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CHAP. 12.

AN ACT in relation to the city of Troy.

Passed January 28, 1848, "three-fifths being present." The People of the State of New-York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

ARTICLE FIRST.

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§1. The chamberlain of the city of Troy shall be the head Chamberof the department of finance of said city, and shall be ap- appointed. pointed by the common council, and shall hold his office for the term of three years, unless sooner removed by the concurring vote of two-thirds of all the members of the common council, for reasons to be entered at large upon the book of minutes of the proceedings of that body; and shall be ex officio a commissioner of deeds for the city of Troy.

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§ 2. The office of the chamberlain of the city of Troy shall Office be kept in such place in said city, as shall from time to time, bet by ordinance or resolution of the common council, be assigned for that purpose, and shall be kept open on each day of the year, Sundays and holidays excepted, from the hour of ten o'clock, A. M., to one o'clock, P. M., and from half-past two o'clock, P. M., to half past four o'clock, P. M.

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§3. The fiscal year of the city shall commence on the first Fiscal year Tuesday in March; all money received or paid out for the commence city shall pass through the hands of the chamberlain, and it shall be the duty of the chamberlain to present to the common council on the third Tuesday of March in each year, a printed report for the preceding fiscal year, showing in detail the debt of the city, when payable, and the provisions for paying the principal and interest; its revenues and expenditure; the actual cost of maintaining the city government and keeping its property in repair, (except the water works,) and also an estimate of the expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year, and the means from which such expenditures are to be paid, and also such other information and suggestions in relation to the affairs of the city as he may deem proper, which report shall be made under the direction of the finance committee of the common council for the preceding fiscal year.

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§4. It shall be the duty of the chamberlain to examine and Accounts adjust and settle all accounts in which the corporation is con- justed and cerned, either as debtor or creditor, in cases where pro- settled. visions for the settlement thereof shall have been made by law, or ordinance, and the settlement of which is not especially committed to some other authority, and in so doing to examine any person or persons he may think proper, under

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oath to be administered by him, of or concerning any such account, and where no such provision, or an insufficient provision shall have been made to examine the claims, he may, if he thinks proper, examine any person or persons under oath, to be by him administered, in relation to such claim, and to report the facts, with his opinion thereon, in writing, to the common council; and it shall not be lawful for the common council to direct, the payment of any part of such claim until such report from the chamberlain shall have been made. Nothing in this section contained shall be so construed as to deprive the common council of the power to increase or diminish the amount so audited, adjusted or settled by the chamberlain. It shall not be lawful for the common council to audit or pay any demand against the city, where it has not been created or made during the then fiscal year, unless the person or persons by whom the same is claimed, make an affidavit that the demand is correct, and that the disbursements, services and articles charged therein, have been in fact made, rendered and supplied, that the prices charged therein are reasonable, and that no part thereof has been paid or satisfied.

§5. It shall be the duty of the chamberlain to deposit to how to be the credit of the city of Troy, once in each day, all the money in his hands, except one hundred dollars or less, in one or more of the banks in the city of Troy, to be designated by the common council, and when so deposited it shall be drawn only upon the warrant of the chamberlain, or in case of his absence or sickness, by the person discharging the duties of the chamberlain, countersigned by the mayor, or in case of his absence or sickness, by a member of the finance committee of the common council; but all warrants shall be either signed by the chamberlain or countersigned by the mayor.

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§ 6. The chamberlain shall receive an annual salary not exceeding one thousand dollars, and for necessary clerkhire not exceeding four hundred dollars, to be paid quarterly, the salary and allowance for clerk hire to be fixed by the common council, and shall not be diminished during his continuance in office. At the commencement of his term of office, and at the expiration of each year thereafter during said term, he shall give a bond to the corporation, with at least two sufficient sureties, in the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars to be approved of by the common council of the city of Troy, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of his office as prescribed by the laws of this state, or the ordinances or resolutions of the common courcil, and also conditioned to pay into the city treasury all such sums of money as shall come into his hands, or his substitute appointed by him, for taxes or otherwise, including his per

centage for collecting the state and county taxes, which bond shall be renewed with other or additional names as security, as often as the common council shall direct, such renewal bond to be approved as aforesaid, and in the event of his omitting to give bonds as required by this act, for five days after his appointment as chamberlain, or after the time. for giving a new bond, or after the common council shall require such bond, or bonds to be renewed with other or additional names as security, and after he shall have been served with notice of such requirement, the office of chamberlain of the city of Troy may thereupon be declared vacant by the common council. The clerk of the common council shall, within six days after the approval of such bonds, file the same with a certificate of approbation by the common council endorsed thereon, in the office of the clerk of the county of Rensselaer, who shall make an entry thereof in a book to be provided for that purpose, in the same manner in which judgments are entered of record; and every such bond shall be a lien upon all the real estate held jointly or severally by the chamberlain or his sureties within the county at the time of the filing thereof, and shall continue to be such lien till its conditions, together with all costs and charges which may accrue by the prosecution thereof, shall be fully satisfied. Whenever a new bond duly approved by the common council, shall be given by said chamberlain, then any former bond given by him shall be cancelled and given up.

in case of

§ 7. In the event of the sickness or absence of the cham- Provision berlain, he may appoint some person to be approved of by sickness or the common council to discharge his duties during his sick- absence. ness or absence, or in case he shall neglect so to do, the common council is authorised from time to time, to appoint some person to discharge the duties of the office during such sickness or absence; the person so appointed by the common council, to give a bond as by this act is required to be given by the chamberlain and to be approved in the same manner.

collector

8. The office of collector of each of the districts in the Office of city of Troy, is hereby abolished, except so far as it respects abolished. the collection of taxes for which warrants shall have been already issued. It shall be the duty of the chamberlain of said city to receive all state, county and city taxes, and assessments taxed, or assessed upon real or personal property in the city of Troy, at his office and not elsewhere, upon all assessment rolls and warrants, which shall from time to time be delivered to him according to law, and the cominon council of the city of Troy shall appoint no other person than the chamberlain to receive the same. The chamberlain shall retain in his office all assessment rolls delivered to him.

