assessors. 1. At the annual election for charter officers, first to be held ART. 1. under this act, there shall be elected from each ward one assessor. Election of The assessors so elected shall constitute a board of assessors, who shall be divided into two classes; the assessors of the first, third, fifth, seventh, ninth, eleventh, thirteenth, fifteenth and seventeenth wards shall form the first class, and the assessors of the remaining wards shall form the second class; the first class shall hold office one year, and the second class shall bold office two years; but after the first year the term of office of both classes shall be two years. [1854, ch. 384, tit. 4, § 28.] *S2. The said assessors shall have power to examine, upon oath, every person whom they shall believe ought to be assessed for his personal property, and shall also have power to examine under oath, such other persons as witnesses in relation thereto, as they may deem proper, and for that purpose may administer oaths and issue process to compel the attendance of witnesses before them. Any person who shall refuse to make under oath, a full disclosure of all the facts necessary to enable the assessors to make a fair and just assessment of his personal property, when duly called upon by the assessors to do so, or to answer such questions as may be put to him in relation thereto, shall be assessed a gross sum, which in their judgment will be the full amount of his personal estate, and shall forfeit for one year all the rights and privileges given to persons aggrieved by the assessment of assessors by the law "For the assessment and collection of taxes." [Same ch. and tit., § 29.] * Power of assessors. maps. S3. The ward maps made or to be made shall be filed in an Ward office to be provided by the city for the use of the board of assessors, and assessments on land in the respective wards shall refer to such maps, except in cases of opening streets, avenues, squares and parks; and where a portion of any lot of land laid down on said maps shall be taken for any improvement, the residue shall be deemed to be held for any assessment thereon, and land occupied by a person other than the owner may be assessed in the name of the occupant. [Same ch. and tit., § 30.] of board of *S 4. The board of assessors shall elect one of their number President president, and appoint a competent person as their secretary, who assessors. shall make out the assessment lists under the direction of said board, and perform such other duties as may be required of him by said board or the common council. The common council shall provide a suitable room for said assessors, in which they shall transact their business; and the assessment rolls of the several wards when completed shall be left for inspection and examination by any person interested, and of which the assessors shall give due notice, as required by law; and the said assessment rolls shall be open for inspection during thirty days from the time of the first publication of such notice. [Same ch. and tit., § 31.] sessors. *S 5. The common council shall fix an annual compensation for Pay of assuch assessors and secretary, to be levied in the annual tax, and may, by ordinance, regulate the duties under the foregoing provision, and remove such assessors for incompetency or neglect of duty. [Same ch. and tit., § 32.] laws. TITLE 11. S6. All provisions of law now applicable to the assessors of Assessment Brooklyn, or towns of this state, in relation to the assessment and collection of taxes in said city, not inconsistent with this act, are hereby declared to apply to the assessors elected under this act. [1854, ch. 384, tit. 4, $ 33.] Election of collectors. Office of lector SEC. 1. Collector of taxes and assessments to be elected and keep an office open each day. 3. Assessment roll, when confirmed to be delivered to collector. 4. Collector of eastern district to perform the duties until expiration of time specified in warrants delivered to him: returns of unpaid taxes hereafter to be made and filed in office of collector. 5. Existing laws continued unless inconsistent. 6. To execute a bond with sureties, &c. 7. The common council may suspend him for official neglect or misconduct, &c. 8. Collector to appoint an assistant. 9. Deputy collectors: appointments to be in writing and filed in county clerk's office. 10. Powers and duties of assistant and deputies. 11. Sureties may be discharged in certain cases. 12. Five per cent to be added to tax for collection: compensation of collector, his assistant and deputies. 13. Use of public money by collector, &c., an embezzlement. 14. Corrected assessment rolls to be delivered to the collector by the supervisors of Kings county with warrant for collection of tax. 15. Warrant of supervisors to be under seal of a majority: its requirements. 16. Collector to make abstracts of tax rolls. 17. To receive taxes, and monthly to account to and pay over to the county treasurer his collections. 18. Manner of receiving payments. 19. Return of taxes unpaid after 180 days to the county treasurer. 20. Duty of county treasurer on return. 21. Penalty in case of neglect to pay over moneys collected. 22. County treasurer may receive tax while the account is in his hands. 23. County treasurer to reject taxes on imperfectly described lands: supervisors to furnish the common council statements of unpaid taxes, &c. 24. Supervisors to cause the amount of rejected taxes to be levied in the next assessment rolls: the descriptions to be corrected in the next rolls. 25. Rejected assessments: duty of common council. 28 Unpaid assessments for want of jurisdiction, &c.: reassessment. 27. Unpaid assessments on real estate. 28. List of unpaid taxes and assessments to be published. 29. Proof of publication. 30. Sale and certificate of sale: its effect. 31. Rights of mortgagee not to be affected until after six months' notice. 