bond. set aside. has been filed with the county clerk, in the same manner as notice is required to be given of certiorari for reviewing judgments returned by the justice of the peace, and the writ Writ and shall be issued and served, and the bond given and approved, and all subject matter brought to issue in the same way and manner as in such case provided, except that such certiorari may be heard by the court during term, or at chambers, upon Hearing. five days' notice given to the opposing party; and the circuit court of the county shall hear and determine the same without necessary delay; and if any material defect be found in Erroneous the proceedings, such proceedings shall be set aside in so proceedings far as erroneous with consent to the county road commissioners to proceed anew with their proceedings from the point where the defect occurs. The entire proceedings shall not be set aside except where the county road commissioners are found to have no jurisdiction to act upon the petition presented. If the proceedings be sustained, the party bringing the certiorari shall be liable for the costs thereof; and Costs. if they be not sustained in whole, or in part, the parties petitioning for the proposed improvement, shall be liable for the costs. If no certiorari be brought within the time herein de- When scribed, the improvements shall be deemed to have been deemed legal. proceedings legally ordered and established, and its legality shall not thereafter be questioned in any suit at law, or in equity. When such proceedings are brought, the county road commis- Postponement sioners shall postpone the letting of contracts, if they have of proceednot been let, and of all other proceedings until after the determination of the court. ings. SEC. 67. No tax assessed under this act upon any prop- Irregularities erty or sale therefor, shall be held invalid by any court of cured. this State on account of any irregularity in any assessment, or on account of any tax roll not having been made, or proceeding had within the time required by law, or on account of the property having been assessed without the name of the owner, or in the name of any person other than the owner, or on account of any other irregularity, informality, omission, or want of any matter or form or substance in any proceeding that does not prejudice the property rights of the person whose property is taxed; and all proceedings in assessing Presumption and levying taxes, and in the sale and conveyance therefor, of legality. shall be presumed by all the courts of this State to be legal until the contrary is affirmatively shown. All records, state- Records, etc., ments and certificates herein provided for, shall be prima prima facie facie evidence of the facts therein set forth. The absence of any record of any proceeding or proceedings, or the omis- Omissions not sion of any mention in any record of any vote or proceeding, validity. or mention of any matter in any statement or certificate that should appear therein under the provisions of this act, shall not affect the validity of any proceeding, tax, or title thereon, providing the fact that such vote or proceeding was had or tax authorized is shown by any other record, statement evidence. to affect Presumption of correctness. Records, etc., how signed. Construction of provisions. Tax deeds not affected. Limitation of actions. Payment under protest. Proviso, suits against county. Injunctions restricted. Beginning proceedings anew. or certificate made evidence by the terms of this act or any other law of this State. No tax or sale of property for any tax, shall be rendered or held invalid by showing that any record, statement, affidavit, certificate, paper or return cannot be found in the proper office. Unless the contrary is affirmatively shown, the presumption shall be that such record was made, and that such certificate, statement, affidavit, paper, or return, was duly made and filed. Where any statement, certificate or record is required to be made or signed by the county road commissioners, such statement, certificate or record may be made and signed by the members of said commission, or a majority of them, and it shall not be necessary that other members be present when each signs the The provisions of this section shall not be construed to authorize any showing impeaching the validity of any deed executed by the Auditor General under the provisions of this act, but such deed shall be held absolute and conclusive as provided in general tax laws of the State. same. SEC. 68. No suit shall be instituted to recover any tax or money paid, or for property therefor, or for damages on account thereof, unless brought within thirty days from the time of payment of such money to, or for the sale of such property by, the collecting officers; and if such tax be paid under protest, the reasons therefor shall be specified, and the same procedure observed as is, and may be required by the general tax law: Provided, That suits specified in this section shall be brought against the county at large. SEC. 69. After any taxes shall have been assessed for the improvement of any highway under this act, no injunction shall issue to restrain the spreading of the same upon the tax roll, nor to restrain the collection thereof, nor shall the same be in any manner stayed, except as provided in provisions for certiorari unless the amount of such assessment shall be first paid to the county treasurer to be applied upon such taxes in case the court in which the suit upon which such injunction is tried, shall so order. SEC. 70. The collection of no tax levied, or ordered to be levied for the payment of the improvement or construction of any highway laid out under this act shall be perpetually enjoined, or declared absolutely void in consequence of any error or informality appearing in the record of the proceedings under which any highway shall have been constructed or improved, nor on account of any irregularity or informality in the condemnation of the right of way, nor for want of any record thereof, but the court in which any action may be brought to recover any tax or assessment paid, or to declare void the highway proceedings, or to enjoin any tax or assessment levied or ordered to be levied for the payment of the labor and expenses of the improvement thereof, shall, if there be manifest error in the proceedings, allow the county road commissioners to begin their proceedings anew at the stage prior to which the error occurred. recovered. SEC. 71. Any taxes that may have been assessed and re- Taxes, how turned delinquent to the county treasurer upon any lands and by virtue of the provisions of this act and remaining unpaid, may be sued for, by the county road commissioners of the county in which such delinquent lands are situated, in an action of assumpsit before any court of competent jurisdiction; or the county road commissioners may file their bill in equity to enforce the lien of such tax against the real Lien, how estate charged therewith, in the same manner as mortgages are foreclosed in chancery. The court may order the sale Sale of lands. of such delinquent lands at any time after six months from the filing of such bill in chancery. enforced. SEC. 72. In case any suit shall be brought to set aside any