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9. It shall be lawful for the mayor, recorder, aldermen executed to and commonalty of the city of Troy, in its corporate capac- visors.

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Amounts received

for taxes to

ity and under its common seal, to execute with the chamberlain, and as his surety, a bond to the supervisors of each assessor district respectively in the city of Troy, in double the amount of the county taxes to be collected in each of said districts respectively, conditioned for the faithful execution of his duties as receiver of such county taxes, which said bonds when so executed and lodged with the clerk of Rensselaer county, shall be deemed a compliance with section nineteen of article second of chapter eleventh, of title third of the first part of the Revised Statutes.

§ 10. The said chamberlain shall enter in suitable books, to be kept by him for that purpose, the sums received by be entered. him for taxes, with a statement of the district for which the same were received, and the names of the parties respectively on whose account the same were paid, the amount added to the tax, and the time when the same was paid; and it shall be the duty of the chamberlain to report to the common council at its first meeting in each month, the amount received by him for taxes during the preceding month. It shall be the duty of the chamberlain from time to time, to enter in a column upon the assessment rolls in his possession, opposite to the names of the persons mentioned therein, and who shall pay their tax as aforesaid to the said chamberlain, the fact of such payment.

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ARTICLE SECOND.

Of the mode of collecting city taxes.

§ 1. The assessors of the city of Troy, shall complete rolls, when their assessment roll and deliver the same to the chamberlain pleted. of said city on or before the first day of September, in each year; and the said chamberlain shall copy the same and make out the city tax as soon as levied by the common council, and deliver the said assessment roll to the order of the supervisors of the respective assessor districts or a majority of them, on or before the fifteenth day of October thereafter. Warrant to § 2. To each assessment roll, a warrant under the hand of be annexed the mayor and seal of the mayor, recorder, aldermen and commonalty of the city of Troy, shall be annexed, commanding such chamberlain to collect from the several persons named in the assessment roll, the several sums mentioned in the last column of such roll, according to the provisions of this act.

to each roll

Taxes how

lected and

3. The said chamberlain, upon the completion of the to be col assessment rolls and warrants, shall proceed to collect and received. receive said taxes from the several persons named in the said assessment rolls, in the manner hereinafter mentioned and he shall immediately after the completion of said assessment rolls and warrants, give public notice by advertisement in two of the public newspapers printed in the said city of

Troy, of the fact, and that all persons named therein are required to pay their taxes to him at his office on or before the last day of January ensuing.

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cases.

§ 4. It shall be the duty of the chamberlain to receive the Per centamount of any tax levied in said assessment rolls, if paid on charged i or before the fifteenth day of October succeeding the levying certain of such tax; and to charge and receive upon all such taxes paid after the fifteenth day of October, and on or before the fifteenth day of November, one per cent; and to charge and receive upon all the taxes paid after the fifteenth day of November, and on or before the fifteenth day of December, two per cent; and to charge and receive upon all such taxes paid after the fifteenth day of December, and on or before the fifteenth day of January three per cent; and to charge and receive upon all such taxes paid after the fifteenth day of January, and on or before the last day of the same month, four per cent; and if any such tax shall remain unpaid on Delinqu's the sixteenth day of January after the completion of said as- fied. sessment rolls, the said chamberlain shall immediately thereafter cause notice in writing to be given to the person from whom the same shall be due, and require such person to pay the same to the said chamberlain, at his office, on or before the last day of the same month, and that in default thereof, a warrant will be issued on the first day of February ensuing, for the collection thereof according to law.

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how to be

served.

§ 5. Such notice shall be served upon such person if he be Notice a resident or engaged in the transaction of business within said city, either personally or by leaving the same at his residence or place of business as the case may be, with some person of suitable age and discretion, at least five days before the said last day of January, which shall be deemed a compliance with the Revised Statutes, requiring every collector to call at least once on the person taxed, or at the place of his residence, and demanding payment of the taxes charged to him on his property.

§6. The said chamberlain shall also immediately after the Notice to said fifteenth day of January, give public notice in two of be publishthe public newspapers of the said city, to be published there- papers. in ten days, notifying all persons who shall have omitted to pay their taxes, to pay the same to him at his office on or before the last of that month; upon filing an affidavit or affidavits of the service of the notice required by the fourth and fifth sections of article second of this act as herein prescribed, in the office of the clerk of the county of Rensselaer; or that the persons therein named could not upon diligent search and enquiry be found in said city; and also upon filing an affidavit or affidavits of the due publication of the notice required by this section as herein prescribed, it shall be the duty of the said chamberlain upon all taxes so remaining un

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