SECTION 1. All funds in the city treasury except school, state and county funds shall be under the control of the common council, and shall be drawn upon the order of the mayor countersigned by the clerk, duly authorized by vote of the common council, and in no other manner, and all orders drawn upon the treasury shall specify the purpose for which they were drawn, and shall be payable generally out of any funds in the treasury belonging to the city. All orders shall be made payable to the person in whose favor they may be drawn or to the order thereof.
SECTION 2. No debt shall be contracted against the city or order drawn on the treasury unless the same be authorized by a majority of the common council and the vote authorizing the same entered upon the journal of the council and no money shall be appropriated for any purpose whatever except such as is expressly authorized by this act; nor shall the amount to be raised in any one year for the general city purposes, other than state, county or school taxes, exceed one and one half per centum of the taxable property of said city as shown by the next previous assessment.
SECTION 3. All forfeitures and penalties accruing to the city for a violation of this act or any of the ordinances, by-laws, rules and regulations of the city, and all moneys received for licenses shall be paid into the city treasury and become a part of the general fund, except as otherwise provided by this act; no penalty or judgment recovered in favor of the city shall be remitted or discharged except by a vote of three-fourths of all the members of the common council.
SECTION 4. All property, real or personal, within the city, except such as may be exempt by the laws of the state, shall be subject to annual taxation for the purposes of the city government and the payment of its debts and liability and the same shall be assessed in the manner hereinafter provided. The assessor appointed or elected under this act shall have and possess the same powers and perform the same duties and receive the same compensation as are or may be hereafter conferred upon township assessors except as they may be altered by this act; provided, that the common council may prescribe the form of assessment rolls and more fully define the duties of assessors.
SECTION 7. Upon receiving the statement of the amount of taxes so levied the city clerk shall make out upon the assessment roll in columns left for that purpose, or upon a copy thereof, a complete statement of the several taxes levied for the state, county, city or other purposes, and all delinquent taxes for any previous years and all special taxes levied by the common council since the making out of the last annual tax list, in such separate columns as may be necessary, with the total footings carried out opposite each tract, which statement shall be called "the tax roll of the City of Medford" and shall be preserved by said clerk as a record in his office, and shall have the same force and effect as the record of the common council.
SECTION 8. The tax roll made out and preserved as aforesaid shall be prima facie evidence in every court of record in this state, that every act or thing to be done and required by law to be done relating to assessing or levying of taxes from the election of officers to the completion of the tax roll, inclusive, has been done regularly, correctly and as required by law.
SECTION 9. Immediately after making out the tax roll aforesaid, the clerk shall make out a duplicate copy thereof, to which shall be appended a warrant signed by the mayor and clerk, and sealed with the corporate seal of said city, directed to the treasurer requiring and commanding him to collect the taxes and assessments specified in said duplicated copy of the tax roll in the manner provided by law; and said clerk shall, on or before the first day of December of the same year, or as soon thereafter as practicable, deliver the same to the city treasurer for collection, and make a record of such delivery on the tax roll preserved in his office.
SECTION 11. On or before the fifteenth day of February of each year, unless the time be extended as provided by law, the city treasurer shall make out and return to the treasurer of Taylor County, a list of all lands, lots and personal property upon which taxes have not been paid, and shall also settle with and pay all moneys properly payable to said county treasurer in like manner as now is or may hereafter be required by town treasurers, and all the provisions of chapter 49, of the revised statutes, and acts amendatory thereof, shall extend to and may be enforced to collect any delinquent personal property tax.
SECTION 15. All directions hereby given for the assessment of lands and levying of taxes, collecting and returning of taxes and the sale thereof shall be deemed only directory and no error or informality in the proceedings of any of the officers entrusted with the same not affecting substantial justice of the tax itself, shall vitiate or in any wise affect the validity of the tax or assessment.
SECTION 16. In addition to the amount herein limited for general city purposes special taxes may be levied for the purchase of fire engines and other objects of public utility, but no such tax shall be levied unless the same shall first be recommended by the common council and afterwards submitted to a vote of the people and approved by them; ten days' notice of such submittance to vote shall be given.
SECTION 18. It shall be the duty of the common council to provide for the prompt payment of all orders drawn on the city treasury and shall have power to negotiate temporary loans at the legal rate of interest, for supply of all funds to meet any deficiency in the treasury, and no orders shall be issued unless the money to pay the same is in the treasury.
SECTION 19. When the treasurer shall be unable to pay any order drawn on the treasury it shall be his duty to report the fact to the first meeting of the council, thereupon the council shall cause to be examined the accounts of the treasurer, and if all funds have been paid out then the council may take such action as will enable the city to preserve its credit.
SECTION 20. Out of the taxes collected by the city treasurer the state tax shall first be paid, then all school taxes, then judgements, then all special taxes in the order in which they were levied. Delinquent returns shall be received by the county treasurer in payment of county taxes in the manner prescribed by the general laws of the state.
SECTION 21. The common council shall meet on Monday evening two weeks previous to the holding of the charter election for the purpose of disposing of its unfinished business, and shall not thereafter during its term of office allow any bills against the city, but may anticipate and provide for the payment of salaries of officers for the balance of its term.
SECTION 22. The common council may also, when occasion shall require, levy a special tax not to exceed three mills on the dollar of the assessed valuation of the taxable property in said city for the purpose of building or repairing of bridges; such tax to be levied in the same manner and collected in the same way and at the same time as the general city taxes for that year.