AN ACT providing for the preparation and use of maps for purposes of taxation in all taxing districts. BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey: municipal map for taxing purposes. Present maps examined as to adequacy. prepared. 13a. Sec. 1. Each city, borough, village and town shall Accurate provide for the use of the assessor or other taxing officials an accurate map of its territory, prepared for purposes of taxation, showing, among other things, the location and width of each street, road or avenue, and of each individual lot of land or premises, and cause each parcel or lot of land to be numbered or otherwise designated thereon, and it shall be a sufficient description of property for the purposes of taxation, to refer to the said map by lot and block number. Tax maps now in use or in course of preparation shall be inspected by the Board of Equalization of Taxes, and if in the judgment of said Board of Equalization any such map. is or can be made adequate for purposes of taxation, it shall continue to be used and be made adequate if necessary as directed by said board. The council or governing board New map of any city, borough, village or town not having a tax map, or having a map which is, in the judgment of the Board of Equalization of Taxes, inadequate, shall cause an adequate. tax map to be made. Such map shall be completed within two years and the work of preparing it shall be commenced within six months after the passage of this act. If the work When State is not commenced within this time, or is not continued so as to insure the completion of the map within two years, the Board of Equalization of Taxes may, upon notice to the governing body, cause such a map to be prepared or completed, and the expense thereof when certified by said board shall be a charge against the taxing district and be added to the tax levy of the succeeding year. (P. L. 1913, p. 314.)* 13b. Sec. 2. Where any township now has a surveyed tax Township map for use of its assessor, the Board of Equalization of Taxes shall cause such map to be inspected, and if, in the *The Board of Equalization of Taxes, referred to in this act, was superseded in 1915 by the State Board of Taxes and Assessment. board may order map made. maps. Preparation of township map. Local data supplied. Cost allowed. Open to inspection. Map corrected. judgment of said board, such map is adequate for purposes of taxation, it shall continue to be used, or shall be made adequate if necessary. If said map is not adequate or made so within six months the board shall proceed to prepare an outline map as provided in section three of this act. (P. L. 1913, p. 315.) 13c. Sec. 3. The Board of Equalization of Taxes may direct the preparation of a tax map substantially in the following manner for any township not having a surveyed tax map: The board shall cause to be made from the maps issued by the State Geological Survey, outline maps for the township, showing thereon the highways and streams on such scale as the board shall determine. Copies of such maps shall be transmitted to the county board of taxation and by that board to the assessor or other official charged with the duty of assessing property in said township. Such assessor shall indicate on such map, as nearly as may be, from his knowledge and from other information or inspection, the boundaries and area of each individual lot or parcel of land and designate each lot or parcel by a lot number or by such other identification number, letter or designation as may be prescribed by the Board of Equalization of Taxes. The compensation to be paid for such work shall be determined by the county board of taxation, but shall not exceed one hundred dollars without the approval of the Board of Equalization of Taxes. If unable to arrange with the assessor or other taxing official of said township to undertake the preparation of such a map, the county board of taxation shall cause such a map to be prepared by any competent person from records or other information without an actual survey. The cost of preparing such map when certified by the Board of Equalization of Taxes shall be a charge against the township and shall be included in the next tax levy. Said map shall be opened to public inspection at the county court house or some convenient place in the taxing district, or both, and opportunity given to taxpayers of the district to inspect the areas and dimensions of the respective parcels of property and to protest against errors. The county board of taxation after hearing complaints shall cause said map to be corrected in accordance with the facts. The each lot Board of Equalization of Taxes may thereafter, if satisfied that such map is substantially correct, issue its certificate. to that effect, and thereupon such map shall be used by the assessor or other taxing official of the township in the assessment of property in the township for purposes of taxation. Each lot or parcel of property shall be described on the tax Description of list and duplicate by such lot and block or other identifica- given. tion number, letter or designation, as shall be given it on the tax map, and such description, with the approximate area, and name of owner or reputed owner, if known, or if unknown, so stated shall be a sufficient description for purposes of taxation. Such maps shall be corrected annually by the county board of taxation. mapped within five years. The preparation of such tax maps shall be commenced Whole State first in such townships as the Board of Equalization of Taxes shall determine, and be continued so that all districts in the State shall be supplied with maps within five years from the passage of this act. (P. L. 1913, p. 315.) Notice of inprepare map. tention to 13d. Sec. 4. Before ordering the preparation of a tax map for any township as provided in section three of this act, the Board of Equalization of