Commissioners parties tax assessed under the provisions of this act, or in any way to sult. attacking the legality of the proceedings had under this act, the county road commissioners shall be made a party to such suit. The counties in which such road district shall be Counties situated shall likewise be made a party and process shall be made parties. served upon the clerks of such county. SEC. 73. In case any tax assessed under the provisions of Tax set aside. this act shall be set aside, except for the reason that the petition for the improvement does not confer jurisdiction upon the county road commissioners to act, the county road commissioners shall begin proceedings anew at the stage where they shall be correct. when im SEC. 74. Whenever the work of improving any highway Poceedings has been wholly or partly completed, and payment for same provement has not been legally made, the county road commissioners interrupted. shall proceed without unnecessary delay to start such proceedings anew, providing the petition for the improvement confers jurisdiction upon the county road commissioners, at such a stage as may be correct; and the county road commissioners shall proceed to take the necessary steps under the provisions of this act, and shall reassess upon the lands benefited by the improvement, the original cost thereof, together with all expense of completing the proceedings, and continue so to do, until such improvement has been legally constructed: Provided, That on such recording and legally Proviso, completing the proceedings, it shall not be necessary to re- unnecessary. advertise the letting or to make a new contract for the letting and constructing of the improvement, but the county road commissioners shall advertise a day of review for benefits in the manner provided in the first instance: Provided further, Further That any person who has paid taxes for benefits assessed allowance for against him for such improvement, shall be allowed the taxes paid. amount so paid; and the collecting officer shall accept the receipt theretofore issued as cash, and the same shall be applied upon such new assessment. re-advertising proviso, invalid SEC. 75. Should any section or a part of a section of this Effect of act be held inoperative or invalid for any reason, such in- section, etc. validity shall not be deemed to affect the other valid sections of this act, which shall be and remain in force. Approved April 15, 1915. Amount appropriated. Remaining funds. Proviso, how money obtained. Tax clause. [No. 60.] AN ACT making an appropriation for the State Highway Department for the fiscal year ending June thirty, nineteen hundred sixteen, to meet a deficiency in the appropriation for the fiscal year ending June thirty, nineteen hundred fifteen, and to provide a tax to meet the same. The People of the State of Michigan enact: SECTION 1. There is hereby appropriated for the State Highway Department for the fiscal year ending June thirty, nineteen hundred sixteen, to meet a deficiency in the appropriation for the fiscal year ending June thirty, nineteen hundred fifteen, the sum of six hundred thousand dollars, which shall constitute the State reward fund for the improvement of the public wagon roads, as provided in act number two hundred eighty-three of the Public Acts of nineteen hundred nine, as amended. Any moneys remaining in this fund at the close of the fiscal year shall be carried over by the Auditor General and added to the funds which become available for the following year: Provided, That the State Highway Department may obtain money under this section before July one, nineteen hundred fifteen, in such amounts as they may certify to the Auditor General are necessary for immediate use. SEC. 2. The Auditor General shall incorporate in the State tax for the year nineteen hundred fifteen, the sum of six hundred thousand dollars, which amount when collected shall be credited to the general fund to reimburse the same for the money hereby appropriated. This act is ordered to take immediate effect. Amount appropriated. [No 61.] AN ACT making appropriations for the Michigan Reformatory for general repairs and special purposes for the fiscal year ending June thirty, nineteen hundred sixteen, and to provide a tax to meet the same. The People of the State of Michigan enact: SECTION 1. There is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the State treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of eleven thousand eight hundred dollars for the use of the Michigan Reformatory for the fiscal year ending June thirty, nineteen hundred sixteen, for purposes and in amounts transfer of funds. as follows: For general repairs and reconstruction of present buildings, three thousand dollars; for the purchase of the Fred H. VanderHeyden farm of thirty-six and one-half acres, one thousand eight hundred twenty-five dollars; for the purchase of the Susan Whipple farm of thirty-five and one-half acres, one thousand seven hundred seventy-five dollars; for the purchase of the James Gallagher farm of eighty acres, three thousand six hundred dollars; for the purchase of the Margaret R. Lyle farm of forty acres, nine hundred dollars; for the the purchase of three and one-half acres of garden land from Fred and Melinda Girard, three hundred fifty dollars; for the purchase of three and one-half acres of gravel and building sand from W. A. Inman, three hundred fifty dollars: Provided, That if the amount designated in this sec- Proviso, tion for any one of the purposes stated be insufficient to complete the work or purchase, any surplus remaining after the completion of the other work or purchase specified in this section may, by obtaining the consent of the State Board of Corrections and Charities and Auditor General, in writing, before any expense in excess of the specific appropriation is incurred, be used in the account or accounts where such deficiency seems unavoidable, the intent of this proviso being to make the entire eleven thousand eight hundred dollars available for the purposes stated herein, if in the judgment of the State Board of Corrections and Charities and Auditor General it is deemed advisable to make the transfer for which provision is hereby made: Provided further, Further That the board of control of the Michigan Reformatory may how money proviso, obtain money under this section before July one, nineteen obtained. hundred fifteen, in such amounts as they may, by requisition, certify to the Auditor General are necessary for immediate use, which amounts thus advanced shall be deducted from the total amount when the appropriation becomes available. SEC. 2. The several sums appropriated by the provisions Sums, how of this act shall be paid out of the State treasury to the paid out. warden of the Michigan Reformatory at such time and in such amounts as the general accounting laws of the State prescribe and the disbursing officer shall render his accounts. to the Auditor General thereunder. SEC. 3. The Auditor General shall incorporate in the State Tax clause. tax for the year nineteen hundred fifteen the sum of eleven thousand eight hundred dollars which, when collected, shall be credited to the general fund to reimburse the same for the money hereby appropriated. This act is ordered to take immediate effect. |