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SUPERVISORS OF TAX Books.

SEC. 59. The city council, within five days after the return of the tax lists and books as herein provided for, shall, at such time as they may choose, meet in the council chamber and examine with care the assessor's report of the taxable property returned for the year, and correct any error of the assessor, whether in fact or in relation to the valuation of estate listed; and in cases where they shall be of opinion that the estate has been incorrectly valued, to fix the same at its proper value; but they shall not increase the valuation made by the assessor without summoning the owner or owners, if residing in the city, to appear before them to show cause why the change should not be made. It shall be the duty of the assessor to attend the sessions of the board of supervisors of tax, and give evidence and information concerning the business before them, upon oath, if required. They shall immediately after the supervision of the tax books aforesaid fix the levy to be collected in the fiscal year for which said assessment is made. The clerk of the council shall keep a correct record of their proceedings, and immediately after they shall have concluded said work it shall be the duty of said clerk to make out a tax book, showing the assessed value of each tax payer's real and personal property, and the amount of tax due from each, and deliver the same to the tax collector, taking his receipt therefor.

SEC. 60. The council shall have power, at any time within two months after the supervision of the tax list aforesaid, to hear complaints, and to change, reduce, or correct the tax list of any person, and in case of reduction, if the taxes have been paid, to order the proper proportion thereof to be refunded.

CITY SURVEYOR.

SEC. 61. The city council, at the time fixed for the appointment of the other city officers, shall appoint a city surveyor. He shall not be required to be a resident of said city; he shall hold his office one year, and until his successor shall be appointed and qualified; his duties and compensation shall be prescribed by ordinance, as well as the manner of his qualification.

OFFICERS OF ELECTION.

SEC. 62. The city council shall, at their regular meeting in March, each year, appoint suitable persons as officers of the election in each ward in the city, two persons as judges, one person as

marshal, and one person as clerk, who shall hold their offices for one year, and if practicable the officers for each voting place shall be selected in equal numbers from the political parties, and they shall provide by ordinance for selection of officers of election in case the officers appointed shall from any cause fail to act. No person shall be appointed or act as an officer of election who shall not be a qualified voter in the ward for which he is appointed. The council shall by ordinance prescribe the duties and compensation of officers of election.

ELECTIONS.

SEC. 63. All elections under this act shall be by ballot, and shall be held between the hours of seven in the morning and six o'clock in the evening.

SEC. 64. Every male citizen of the United States, and those who have declared their intention to become such, and who are over the age of twenty-one years, and who nave resided within the said city for six months, and within the ward where he shall offer to vote for thirty days, and shall present to the officers of the election a tax receipt showing payment of taxes for the fiscal year in which he proposed to vote, or one whom the officers shall know to be a tax payer, or one who will swear that he has paid his taxes for said fiscal year, shall be a qualified voter within said city in said city elections.

SEC. 65. The city council shall prescribe by ordinance the manner of counting and preserving the ballots, ballot boxes, and poll books. They shall require when and by whom they shall be returned to the council clerk. They shall, within three days after an election held in said city, meet in the council chamber and compare the vote and announce the result of said election. If any member of the council shall have [been] a candidate at said election he shall have no voice in the decision of his own case. If from any cause two of said council cannot act, then the city judge and city attorney shall be called to act in the place of those who cannot act; and when the result has been ascertained it shall be the duty of the council to direct the clerk of the council to issue certificates of election to those who have received the highest number of votes for the officer voted for at said election.

SEC. 66. All officers of the city, either elected or appointed, shall, before they enter upon the execution of the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe the following oath, which may

be administered by any person authorized by law to administer

oaths:

I (giving name) do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the constitution of the United States and the organic act of this territory, and be faithful and true to the same so long as I continue a citizen thereof, and that I will faithfully perform the duties of the office of (naming office) to the best of my skill and ability; and that I will do what I can to advance the interest of the city of Missoula. So help me God.

SEC. 67. All ordinances or parts thereof of the present town of Missoula now in force, not in conflict with this charter, shall continue in force until repealed by the city council. And all ordinances passed by the city council to which the seal of the town of Missoula, or a seal which may hereafter be procured by the city council of Missoula, is attached, and regularly posted in three public places in said city, or which shall be published in a newspaper in said city for one week, or published in book or pamphlet form, shall be valid and binding, provided the same shall not be repugnant to the constitution of the United States, the organic act of this territory, or this charter.

