(Sp. Laws 1933, No. 363, § 4.)
The Collector of Taxes and Assessments shall perform all of
the duties and assume all of the responsibilities entrusted to Tax
Collectors by virtue of the general statutes and by authority of the
Charter of the City of Norwalk as amended.
(Sp. Laws 1933, No. 363, § 5.)
So much of §
1-165 of an act consolidating the Town of Norwalk with the cities of Norwalk and South Norwalk and the East Norwalk Fire District, and incorporating the City of Norwalk, approved June 6, 1913, as amended by an act approved June 14, 1921, as relates to the election and tenure of office of the Collector of Taxes and Assessments is repealed, the same to be effective as of October 4, 1933. Such portion of §
1-254 of said act as relates to the election and tenure of office of the Collector of Taxes and Assessments is repealed, and such repeal shall be effective on October 4, 1933. So much of §
1-224 of said act as amended by acts approved June 16, 1927, and April 18, 1929, as relates to the salary of the Collector of Taxes and Assessments is repealed.
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 95; Sp. Laws 1933, No.
363, § 5.)
Said Tax Collector shall have the powers and be subject to the
duties imposed by law upon Collectors of Town Taxes. He shall receive
and collect all taxes due to said city, all assessments made by said
city, and all taxes and assessments which have been laid and assessed,
and are unpaid at the passage of this act, by the Town of Norwalk,
the City of Norwalk, the City of South Norwalk, and the East Norwalk
Fire District, and report to the Council of said city the names and
addresses of all persons who, being liable to pay such taxes and assessments
on the day when they become due, have neglected to pay the same. All
the amounts due to said city as special benefits or otherwise as herein
provided may be collected by warrants under the hand of the Mayor,
directed to the Collector who may collect the same in the manner in
which tax warrants are collected. Upon expiration of the term of office of the Collector
he shall deliver to his successor the rate bills not collected and
a statement of the amounts of all assessments made by the city, and
the Mayor shall issue to said successor warrants for the collection
by him of said taxes and assessments.
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 96.)
The tax book of the Collector of Taxes of said city shall at
all reasonable times be open to the inspection of any taxpayer and
to any auditor of public accounts in said city.
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 97.)
All taxes, annually laid by said Board of Estimate and Taxation
shall be payable on the day fixed by the Board of Estimate and Taxation
in each year.
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 98.)
All special taxes laid shall be due and payable on such day
as said Board of Estimate and Taxation shall designate at the time
of laying said tax and upon any special tax being laid the Collector
of Taxes shall publish a notice of the time when said tax shall be
payable in a newspaper published in said city at least one week preceding
said time.
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 99.)
The Tax Collector shall include in his notice of the time when
the tax shall become payable a notice of the place and the times at
which he will receive such taxes.
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 100.)
If any tax laid by said Board of Estimate and Taxation shall
remain unpaid for one month after the same shall become payable interest
at the rate of 9% per annum shall be charged from the time when such
tax shall become due until the same shall be paid, which shall be
collectible as part of said tax, and the Collector of Taxes shall
keep an accurate and separate account of all such additions and the
time when the same may be received, and shall pay the same as a part
of the tax, and said Tax Collector shall immediately pay all moneys
collected to the Treasurer of the city or to the Treasurers of the
several taxing districts as herein provided.
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 101.)
All taxes assessed by said Board of Estimate and Taxation shall
become a debt due from the person or corporation against whom they
are assessed to the city, and may, in addition to the other remedies
provided by law, be recovered in any proper action in the name of
said city; but the bringing of such action shall in no wise affect
the life or validity of the lien for said taxes or the right to bring
action of foreclosure for the same, provided a substantial recovery
by either of such remedies shall bar a recovery by any other remedy.
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 102.)
If any person shall fail to pay any tax said Tax Collector for
the city shall, if such person be a resident of said city, make demand
of him therefor or leave written demand at his place of abode. If
such a person is not a resident of said city the Collector shall make
demand of him therefor, or deposit in a post office in said Town of
Norwalk a written demand for said tax, postage prepaid, addressed
to such person at his last known place of residence. After demand
has been made in the manner above provided said Collector may levy
for said taxes on any taxable goods or chattels of such person and
post and sell the same in the manner provided in case of executions,
but if any such goods or chattels belonging to such person cannot
be found, after reasonable search on the part of said Collector, he
may enforce, by levy and sale, any lien upon real estate assessed
for said taxes, or he may levy upon or sell such interest of the person
in any real estate as exists at the date of levy, or he may levy upon
the body of such person and commit him to jail until he shall pay
such tax and the legal costs or be discharged in due course of law.
