Chap. 23. An ACT to amend and re-enact section 39 of an act entitled “An
act to provide a new charter for the town of Vinton, Virginia, and to repeal
all acts or parts of acts in conflict therewith,’ approved March 30, 1936,
the said section relating to the levy and collection of taxes in the said As
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Approved January 14, 1937

I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That section
thirty-nine of an act entitled an act to provide a new charter for the
town of Vinton, Virginia, and to repeal all acts or parts of acts in con-
flict therewith, approved March thirtieth, nineteen hundred and thirty-
six, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 39. 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.

(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 Vinton is authorized to and shall
annually order a town levy for so much, as in their opinion is neces-
sary to be raised in that way, in addition to what may be received 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 persons 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 under general law.

It is hereby expressly provided that said council shall, in its dis-
cretion, be authorized to fix such annual levy on property subject to
taxation in the town of Vinton, for town purposes, without any limit
as to the rate thereof, any provision 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 purposes
of State taxation at a higher rate than is or may be permitted by the
general laws relating thereto. ,

(d) That all taxes, whether general or special, assessed upon any
land or lot in said town, are hereby declared to constitute a lien upon
such land or lot, as to general taxes and levies from the commencement
of the year for which they were assessed, and as to special taxes and
levies from the time assessed, and if the treasurer of said town shall
not be able, with due diligence, to collect the said taxes by the first day
of August of the year after the same were assessed, he shall make out
lists of such as cannot be collected, in the same manner as county treas-
urers are required to do in cases of delinquent State taxes, and present
said lists to the said council at its first regular meeting thereafter. The
said council shall examine said lists, and if approved, shall credit the
said treasurer with the amount of same, and shall have its clerk certify
a copy of said list to the county clerk of Roanoke county, to be by him
recorded in the current delinquent land book, provided for the record
of delinquent taxes on real estate due the State, and shall also certily
a copy of the said list to the treasurer of Roanoke county, to be used
by said treasurer in accordance with the law regulating the sale of de-
linquent lands, and in the said book there shall also be columns for
the entering of the names of purchasers and the amount and date of
sales of the real estate sold by the said county treasurer for delinquent
taxes due the said town. This record shall be held as notice of the lien
thereof, and the said real estate shall be liable for such tax as against
creditors and purchasers, or other persons into whose hands the said
real estate may pass. The said clerk shall be entitled for each entry of
lots in said record book to a fee of ten cents, and a fee of ten cents for
the entry of each name of purchasers, with date of sales, to be paid
by the town of Vinton, and a fee of twenty-five cents for each redemp-
tion entered, to be paid by the person redeeming the same, and to be
charged against and be a lien upon said land, along with the taxes and
levies against same. When the county treasurer sells the land for non-
payment of State taxes due the State, he shall include in such taxes the
amount due the town, and he shall collect and account for same,
except where the State is the purchaser. If the land is not delin-
quent for State taxes he shall, nevertheless, sell for the town taxes. The
sales and report of sales and confirmation of same shall be in all respects
in accordance with the law connected with and regulating the sales of
delinquent lands for the non-payment of State taxes, and the said coun-
cil shall charge the said treasurer with whatever may be due from him
on account of said sales, less a commission of ten per centum to the
said treasurer. No land or lot, or parts thereof, shall be sold for less
than the amount of taxes, levies, interest, penalties and costs, and 1f no
bids shall be received at such sale for said amount and the Common-
wealth is not the purchaser, the same shall be bid in and purchased
by the said treasurer for the said town, in which event the treasure1
shall execute to the said town a certificate of sale, in which the descrip-
tion and local situation of the property, the name of the person as-
sessed with same, the amount of taxes, levies, interest, penalties and
costs, and the date of sale, shall be specified and shall deliver the same
to the clerk of the council to be by him preserved, and also to the
county clerk of Roanoke county, to be by him recorded in said book.
Any one having the right to redeem said land may redeem same within
the time allowed by law, for the redemption of real estate sold for
delinquent taxes due the State, by paying to the county clerk of Roanoke
county the taxes, levies, penalties, interest and costs due upon said
land. At the expiration of the time within which the said real estate
may be redeemed, as provided by law for the redemption of real estate
sold for delinquent taxes due the State, if same has not been redeemed,
a deed shall be executed to the purchaser other than the town of Vin-
ton by the county clerk of Roanoke county, according to the ‘provisions
of the statute law, providing for the execution of deeds to purchasers
of delinquent lands sold for State taxes. The council for the said
town shall, after four months from the expiration of the time for the
redemption of such real estate as it may have under the terms of this
charter prescribed, have recorded in the deed book of the clerk’s office
of the county clerk of Roanoke county, the certificate of sale made by
the county treasurer and hereinbefore referred to, with the oath of
the said county clerk attached thereto, that the said real estate has not
been redeemed; and thereupon the said town of Vinton shall acquire
an absolute title to same; provided, that four months’ notice of its in-
tention to have such certificate recorded, shall be given to all persons
having the right to redeem the said real estate; and any one having
such right may redeem the same at any time before the expiration of
said four months. The said certificate, or record thereof, or a certified
copy thereof, shall be evidence of the facts therein stated, in all courts
and other places of this Commonwealth; provided, however, that the
failure to obtain or record such certificate shall not affect the lien of
the town of Vinton for the taxes assessed against such real estate,
but the said town may, at any time, elect to enforce its lien for taxes
in a court of equity, and release its rights as purchaser or to become
a purchaser of said real estate. The said council shall have the right
to impose a penalty of five per centum upon all taxes and levies not
paid by December first of the year in which the same are assessed.

(e) If the commissioner of revenue ascertains that any person
or any real or personal property, or income, or salary, has not been
assessed for town taxation 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 mot 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.

(f) The provisions of sub-sections (d) and (e) of section thirty-
nine of this charter, insofar as applicable, shall apply to the assessment
and collection, and to the administration of the assessment and collec-
tion, of taxes on personal property and all classes thereof.

(g) 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.

A tenant by whom payment is made or from whom payment is
obtained, by distress or otherwise, of taxes or levies due the town, by
a person under whom he holds, shall have credit for the same against
such person out of the rents he may owe him, except when the tenant
is bound to pay such taxes and levies by an express contract with such
person. And where taxes or levies are paid to the town by any
fiduciary on any estate in his hands, or for which he may be liable,
such taxes and levies shall be refunded out of the said estate.