
wagon, fifty cents; on every carriage or buggy, fifty cents; on
every double stage coach or hack, one dollar; on every road or
speed cart. twenty-five cents; on every bicycle, fifty cents; on
everv timber, wood or lumber cart, two dollars; on every timber,
wood or lumber wagon, five dollars; on every nine-prop cart, three
dollars; on every oil wagon, five dollars: on every motorcycle, five
dollars; on every automobile, twenty dollars; on every traction
engine, twenty-five dollars, and on every other vehicle not above
mentioned, one dollar.

7. The commissioner of the revenue of said county, upon the
order of said board of supervisors, shall, and hereby is, authorized
and empowered at the time of assessing and listing other personal
property in said district or districts, to list and assess any and all
of the above specified vehicles used or operated in said district
or districts in said county, for which service he shall receive two
and one-half percentum of the license tax collected under and
pursuant to the provisions of this act. The said license taxes shall
be collected by the treasurer of the said county at the same time
and in the same manner as other personal property taxes are
collected, for which services the said treasurer shall receive two
and one-half percentum of said license tax collected by him under
and pursuant to the provisions of this act. The said treasurer
shall have the same remedies to enforce the collection of said
license tax as is given county and city treasurers by statute for
the collection of personal property taxes.

8. The said treasurer and his sureties shall be liable for the
amount of money or taxes received under and pursuant to the
provisions of this act as though it were a county levy, and said
fund shall be expended for the purpose of construction, improve-
ment and maintenance of the public highways and bridges in the
magisterial district or districts, and for the purchase of road’
graders, scrapers, and all machinery, tools, wagons, carts and
teams and harness necessary for the proper construction, improve-
ment and maintenance of the roads and teidees in said district or
districts for which it was levied and intended, and none other;
and the said board of supervisors of the said county may direct
the treasurer to deposit the said funds collected under this act in
such bank or banks as it may approve to the credit of the said
treasurer, to be paid out on his checks therefor, and the rate of
interest to be specified, and all interest accrued therefrom shall
be accounted for by said treasurer and be expended for the purpose
of the said roads and bridges ‘in said district or districts.

9. One-tenth (1-10) of all the taxes collected by the said
treasurer under and pursuant to the provisions of this act shall
constitute a special or sinking fund, and shall be deposited by
said treasurer in such bank or banks as the said board may direct, .
and to the credit of the said treasurer, and saids funds annually,
and to be expended and paid out only every five years from date
of the adoption of this act, and only upon the checks of said
treasurer. The said special or sinking fund shall only be expended
for the permanent improvement of the roads or bridges in said
district or districts in conjunction with the State aid funds, and
under the supervision of the local road authorities and the State
highway commissioner, as provided by law. The local road
authorities of said district or districts may offer bids and be
awarded contract, or contracts for, on or behalf of said district or
districts.

10. The members of the board of supervisors from said district
or districts shall have the control, supervision, management, and
jurisdiction over all of the roads in said district or districts, and
the supervision of the expenditure of the said money on said roads
in said district or districts; but said funds shall only be paid out
on the warrant of the board of said county as if it were.a county
levy.

11. Such tax shall be applied only for the. construction,
improvement, and maintenance of the public roads and bridges
in said district or districts, and for the purchase of road graders,
scrapers, and all machinery, tools, wagons, carts, teams and harness
necessary for the proper construction, improvement, and mainte-
nance of the said roads and bridges in said district or districts for
which it was intended, and none other.

12. Notice of said election shall be posted for thirty days by
the clerk of the said board at the door of the courthouse of said
county, and at the voting precincts of said district or districts in
which said election is to be held. Said vehicles shall be licensed
only for one district in said county.

13. An emergency existing in order that the magisterial district
or districts in said county may vote upon the question of license
taxing vehicles, this act shall be in force from its passage.