An Act to amend and reenact § 46.1-299, as amended, of the Code of Virginia, relating to devices signalling intention to turn or stop and rules therefor.
Volume 1968 Law 99
Volume | 1936 |
---|---|
Law Number | 437 |
Subjects |
Law Body
Chap. 437.-An ACT to amend and re-enact section 1771 of the Code of Virginia,
as heretofore amended, relating to assessment tax roll and amount to be
assessed ; collection of assessments and sale of lands to pay delinquent assess-
ments in drainage districts. [H B 499]
Approved March 30, 1936
1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That section
seventeen hundred and seventy-one of the Code of Virginia, as hereto-
fore amended, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:
Section 1771. Assessment tax roll and amount to be assessed; col-
lection of assessments and sale of lands to pay delinquent assess-
ments.—After the contract for the work of construction of the im-
provement has been let, the county board drainage commissioner shall
ascertain the total cost of the improvement, including damages awarded
to be paid to owners of land, all costs of incidental expenses, and
including a reasonable attorney’s fee to counsel for petitioners for con-
ducting the proceedings on behalf of the petitioners, the amount of such
fee to be fixed by the court, and also including an amount sufficient
to pay the necessary expenses of maintaining the improvement for a
period of three years after the completion of the work of construc-
tion, after deducting therefrom any special assessments made against
any railroad or highway, and thereupon the county board drainage
commissioners, under the hand of the chairman and secretary of the
board, shall certify to the clerk of the circuit court the said total cost,
ascertained as aforesaid; and the said certificate shall forthwith be
recorded in the drainage record and open to inspection of any land-
owner in the district.
The county board drainage commissioners, with the assistance of
the engineer, shall immediately prepare, in duplicate, the assessment
rolls, or drainage tax lists, giving thereon the name of the owners of
land in the district, so far as can be ascertained from the public records,
or, if necessary, from the survey made by the drainage engineer a brief
description of the several tracts of land assessed, designating each by
the number shown on the classification map, and the amount of the
assessment against each tract of land. The first of these assessment
rolls shall provide assessments sufficient for the payment of interest
on the bond issue to accrue the third year after their issue, and the
instalment of principal to fall due at the expiration of the third year
after the date of issue, together with such amounts as shall have to be
paid for collecting and handling of the same. The second assessment
roll shall make like provision for the fourth year; the third for the
fifth year; and in like manner for each succeeding year, and in each
year commencing with the maturity of the bonds, the tax levied shall
be one hundred and ten per centum of the maturing principal and
interest on the bonds, in this manner providing for the payment of
maturing principal and interest on the bonds one year in advance;
provided, however, that when the sum actually collected on any such
assessment shall be more than sufficient to pay the said principal and
interest for the next succeeding year, a proper allowance for such
surplus shall be made in the following assessment, and the percentage
may be reduced accordingly. Each of said assessment rolls shall specify
the times when collectible, and be numbered in their order, and the
amount assessed against the several tracts of land shall be in ac-
cordance with the benefits received, as shown by the classification of
ratio of assessments made by the board of reviewers. These assess-
ment rolls shall be signed by the chairman of the county board drainage
commissioners and by the secretary of the board. One copy of each of the
said assessment rolls shall be filed with the drainage record and one
copy shall be delivered to the county treasurer, or treasurers of the
county or counties in which the lands are located, after the clerk of
the circuit court in which the petition was filed has appended thereto
an order directing the collection of said assessments, and the said clerk
is hereby authorized and directed to make and append said order, and
the said assessments shall thereupon have the force and effect of a
judgment as in the case of State and county taxes. These assessments
shall constitute a lien upon the lands assessed with the payment thereof,
second only to State, county and district taxes and levies and shall be
collected in the same manner by the same officers as the State and
county taxes are collected. The said assessments shall be due and pay-
able on the first Monday in September in each year, and if the same
shall not be paid in full by the thirty-first day of December following,
they shall be delinquent and shall be entered as such by the treasurer
of the county in which the lands whereon the assessments are delinquent
are located, on his copy of the said assessment rolls, which entry shall
be notice of the lien of any such delinquent assessment to the same
extent as the entry of lands in the delinquent tax books is notice of
the lien thereon. From the date of delinquency of any assessment it
shall bear interest at the legal rate, and a penalty of five per centum
of the assessment shall be added thereto.
If any assessment be delinquent for more than a year, the treasurer
of the county within which the land assessed lies, shall, after the ex-
piration of such year, proceed to sell the said land by having notice of
such intended sale served on the record owner of the said land, if he be
a resident of this State and his whereabouts herein be known, as
process is served in actions at law, by publishing the notice of such
sale in a newspaper published or having general circulation in his
county, and by posting the notice at the courthouse door, such service,
publication and posting to be not less than thirty days in advance of
the date set for the sale; such publication and posting shall be suf-
ficient notice of the sale to all parties in interest except the said owner
resident in this State. Such notice with the return thereon, if it be
served, and the certificate of the treasurer setting forth the date and
medium of publication shall be filed. by the said treasurer in his office.
