SECTION 1. The City Council shall have power, by ordinance, to prescribe the form of assessment lists, and prescribe the duties and define the powers of assessors. They may also make such rules and give such directions in relation to revising, altering, or adding to the lists, as they may deem proper and expedient.
SECTION 2. The annual lists shall be returned by the assessor on or before the first Monday in August, in each year; but the time may be extended by order of the City Council, on the return thereof, the City Council shall fix a day for hearing objections thereto; and the Clerk shall give notice of the time and place of such hearing, by publication in the newspaper publishing the ordinances of the City; and any person feeling aggrieved by the assessment of his property, may appear at the tine specified and make his objections. The City Council shall have power to supply omissions in said assessment lists, and for the purpose of equalizing the same, to alter, to add, to take from, and otherwise correct and revise the same, or refer the same back to the assessor, with instructions to revise and correct the same.
SECTION 3. When the assessment lists have been corrected and revised, the same shall be filed, and an order confirming the same, and directing the warrant to be issued for the collection thereof, shall be entered by the Clerk. The City Council shall thereupon, by an ordinance or resolution, levy such sum or sums of money as may be sufficient for the several purposes for which taxes are herein authorized to be levied, not exceeding the authorized percentage.
SECTION 4. All taxes and assessments, levied or assessed by the City Council under this act or any ordinance in pursuance thereof, shall be a lien upon the real estate upon which the same may be imposed, voted or assessed, for two (2) years from and after the corrected assessment lists shall be confirmed or the passage of the order for assessment, and on personal estate from and after the delivery of the warrant for the collection thereof, until paid, and no sale or transfer shall affect the lien. Any personal property belonging to the debtor may be taken and sold for the payment of taxes on real or personal estate; and the real estate shall be liable for the taxes on personal estate in case of removal or when the tax cannot be made out of the personal estate, in the same manner as is prescribed by the laws of the state: Provided, that in case the collection of any assessment shall be delayed by injunction or other judicial proceeding, the same shall continue a lien upon the real estate for the period of two (2) years from and after the final disposition of such injunction or other judicial proceeding.
SECTION 6. All warrants issued for the collection of taxes or assessments shall be signed by the Mayor and Clerk, with the corporate seal thereto attached, and shall contain true and perfect copies of the corrected assessment lists, upon which the same may be issued. They shall be delivered to the collector for collection within thirty (30) days after the filing of the corrected lists, unless further time shall be given for this purpose by the City Council. If not otherwise paid, the collector shall have power to collect said taxes, with interest and costs, by suit, in the corporate name, or by distress and sale of personal property as aforesaid, after a demand and a refusal to pay the same: provided, a notice, published by the collector for ten (10) days, shall be deemed a demand; and a neglect to pay taxes, for twenty days thereafter, shall be deemed a refusal. The assessor’s lists shall, in all cases, be evidence on the part of the City.
SECTION 7. All taxes and assessments shall be collected by the collector in the same manner and with the same power and authority as is given by law to collectors of county and state taxes, He shall pay the same as fast as collected into the City Treasury, and his duty in regard to returning warrants and settling with the City, and his liability in case of default or misconduct shall be the same as prescribed by law in case of other collectors of taxes; Provided, the City Council shall have power to prescribe the powers, duties and liabilities of collectors by ordinance.
SECTION 8. In case of the nonpayment of any taxes or assessments, levied or assessed under this act, the premises nay be sold for the payment thereof at any time within two (2) years after the confirmation of the assessment by the City Council. Before any such sale an order shall be made by the City Council, which shall be entered at large in the journal or record kept by the Clerk, directing the collector to sell, particularly describing the delinquent premises to be sold and the assessment for which the sale shall be made; a certified copy of which order, under the corporate seal, signed by the Mayor or presiding officer, and Clerk, shall be delivered to the collector, which, together with the warrant, shall constitute the process upon which such sale may be made.