32. Notice to be served within one month: proof of service. 33. Redemption by owner, mortgagee, occupant or person interested 34. Application of moneys paid to redeem: conveyance if no redemption. 35. Provision, when the owner is an idiot, &c. 36. Collectors to render county treasurer an account of the proceeds of sale for taxes. 37. Conveyance of lands not redeemed: its contents and effect. S 1. There shall be elected at the election in November, eighteen hundred and fifty-six, and every third year thereafter, a collector, who shall hold his office for the term of three years and until his successor shall be elected in his place and duly qualified, to be called the collector of taxes and assessments of the city of Brooklyn. The common council shall provide a suitable office, which shall be kept open during such hours as the common council shall designate, on each day in the year, except Sundays, and such holidays as shall be observed by the general custom of said city, or by recommendation of public authority. [1854, ch. 384, tit. 5, § 1, as amended by chap. 496 of Laws of 1855.] * S2. The office of collector of taxes and assessments of the district col- eastern district of said city, created by section first of title fifth of abolished. the act hereby amended, shall be and is hereby abolished from and after the first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five; and all local distinctions now recognized by law in relation to the eastern and western districts of said city are hereby abolished except so far as relates to the fire department thereof. ART. 2. [1855, ch. 496, § 2.] rolls con S3. All assessment rolls confirmed, and all warrants for the Assessment collection of any tax or assessment, issued pursuant to law, subse- firmed. quent to the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five by the board of supervisors of the county of Kings, or by the common council of said city, shall be directed and delivered to the collector of the present western district of said city, who shall thereafter be the collector of taxes and assessments for the whole city of Brooklyn until the first day of July one thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, and until his successor shall have been elected and duly qualified, and as such shall possess all the powers, perform all the duties and be subject to all the provisions of law relative to both said collectors and collection districts, except as hereinafter provided. [Same ch., § 3.] of eastern *S4. The present collector of taxes and assessments of the Collector eastern district of said city shall continue as such collector to district. perform the duties appertaining to such office until the expiration of the time mentioned in all the warrants delivered to him for the collection of taxes and assessments; and shall on or before the first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, make to the person or persons, and in the manner now provided by law, full and complete returns of all the assessment rolls, or abstracts thereof, with the warrants thereto annexed which shall have been delivered to him, and shall on or before the said first day of December, return to the collector of the present western district of said city all books, papers, documents and records belonging to his office, and the common council shall cause to be prepared the necessary conveniences for the reception and disposition thereof in the office of said collector which shall thereafter be and remain in said office as a part of the public records thereof. All returns of unpaid taxes or assessments in said city hereafter made Returns of by the county treasurer or comptroller, respectively, shall be taxes, heremade to and filed in the office of the collector of the present made and western district, where they shall remain of record, and the officer office of color officers whose duty it shall be, shall audit the accounts of said lector. collector of taxes and assessments of the eastern district as soon as practicable after the said first day of December, and report the same to the common council. [Same ch., § 4.] unpaid after to be filed in laws con *S5. All existing provisions of law not inconsistent with this Existing act are hereby continued in force; and all acts and parts of acts tinued uninconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. sistent. [Same ch., § 5.] less incon bond. *S6. The said collectors shall, respectively, execute a bond to Collector's the city of Brooklyn, with at least two sureties, who shall be Sureties. freeholders in the county of Kings, in such penalty, not less than one hundred thousand dollars for the collector of the western district, and sixty thousand dollars for the collector of the eastern district, as the common council shall direct, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of their office, and for accounting and paying over, as directed by law, all moneys which shall be received by them as such collectors. Such sureties shall filed. TITLE 11. severally justify, under oath, to be indorsed on said bond, in sums which, together, shall constitute at least double the amount of the penalty of the bond, to be approved by the common council. Bond to be The bond shall be filed with the clerk of the county of Kings; and if not filed within twenty days after the collectors shall be notified of their election, the office shall be deemed vacant; and no collector shall enter upon the duties of his office until said bond shall be duly executed, approved and filed. The collector's sureties shall also be renewed during the term of his office, whenever and as often as the common council shall direct, and if not so renewed within twenty days after notice to the collector, his office shall be deemed vacant. [1854, ch. 384, tit. 5, § 2.] Suspension of collec tors. Assistant collectors. Deputies. Their powers. bond. *S7. The