As Amended 1895-6, p. 850. Previous Amendment 1895-6, p. 153. As Amended 1897-8, p. 846. thereby depriving the commonwealth of its just dues which should be promptly turned into her coffers; and Whereas it is right and proper that the sureties of all such treasurers, as well as tax-payers of the state, should be apprised of the true facts in connection therewith; therefore 1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the auditor of public accounts be and he is hereby required to have made from the books in his office annually, at the end of the fiscal year, commencing with the thirtieth day of September, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, a statement showing the condition of the accounts of every county or city treasurer of the commonwealth who is in arrears to the state in his collections therefor, giving the year of such delinquency; and it shall be the duty of the said auditor to transmit, within thirty days thereafter, a copy of such statement to the clerk of each county or city wherein such treasurer resides or holds his office, respectively, and it shall be the duty of every such clerk to make a copy of the same without delay and post upon the front door of his court-house, and place the original on file in his office, where it may be conveniently examined by any tax-payer so desiring, and he shall allow any newspaper desiring to publish the same to make a copy of it. Sec. 605. Treasurers to return lists of uncollectible taxes and delinquents. The treasurer, after ascertaining which of the taxes and levies assessed in his county or city cannot be collected, shall, not later than the first day of July in each year, make out lists of three classes, to-wit: First, a list of property on the commissioner's land book improperly placed thereon or not ascertainable, with the amount of taxes and levies charged on such property; secondly, a list of other real estate which is delinquent for the non-payment of the taxes and levies thereon; and thirdly, a list of such of the taxes and levies so assessed other than on real estate as he is unable to collect, except that in the counties of Accomac and Northampton it shall be lawful for the treasurers of said counties to make such lists at any time prior to the first day of December of any year. Sec. 606. Form of list; oath.-In the lists mentioned in the preceding section the names of the persons charged with the taxes and levies shall be placed alphabetically. The list mentioned "secondly" shall be in the following form: And the treasurer returning such list shall, at the foot thereof, subscribe the following oath : "I, A B, treasurer (or deputy treasurer) of the county (or city) of do swear that the foregoing list is, I verily believe, correct and just; that I have received no part of the taxes or levies for which the real estate therein mentioned is returned delinquent; that there is no timber on any part of the respective tracts of land which might have been sold for said taxes; that I have endeavored to rent out the respective tracts and lots of land publicly after due advertisement, and failing in that privately as required by law, and have been unable to do so; that there was and is no tenant upon any of the respective lots and tracts of land from whom said taxes could or can be collected; and that I have otherwise used due diligence to find property within my county (or city) liable to distress for said taxes or levies, and have found none. Sec. 613. [83 Va. 94.] Amendment 1887-8, p. 338. Sec. 614. Their compensation for receiving and disbursing levies.— As Amended 1887-8, p. 543. The county treasurer shall be allowed for his services in receiving and disPrevious bursing the county and school levies, including all moneys collected by order of the county authorities for any purpose, and the city treasurer shall be allowed for his service in receiving and disbursing the city and school levies (where he is the collector of such levies) the same rate of compensation allowed by the preceding section for receiving and paying over the revenues, except that on all amounts over fifteen thousand dollars he shall be allowed three per centum, and in the county of Pittsylvania the board of supervisors of said county may fix the compensation of the treasurers of said county. But upon all funds turned over by any outgoing county treasurer his successsor for receiving and disbursing said funds shall have not more than two per centum commission. Sec. 615. Auditor to deliver lists of delinquent treasurers to attor - As Amended 1895-6, p. 119. ney-general, who shall proceed against them and their sureties; copy of notice to be recorded where treasurer or sureties has estate, and indexed. On or before the first day of January and the first day of July of each year the auditor of public accounts shall make out and deliver to the attorney-general a list of all the treasurers who have failed to make the statements or pay the sums required by section six hundred and four, and such lists, where the failure is to pay, shall specify the amount due from each of the said treasurers, and shall also specify the names of their sureties, respectively. It shall be the duty of the attorney-general to proceed forthwith against the treasurers in default and their sureties for the recovery of the amounts due from such treasurers, respectively, and the interest thereon, prescribed by section six hundred and eighteen. The proceedings may be by motion, on notice, in the circuit court of the city of Richmond. Copies of such notice, certified by the clerk of the said court, shall be forthwith sent by the attorneygeneral to the clerks of the county and corporation courts of any county or city wherein it is ascertained that the treasurer or his sureties proceeded against has any estate, and the clerk to whom any such copy is so sent shall record it as a deed is required by law to be recorded, and index the same as well in the name of the commonwealth as of the treasurer and his sureties, each respectively. Sec. 616. Lien of judgment and execution against treasurer and As Amended sureties. A judgment in such proceeding, recovered against the treas- 1895-6, p. 119. urer or against the treasurer and sureties, jointly or severally, shall be a lien on all his or their real estate in any county or city of or to which he As Amended 1897-8, p. 931. Previous Amendments 1889-90, p. 13. 