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 103; Sp. Laws 1915,
No. 367, § 6.)
When the Board of Estimate and Taxation shall lay any tax as
provided herein the same shall be a lien upon the taxable real estate
in the several taxing districts in reference to which such tax was
laid, and any lien for taxes annually laid by said Board shall date
from the first day of the preceding October, and the lien for any
special tax laid by said Board shall date from the day on which the
appropriation therefor was made.
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 104.)
The Tax Collector of said city may continue any tax lien upon
any real estate by causing to be recorded in the land records of said
Town of Norwalk within the first year after the tax becomes due his
certificate describing the real estate and the amount of such tax
at the time when it becomes due, and thereupon such tax, with interest
thereon at 7% per annum in lieu of 9% hereinbefore prescribed, shall
remain a lien upon such real estate from the recording of said certificate
until paid, and any tax lien so continued may, when the tax has been
paid, be discharged by a certificate of the Tax Collector recorded
in such land records. The fee of the Town Clerk for recording such
tax lien shall be $0.25 and there shall be allowed in favor of said
city the sum of $0.50 which sums shall be collected in addition to
the tax so secured.
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 105.)
Whenever the Tax Collector of said city shall file with the
Town Clerk his certificate for the purpose of continuing a lien of
any tax upon real estate as herein provided, he shall, within 30 days
thereafter, give notice to the person or persons in whose name such
property appears of record that such certificate has been filed, which
notice shall contain a statement of the original amount of such tax,
and if the person to whom such notice is sent is not the person against
whom such tax was assessed such notice shall state the name of the
person against whom the tax was assessed. Said notice shall not be
required in cases where said Collector, within 30 days prior to the
filing of such certificate, has given notice to the person who appears
of record to be the owner of his intention to file such certificate
of lien. Such notice shall not take the place of other notices herein
required, nor shall the failure to give the notice required by this
section affect the collection of the tax or invalidate the certificate
of lien.
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 106.)
The Tax Collector of said city may bring suit for the foreclosure
of any tax or other lien herein provided for, in the name of said
city, in the manner provided by law for the foreclosure of tax liens.
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 107.)
Assessments of benefits, as provided in §
1-439, §
1-451, §
1-204 and §
1-457, or as otherwise herein provided, shall be a lien upon
the land or other property upon which they are respectively made,
and shall take precedence of all other liens or encumbrances except
taxes due the state, and the land, with the buildings thereon, on
which any such lien may exist, shall be liable to be foreclosed in
the same manner as in the case of tax liens, provided such lien shall
not continue to exist for a period longer than 60 days after the giving
of notice as hereinbefore prescribed, unless within said period a
certificate, signed by the Mayor or Clerk of said city, describing
the premises on which said lien exists and stating the amount claimed
by said city as a lien thereon, shall be lodged with the Town Clerk
of Norwalk. Said liens shall cease to exist whenever a certificate
releasing the same signed by the Mayor or Clerk shall be filed with
said Town Clerk. All such certificates shall be recorded by said Town
Clerk in the land records of said Town of Norwalk, and the lawful
fees for filing such liens shall be added to such assessment. Said
assessment may be collected by warrant, under the hand of the Mayor,
in the same manner as town taxes are collected, and shall bear interest
at legal rate from time to time when the same becomes due.
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 108.)
In all cases where liens are created on account of public improvements
in said city such liens shall, if an appeal is taken from the appraisal
of damages or any assessment, continue for a period of 60 days after
the passage of the final decree of the Court of Judge having jurisdiction
of such appeal, or after termination of the appeal proceedings, but
no longer, unless within said period a certificate signed by the Mayor
or Clerk of said city, describing the premises on which the lien exists
and stating the amount claimed by said city as a lien thereon, shall
be lodged with said Town Clerk of Norwalk.
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 109; Sp. Laws 1921,
No. 400, § 7.)
All sums expended or expenses incurred under direction of the Council to level, raise, repair, flag, concrete or pave any sidewalk along the frontage of any property as provided in §§
1-442 and
1-443, or in the removal of any building erected in violation of §§
1-14 and
1-15, with the expense for filing, shall be a lien upon the lands and buildings with reference to which such expenditures were made or such expense incurred, and such lien shall date from the day when such expenditures were made or expense incurred and shall have the same validity and be collected in the same manner as tax liens, provided such liens shall not exist for a period longer than 60 days after such expenditure was made or expense incurred unless, within said period, a certificate, signed by the Mayor and Clerk of said city, is filed with the Town Clerk of Norwalk, as provided in §
1-266, relating to liens for benefits assessed.