common council may by resolution suspend a collector for official neglect or misconduct, in which case they shall immediately cause written notice, with a copy of the charges thereof, to be left at his office; they shall then proceed to investigate the charges against him, and if such charges are sustained may remove him from office in the manner hereinbefore provided for the removal of other officers of the city government. [Same ch. and tit., § 3.] *S 8. Each collector shall, as soon as may be after he has taken upon himself the execution of his office; appoint some proper person assistant collector of taxes and assessments, to hold his appointment during the pleasure of such collector, and he shall, as often as a vacancy shall occur in the office of assistant collector, appoint another in his place; and whenever a vacancy shall occur in the office of collector the said assistant collector shall execute the powers and discharge the duties of collector until another collector shall be appointed. [Same ch. and tit., § 4.] *S 9. Each collector may also, with the consent of the common council, appoint as many deputies as he may think proper, who shall hold their appointment during the pleasure of the common council. Every appointment of an assistant collector, or of a deputy collector, shall be in writing, under the hand and seal of the collector, and shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the county, and every such assistant or deputy shall, before he enters on the execution of the duties of his office, take the oath prescribed in the constitution, and the collector may require of him a bond and sureties for the performance of his duties. Any default or misfeasance in office of any such assistant or deputy shall be deemed to be a breach of the condition of the bond given by the collector who appointed him. [Same ch. and tit., § 5.] *S 10. Each assistant collector shall have the same power as the collector, except that of the appointment of deputies; and the collector, assistant collector and deputy collectors shall have the same powers as the collectors in the several towns in the state; but such assistants and deputies shall, in the exercise of their powers, be subject to the direction and control of the collector. Same ch. and tit., § 6.] Renewal of *S 11. If any person who shall have become surety for a collector shall, by notice in writing, to be served on the mayor or clerk of the common council, require the said collector to renew his official bond, such person shall be discharged from any future liability as such surety from and after the settlement of the accounts of the collector for moneys received prior to such discharge, who shall be required to make such settlement within thirty days after notice from the common council to that effect. [1854, ch. 384, tit. 5, $ 7.] ART. 2. collection. $12. There shall be added to and included in every tax assess- Expense of ment levied and assessed in the city of Brooklyn, the sum of five per cent upon the amount of such tax and assessment for the expense of collection, which, together with the amount to be added for neglect to pay within the time specified in the warrants of the collectors, as hereinafter provided, shall be for the use of said city. The common council shall fix the salary or other compensation to Pay of colbe paid to the collectors, their assistants and deputies, and pay the same to them out of the moneys raised by tax for city purposes; and neither the said collectors nor their assistants or deputies shall receive any other or further compensation for services or for other expenses of their offices; but the common council shall provide for said collectors all necessary desks, furniture, fuel, lights, books and blank forms. [Same ch. and tit., § 8.] ment or public S 13. If any collector, assistant collector or deputy collector Embezzleshall convert to his own use, in any way whatever, or shall use by loaning of way of investment in any kind of property or merchandise, or shall moneys. loan in any way, any portion of the moneys received or collected by him as such collector, assistant or deputy collector, every such act shall be deemed and adjudged to be an embezzlement of so much of said moneys as shall be thus taken, invested, used or loaned, which is hereby declared to be a felony, punishable by imprisonment in a state prison for a term not exceeding five years. Same ch. and tit., § 9.1 rolls, when ered. S 14. The board of supervisors of the county of Kings shall Assessment cause the corrected assessment rolls of the several wards, or fair to be delivcopies thereof, with warrants for collection, to be delivered to the respective collectors on or before the first day of October in each year; and the common council shall cause every assessment roll made for any improvement in said city, or fair copies thereof, with a warrant for collection, to be delivered to said collectors within ten days after the same shall be finally confirmed. But no warrant for the collection of any assessment shall be issued by the common council until all the proceedings had in laying said assessment shall have been examined and certified as correct by the street commissioners and the attorney and counsel of the city, which certificate shall be endorsed upon or annexed to the assessment roll, and shall be conclusive evidence as to the regularity of the proceedings. [Same ch. and tit., § 10.] *S 15. The warrants of the board of supervisors shall be under Warrants. their hands and seals, or the hands and seals of a majority of them, and shall require the collectors, out of the moneys to be collected, to pay over to the city treasurer such sum as shall be raised for city purposes, and to the county treasurer the residue of said moneys within one hundred and eighty days from the date of such warrants. The warrants of the common council shall be signed by the |