1893-4, p. 608. 1895-6, p. 154. As Amended 1893-4, p. 524. or they respectively shall be possessed or entitled at or after the time such notice is recorded and indexed as aforesaid in such county or city; and an execution sued out on such judgment and placed in the hands of an officer to be executed shall bind all the personal estate of such treasurer and sureties, jointly and severally, respectively, of or to which he or they, each respectively, shall be possessed or entitled at or after the time the said notice is recorded and indexed as aforesaid and before the return day of such execution; except that as against an assignee for valuable consideration of any of said personal estate which is not capable of being levied on under an execution, or as against a person making a payment to such treasurer, the lien of the execution by virture of this section shall not affect such assignee or person making payment unless he had notice of the execution or of the pendency of said proceeding at the time of the assignment or payment, as the case may be. Sec. 618. [83 Va. 94.] Sec. 622. What may be distrained for taxes and levies.-Any goods or chattels in the county or corporation belonging to the person or estate assessed with taxes or levies may be distrained therefor by the treasurer, sheriff, sergeant, constable, or collector. In all cases property subject to levy or distress for taxes shall be liable to levy or distress in the hands of any person for taxes thereon. Any timber or wood growing on the land belonging to the person or estate assessed with taxes or levies may be distrained and sold so far as necessary to pay the amount of such taxes and levies and expenses of sale, and shall be sold standing, in the manner prescribed for the sale of goods or chattels other than mules, oxen, and horses under distress or levy for taxes, and the purchaser shall have the right to cut and carry away such wood or timber, but shall not haul the same over any lands occupied at the time by growing crops. Any real estate in the county or corporation belonging to the person or estate assessed with taxes or levies, or so much thereof as may be necessary to pay the taxes or levies due on such real estate, may be rented or leased by the treasurer, sergeant, or collector at public outcry, at the front door of the court-house of the county or corporation in which such real estate is situated, after giving thirty days' notice by printed or written notices posted at the front door of said court-house and at three or more places in the neighborhood of the real estate to be rented. Such renting shall be for a term not exceeding one year and for cash sufficient to pay the taxes or levies due on the real estate so rented. The treasurer, sergeant, or collector renting such real estate shall put the lessee in possession thereof, and for such purpose shall have like powers as those exercised by a sheriff acting under a writ of possession. Sec. 625. Where land lies partly in one county and partly in another county or corporation, how distress made; where residence of owner is in a different county or corporation or tax-payer moves out of the county or corporation, how taxes and levies collected.-Where taxes or levies are assessed on a tract of land lying partly in one county and partly in another county or corporation the treasurer of the county or corporation in which the taxes or levies are so assessed may distrain on the part of the land lying in the other county or corporation in the same manner as if such part was in his own county or corporation; and when the land or other property is in a county or corporation different from that of the residence of the owner, or where a person assessed with any taxes or levies before paying the same removes from the county or corporation in which the assessment was made, the treasurer shall have the same remedies for the collection of all such taxes and levies in all respects as if the person owing the taxes and levies resided in the officer's own county or corporation, or the said treasurer may transfer to the treasurer of the county or corporation in which such person resides the tickets for taxation and levies against such person or property, and the last-named officer shall proceed to collect the same and pay the proceeds to the former officer, and the commission for collecting the said tickets shall in such case be shared equally by the said officers. Sec. 633. "Collector" defined.-Whenever the word "collector" is As Amended 1887-8, p 16. used in this chapter it shall be construed to mean a collector appointed under section six hundred and nineteen; and nothing contained in this chapter in conflict with any provision of the charter of any city shall be construed to repeal such provision. CHAPTER XXVIII. MODE IN WHICH LANDS RETURNED DELINQUENT FOR TAXES ARE SOLD, or Sec. 637. Clerks to deliver to treasurers copy of list of delinquent As Amended real estate; treasurers to post the same, with notice of sale of lands 1893-4, p. 403. for taxes, levies, &c., attached.