SEC. 68. Nothing contained in this charter shall be construed to prevent any person from exercising the duties of any office, and receiving the salaries and emoluments accruing therefrom, which he may now hold under the charter of the town of Missoula until his term of office shall expire. In all other respects, except as hereinbefore provided, the said charter of the said town of Missoula, entitled "An act to incorporate the town of Missoula," approved March 8, 1883, be and the same is hereby repealed.

SEC. 69. That before this act shall be enforced, or shall take effect, the same shall be submitted to the qualified voters of the town of Missoula, on or before the first Monday in April, 1885. Said election shall be held at the county court house in said town; and the present town council shall order said election, and have notices posted or published of the time and place of holding said election. Said election shall be by printed ballots, to be provided by the council, and, in equal numbers, shall contain the words "For the city charter" and "Against the city charter;" and on the night of the said first Monday in April said council shall compare the vote and announce the result; and if it appear that a majority of the qualified voters of said town voting at said election have voted

for said charter, then this act shall go immediately into effect, and be in full force thereafter; and if it appear that a majority of said voters who have voted at said election have voted against said city charter, then this act shall be void and of no effect; and if said majority vote against said city charter, then the present charter of the town of Missoula, approved March 8, 1883, [shall] continue in force as the act of incorporation of the town of Missoula.

Approved March 12, 1885.

AN ACT to authorize the school trustees of district No 1, Deer Lodge county, to issue bonds for certain purposes.

Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Montana:

SEC. I. The board of school trustees of school district No. 1, of Deer Lodge county, shall, whenever a majority of said board shall so decide, submit to the electors of said district, who are property tax payers, the question whether said board shall be authorized to issue coupon bonds, in addition to the bonds now outstanding, to an amount not to exceed twenty thousand dollars, and to bear interest at a rate not to exceed eight per cent per annum, and to be issued in such sums, and payable and redeemable at such times, both principal and interest, as said board may designate in said bonds, for the purpose of completing the public school building in said school district now in course of construction, and of paying any indebtedness heretofore incurred in its construction for which bonds have not been issued.

SEC. 2. Such election shall be held in the manner prescribed by section 1133 of the fifth division of the revised statutes of Montana. The ballots shall contain the words "Bonds, Yes," or "Bonds, No," but the qualification of voters at such election shall be those only who were assessed for the last fiscal year on real or personal property, or who may have property, real or personal, subject to taxation at the time of such election. If a majority of the votes cast at such election are "Bonds, Yes," the board of trustees shall issue such bonds in such form as the board may direct, and shall have the signatures of the chairman of said board of trustees, and shall be countersigned by the clerk of said district; and the coupons attached to the bonds shall be signed by said chairman and clerk; and each bond so issued shall be registered by the county treasurer

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in a book provided for that purpose, and which shall show the number and amount of each bond, and the person to whom issued, and the date of payment thereof; and said bonds shall be sold by said trustees in the manner hereinafter provided.

SEC. 3. The said trustees shall give notice, by advertisement in some newspaper published in Deer Lodge county, for a period of not less than four weeks, to the effect that they will sell said bonds, briefly describing them, and stating the time and place when such sale will take place; or they may reject all bids, and sell said bonds at private sale, if they deem it to the best interest of said district: Provided, that no sale of any of such bonds shall be made at either public or private sale at such price as not to realize and net to said district the par value thereof; and if any trustee shall sell any of such bonds for a price which will not realize their par value, as above stated, said trustees, or either of them participating in such sale, shall be personally liable to said district for the difference between the sum realized for such bonds and the par value thereof, and an action therefor may be maintained at the instance of any property tax payer in the name of said school district. And all money [arising] from the sale of any such bonds shall be forthwith. paid into the county treasury of the said county for the uses and purposes of this act.

SEC. 4. That instead of a sale of any of said bonds for the purpose of paying any indebtedness now existing and accrued in the construction of said building, it shall be lawful for said trustees to issue sufficient bonds to the parties to whom such debts are owing, at a par value therefor, in payment thereof, but this section shall apply only to any indebtedness now existing, and not to any further

contracts.

SEC. 5. The faith of said school district is solemnly pledged for the payment of the interest and redemption of the principal of the bonds which shall be issued under this act; and for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of this act said school district shall be a body corporate, and may sue and be sued by and in the name of the board of school trustees of said district.

SEC. 6. The trustees of said district shall ascertain and levy, annually, the tax necessary to pay the interest when it becomes due, and a sinking fund to redeem the bonds at their maturity, and said tax shall become a lien upon the property in said school district, and be collected in the same manner as other taxes for school purposes.

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