If the land upon which assessments are delinquent lies in more than
one county, the treasurer. of each county shall sell the portion lying
therein. :
The sale of said lands for failure to pay such assessments shall be
made at the courthouse door of the county in which the lands are
situated, between the hours of ten o'clock in the forenoon and four
o’clock in the afternoon of the first Monday in February of each year;
and if for any necessary cause the sale cannot be made on that date, the
sale may be continued from day to day for not exceeding four days,
or the lands may be re-advertised and sold on the first Monday in
March succeeding during the same hours without any order therefor.
The existing general tax law in force when sales are made for
delinquent assessments shall have application in redeeming lands so
sold, and in all other respects, except as to the time of sale of lands,
the existing law as to the collection of State and county taxes shall
apply to the collection of such drainage assessments. If the county
treasurer for any reason fail to make sale of any lands on the first
Monday in February or March in any year, he may sell the same upon
the first Monday of any subsequent month in the same year or any
succeeding year after giving notice as required by law. No bid at any
sale shall be received unless sufficient in amount to discharge all the
drainage assessments and other charges due by the delinquent lands or
owner thereof, together with all costs and expenses of sale. If no
sufficient bid be received, the county board drainage commissioners
of the county in which the petition was filed shall be deemed the pur-
chaser in its corporate capacity at a sum sufficient to pay all assess-
ments which are due, and costs, as above stated, and shall be entitled
to receive a certificate of purchase and deed in the manner provided
by law for purchases at tax sales. The county board drainage com-
missioners shall only be required to pay the costs and expenses of sale
before receiving a certificate of purchase, and no lands shall be sub-
sequently sold for drainage assessments while the county board drain-
age commissioners holds a certificate of purchase or deed therefor.
The county board drainage commissioners in their corporate capac-
ity shall be in like position and have the same rights and be subject
to the same duties as the purchaser of lands at any tax sale under the
general law. The owner of said lands so sold or any person having
an estate therein or having a lien thereon, may redeem the same in the
manner provided by law; and if the county board drainage commis-
sioners shall have been the purchaser of said lands, the amount paid
in redemption shall include the sum bid therefor plus the penalty.
When the period of redemption has expired the county board drainage
commissioners shall pay to the treasurer or treasurers of the county
or counties in which the lands lie, the balance of the amount repre-
senting its bid at the sale of the said lands and any accumulated assess-
ments on said lands, before it or its assigns shall be entitled to a deed
therefor. The county board drainage commissioners, after acquiring a
deed for said lands, may hold the same as an asset of the district of
which said lands are a part, and shall be liable for the payment of all
drainage assessments and State and county taxes accruing after the
sale at which the district was a bidder, and in all respects be deemed
the owner of said lands and subject to the same privileges and liabili-
ties as any other landowner, including the right to convey the said
lands for a consideration and pay the proceeds of said sale to the
county treasurer for the credit of the district, of which said lands are
a part, which may be distributed by the county drainage commissioners
for the benefit of said district in the same manner as other district
funds.
The sale of lands for failure to pay such assessments, and the col-
lection of such assessments, except as herein provided, shall be in ac-
cordance with general law as to the collection of State and county
taxes.
If no objection be made in any sale of land under this section
within thirty days after the date of sale, and the purchase price has
been paid, the clerk of the circuit court of the county wherein the land
lies shall convey, by special warranty, deed to the purchaser the land
sold, receiving therefor the fee provided by law for the conveyance of
land sold for delinquent taxes. Such conveyances shall be indefeasible
to the same extent as a conveyance by a special commissioner acting
under court appointment, and all persons having actual or constructive.
notice of the sale shall be precluded by such conveyance from there- .
after objecting to the sale.
It shall be the duty of the treasurer of the county in which the
land is located and without any previous order from the county board
drainage commissioners, out of the amount received by him as afore-
said, to provide and pay the instalment of interest at the time and
place as evidenced by the coupons attached to said bonds, and also to
pay the annual instalments of the principal due on said bonds at the
time and place as evidenced by the said bonds; namely, so far as they
affect and are liens by virtue of this chapter, upon the lands in his
county, and any county treasurer shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, if
he shall wilfully fail to make prompt payments of the said interest and
principal upon said bonds, and shall likewise be liable in a civil action
for all damages which may accrue either to the county board drainage
commissioners or the holder of said bonds, to either or both of which
a right of action is hereby given.
If at any time before or after the preparation of said assessment
rolls or drainage tax lists the owners of any lands within the boundary
of the drainage district, which are liable for assessments or are as-
sessed, should sell the whole or part of said lands, the county board
drainage commissioners, together with the assistance of the drainage
engineer of the district, or any other competent drainage engineer,
having due regard for the class, or classes in which the said land or
part thereof was placed by the board of viewers, as shown by the classi-
fication map of the district, shall so prepare or change the assessment
rolls to provide for the change in liability due to the change of owner-
ship of said lands or part thereof. The new owner’s name shall be
added to the assessment roll and shall thereafter be liable for the drain-
age assessment upon that portion of the land purchased.