-The clerk of each county and corporation or hustings court, and the clerk of the council of each town, shall, at the time he certifies to the auditor of public accounts a list of real estate delinquent for the non-payment of taxes and levies thereon, make a copy of the same and deliver it to the treasurer of his county or city. Within thirty days after receiving such copy from the clerk the treasurer, if he be an officer of a city, shall post a printed copy thereof in at least five public places in each ward of his city; if the treasurer be the officer of a county, he shall post a copy at the front door of the court-house of his county on the first day of a county court and also a printed copy in at least five public places in each magisterial district in said county, and the said treasurers may distribute in other ways in their respective cities and towns such additional printed copies as they may deem proper to secure general publicity of the time and place of sale of the lands therein mentioned as delinquent. But in lieu of posting these printed copies in the districts of a county or the wards of a city the auditor of public accounts may direct a copy of said list to be inserted once in a newspaper published in said county or city. The expense of this printing shall be apportioned among the delinquents according to the amount of taxes and levies due by them respectively. To each copy thus posted and published the treasurer shall attach a notice that the real estate therein mentioned, or so much thereof as may be necessary to satisfy the taxes, levies, interest, costs, and charges due thereon, will be sold at public auction on the first day of the following November or December court between the hours of ten in the morning and four in the afternoon in front of the court-house unless the amount for which said lands are delinquent, together with the interest, costs, and charges, shall have been previously paid to such treas urer. Sec. 642. [88 Va. 259.] Sec. 642 a. To require treasurers to report the payment of delinquent taxes made before sale to clerk of court, and such clerk to endorse such payment on delinquent list in his office.-The treasurer of each county and city shall immediately after the sale made of any lands delinquent for taxes or levies furnish to the clerk of his county or corporation court, as the case may be, a list of all persons whose lands had been 1895-6, p. 489. As Amended returned delinquent and who had paid such delinquent taxes and levies to such treasurer prior to such sale, and such clerk shall immediately endorse such payment on the delinquent list filed in his office for the corresponding year opposite the name of the tax-payer whose land had been returned delinquent. Sec. 650. Who may redeem lands; within what time and upon what terms.-The owner of any such real estate so sold, his heirs or 1889-90, p. 106. assigns, or any person having the right to charge such real estate with a debt, may redeem the same by paying to the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, within two years from the day of sale, the whole amount paid by said purchaser and any such additional taxes, levies, costs, and charges as may have been paid by him since the sale, with interest at the rate of six per centum per annum on the amount so paid. As Amended Sec. 653. Purchaser of part of tract, &c., to have same surveyed ; 1893-4, p. 473. Previous how survey made; plat to be returned to court and recorded.—The Amendment purchaser of a part of any tract or lot of land so sold and not redeemed within 1889-90, p. 107. the said two years his heirs or assigns shall have the quantity purchased surveyed and laid off at his expense by the surveyor of the county if it be in a county or town therein; if it be within the corporate limits of any city, by the surveyor of such city; or where there is no surveyor of such county or city, then by some person to be appointed by the court of the county or city for that purpose, the said surveyor to commence on either of the lines of the tract or lot, at the option of the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, so as not to include the improvements on the same if it can be avoided and to be in one body, the length whereof shall not be more than double the breadth where that is practicable. A plat and certificate of the survey shall be returned to the court of the county or city, and if the court, upon examination thereof, find it to be made in conformity with this section it shall order the same to be recorded. As Amended 1893-4, p. 473. Previous Amendment Sec. 654. When entire tract sold what report surveyor to make.— When an entire tract of land is sold and not redeemed within the said two 1889-90, p. 107. years the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, at his expense shall have a report made to the court of the county or city by such surveyor or other person as is provided for in the preceding section, specifying the metes and bounds of the land sold, the names of the owners of the adjoining tracts or lots, and giving such further description of the land sold as will identify the same, and the county or corporation court, unless it see some objection to such report, shall order the same to be recorded. As Amended 1893-4, p. 473. Previous Amendment Sec. 656. Where clerk is purchaser deed to be made by commissioner. When the clerk is a purchaser the deed for the land purchased 1889-90, p. 107. by him shall be executed by a commissioner appointed by the circuit court of the county or circuit or corporation court of the corporation wherein the land is situaded. As Amended 1893-4, p. 473. Previous Amendment Sec. 660. If deed not made in time further time allowed owner to redeem. If no such deed or order of court be made under this chapter 1889-90, p. 108. within one year after the expiration of the said two years the former owner, his heirs or assigns, may, after such year and before such deed or order is made, redeem the land by paying such amount, with such additional taxes and levies and such interest as is mentioned in section six hundred and fifty, together with the costs of the survey or report (and interest thereon) if any has been made. Sec. 661. [2 Va. L. R. 563.] |