Taxes shall give notice to the governing body of the township, and if within thirty days the governing body shall declare its intention to ask the voters to approve the preparation of a surveyed map, the Board of Equalization of Taxes shall defer work on the outline map. The governing body of the township shall then submit the Referendum. question whether a map shall be prepared by survey, for the entire township or for a specified part or parts thereof, and an appropriation sufficient therefor, to the qualified voters of the township at the next general election. If a majority of the voters then approve the preparation of said map, work shall be commenced within six months and maps shall be completed within two years, and if not so commenced or completed may be prepared by the Board of Equalization in the manner prescribed in section one of this act. If the governing body of any township fails to submit the question to the voters, or if the voters do not approve the preparation of a surveyed map, and appropriation therefor, the Board of Equalization shall thereupon proceed to when State board may prepare map. Surveyed map. All maps in control of State board. Repealer. Duplicates of Bond issue to pay for maps. prepare a map in the form prescribed in section two of this. act. (P. L. 1913, p. 317.) 13e. Sec. 5. The Board of Equalization of Taxes may direct the preparation of surveyed maps for such portions of townships as in its judgment cannot be mapped with sufficient accuracy for purposes of taxation without a survey, and in such case all the provisions of section one of this act shall apply, and it shall be the duty of the governing body of the township to cause such maps to be prepared. (P. L. 1913, p. 317.) 13f. Sec. 6. The Board of Equalization of Taxes shall have full control over the preparation, maintenance and revision of all tax maps however prepared, and may prescribe such rules as will insure the periodical revision and provide for the safekeeping of original maps either in custody of the taxing district or by the county tax board as in any case may best serve the public convenience and insure the accuracy and safety of the maps, and the board may direct the furnishing of duplicates by blue prints or otherwise at the charge of the taxing district to assessors and taxing officials. (P. L. 1913, p. 318.) 13g. Sec. 7. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith be and the same are hereby repealed and this act shall take effect immediately. (P. L. 1913, p. 318.) 13h. Sec. 1. On or before the first day of January of each year there shall be filed in the office of the county clerk, or the register of deeds where such office exists, duplicates by blue prints or otherwise of all tax maps approved by the State Board of Equalization during the year then past, at the charge of the taxing district for which said maps have been made; and it shall be the duty of the officials having the custody of the original to secure and file such duplicates. (Supplement of 1915, P. L. 1915, p. 212, to P. L. 1913, p. 314; pars. 13a to 13g, supra.) 131. Sec. 1. It shall be lawful for any city, borough, village, town, township or other taxing district, in lieu of including the cost of any map made pursuant to an act of the Legislature entitled "An act providing for the preparation and use of maps for purposes of taxation in all taxing districts," approved April first, one thousand nine hundred and thirteen, in the next tax levy, to issue a bond or bonds in the manner now provided by law for the issuance of bonds, for a sufficient sum or sums to pay the cost of preparing such map. (Supplement of 1915, P. L. 1915, p. 349, to P. L. 1913, p. 314; pars. 13a to 13g, supra.) 13j. Sec. 1. Hereafter it shall be unnecessary to provide for the preparation and use of maps for purposes of taxation in townships having a population of less than twenty-five hundred inhabitants as shown by the last State or Federal census, nor shall the State Board of Taxes and Assessments cause such maps to be prepared in such townships. (Supplement of 1918, P. L. 1918, p. 80, to P. L. 1913, p. 314; pars. 13a to 13g, supra.) Tax maps unnecessary in certain townships. mortgages. 14. Sec. 402. No mortgage or debt secured by mortgage Taxation of on real property which is taxed in this State shall be listed for taxation; and no deduction from the assessed value of real property shall be made by the assessor on account of any mortgage debt, but the mortgagor or owner of the property paying the tax on mortgaged real property shall be entitled to credit on the interest payable on the mortgage for so much of the tax as is equal to the tax rate applied to the amount due on the mortgage, except where the parties have otherwise agreed, or where the mortgage is an investment of funds not subject to taxation, or where the parties have lawfully agreed that no deduction shall be made from the taxable value of the lands by reason of the mortgage. Bonds issued by any railroad company of any state shall be exempt from taxation while owned by any savings bank or institution for savings of this State. (P. L. 1918, p. 861.) Validity of former act.—The act of April 17, 1876, providing that the owners of lands within certain counties and cities may agree not to apply for any deduction, by reason of any mortgage, from the taxable valuation of such lands embraced in the mortgage, and that upon claiming a deduction in violation of the agreement the mortgage shall immediately become due, does not conflict with art. 4, sec. 7, par. 12 of the constitution, declaring that property shall be assessed for taxes under general laws and by uniform rules, because P. L. 1876, p. 160, supplemental to the tax act of 1846, providing that debts secured by mortgage shall not be assessed for taxation, unless the owner of the land applies for a deduction, is a general law, Bonds held banks. by savings |