SECTION 9. The collector shall then advertise such premises in the corporate newspaper, or by posting notices in three public places within said City, for sale, at least twenty (20) days from, and after the first publication or posting of such notice, describing the premises by numbers, figures or otherwise, with the name of the owner, when known, and the several amounts of the taxes and assessments thereon and costs. Said notice shall also contain the tine and place of sale, and shall be published at each regular issue of said paper (if published therein) from the first insertion thereof unto the day of the sale. The proceedings may be stopped at any time on the payment of the taxes or assessments and interest, with expenses of advertising and other costs to such time incurred.
SECTION 10. All sales shall be conducted in the manner required by law, but the City Council shall have power to prescribe the manner of conducting the same. The sale shall be made for the smallest portion of ground to be taken from the east side of the premises for which any person will take the same and pay the taxes or assessments thereon with the interests and costs of sale. Duplicate certificates of sale shall be made and subscribed by the collector, one of which shall be delivered to the purchaser, and the other filed in the office of the Clerks in a book to be kept by the Clerk for such purpose, and may be in the form of an ordinary letter file. The said certificate shall contain the name of the purchaser, a description of the premises sold, the amount of taxes or assessments, with the interest and expenses for which the same was sold, and the time when the right to redeem will expire. The collector shall be allowed the same fees for selling as are allowed for similar services by Jai,:, or his fees may be regulated by ordinance. The Clerk shall keep a record of such sales, which shall be open to public inspection at all reasonable times.
SECTION 11. The right of redemption in all cases of sales (for) taxes or assessments, shall exist to the owner, his heirs, creditors or assignees, to the same extent as is allowed by law, in case of sales of real estate for taxes, on the payment, in legal tender funds, of double the amount for which the same was sold, and all taxes accruing subsequent to the sale, at the rate of ten (10) per cent per annum. If the real estate of any infant, femme covert, or lunatic, be sold under this act, the same may be redeemed at any time before or within one year after such disability is removed. In case of redemption, the money may be paid to the purchaser, or for him to the City Clerk, who shall make a special deposit thereof with the treasurer, taking his receipt therefore. If not redeemed according to law, upon return of the certificate or proof of its loss, the legal holder thereof shall be entitled to a deed conveying to said purchaser or his assignee the premises so sold and unredeemed, which deed shall be under the corporate seal and signed by the Mayor and countersigned by the City Clerk. An abstract of all deeds so made and delivered shall be entered by the Clerk in the book wherein tax sales are recorded. A fee of one dollar may be charged by the Clerk for any deed so issued.
SECTION 14. All deeds made to the purchasers of lots sold for taxes or assessments by order of the City Council, shall be prima facie evidence, in all controversies and suits in relation to the rights of the purchaser, his heirs or assignees, to the premises thereby conveyed, of the following facts:
First–That the land or lot conveyed was subject to taxation or assessment at the time the same was advertised for sale, and had been duly listed and assessed.
Second–That the taxes or assessments had not been paid at any time before the sale.
Third–That the land conveyed had not been redeemed from sale at the date of the deed.
And shall be conclusive evidence of the following facts:
First–That the land or lot was advertised for sale for the length of time and in the manner required by law, and was sold at a time and in a manner authorized by law.
Second–That the land or lot was sold for the taxes or assessments, as stated in the deed.
Third–That the grantee in the deed was the purchaser. And of the regularity of all other proceedings or acts, pertaining to the said listing, assessment (and) sale, and not herein specified, and in all controversies and suits involving the title to land claimed and held under or by virtue of such deed, the person or person claiming title adverse to the title conveyed by such creed shall be required to prove, in order to defeat the said title, either that the land was not subject to taxation or assessment at the date of the sale, that take said land has never been listed or assessed for taxation or assessment, that the taxes or assessments had been paid, or that the same had been redeemed according to law, and that such redemption was made for the use and benefit of the. person having the right of redemption under the laws of this state.