when to be made. in force, shall be appointed by the Governor by and with the advice and consent of the senate. All appointments which are Appointments, provided to be made by the Governor by this section of this act shall be made while the legislature is in session, and not at any other time, except in cases where vacancies in office shall occur otherwise than by expiration of the term of office of any member of said board. In case of vacancy in office occurring otherwise than by expiration of the term the Governor shall have power. to appoint to fill such vacancy at any Term of office. time, and the persons so appointed shall hold office until the next meeting of the legislature after their appointment and no longer. Vacancy, how filled. Election of secretary. Term of office. SEC. 2. Said board shall elect a secretary at a salary not to exceed eighteen hundred dollars per annum. The secretary so appointed shall hold his office during the pleasure of said board and shall keep a record of all the proceedings of said board, which record with all other papers or proceedings of said board shall be a part of the records of the Auditor General's office, and of which the Auditor General shall be the lawful custodian. The secretary shall devote all his time to the duties of his office, and when said board is not in session Further duties shall perform such duties as may have been assigned him by said board or as he may be directed to perform by the Auditor General. Auditor custodian board records. of secretary. Oath of office. Place of meeting. Right of access "To county, township and municipal records. Annual assessment roll. SEC. 3. The members of said board, and the secretary, shall take and subscribe the constitutional oath of office to be filed with the Secretary of State. SEC. 4. Said board shall hold its sessions at the office of the Auditor General. It shall have access to all books, to state records. papers, documents, statements and accounts on file or of record in any of the departments of State, subject to the rules and regulations of the respective departments relative to the care of the public records. It shall have like access to all books, papers, documents, statements and accounts on file or of record in counties, townships and municipalities. It shall make an assessment roll each year containing a list of all property by it assessed, which assessment roll shall be filed with the Auditor General and be open to inspection like the other files and records in his office. Said board shall have the right to subpoena witnesses upon a subpoena signed by the president of said board, and attested by the secretary thereof, directed to such witnesses, and which subpoena may be served by any person authorized to serve subpoenas from courts of record in this State, and the attendance of witnesses may be compelled witnesses. by attachment to be issued by any circuit court in the State upon proper showing that such witness has been properly subpoenaed and has refused to obey such subpoena. The person serving such subpoena shall receive the same compensation now allowed to sheriffs and other officers for serving subpoenas. Said board shall have power to examine witnesses under oath, said oath to be administered by any member of Right to subpoena. Compulsory attendance of Compensation for serving subpoena. Power to examine witnesses. examine books, be assessed. permit exami. said board or by the secretary thereof. Said board shall have Right to the right to examine books, papers or accounts of any cor- etc.. of one to poration, firm or individual owning property to be assessed by said board; and if any corporation, firm or individual refuse to Refusal to permit said inspection, or neglect or fail to appear before said pation. Failure board in response to its subpoena, said corporation, firm or individual shall forfeit the sum of five hundred dollars to the therefor. State. The sum so forfeited may be recovered in a proper action brought in the name of the people of the State of Michigan in any court of competent jurisdiction. to appear. Penalty ing. Assess be made. property. SEC. 5. Said board shall meet on the first Monday in Sep- Time of meettember in each year, and between that time and the first ments, when to Monday in November of each year assess all the property in this State of railroad companies, express companies, telegraph companies and telephone companies now organized or hereafter organized and doing business in this State, under any law of this State or any state or country. Said board may inspect all the property belonging to said companies, for Inspection of the purpose of arriving at the true cash value thereof, for the purposes of assessment and taxation. Said board may, for the same purpose, take into consideration the reports and re- of companies' turns of said companies on file in the office of any officer in reports and this State, the value of the stock of such corporation as listed on the stock exchange of New York and Boston, together with such other evidence as it may be able to obtain bearing upon the true cash value of the property of said companies in this State. Consideration returns. taxes raised in SEC. 6. Said board shall determine and enter upon its rec- Aggregate ord the aggregate taxes raised in the whole State, for State, State, to be county and municipal purposes, for the current year, not in- recorded. cluding special assessments on property particularly benefited. All State, county and municipal officers shall make Returns of such returns to said board as it shall require upon blanks to be State, county and municipal furnished such officers by the Auditor General, so as to enable officers. said board to ascertain with exactness the aggregate taxes as above provided. Said board shall determine the average rate Average rate, of State, county and municipal taxes throughout the State by how deter dividing aggregate taxes for the current year, as ascertained under this section, by an aggregate sum to be determined by adding to the total value of all property assessed under this act the equalized value of all property assessed in the State as fixed by the State Board of Equalization at its last meeting. Municipalities within the meaning of this act shall be Municipalities, construed to include school districts as well as cities, villages include. and other municipalities. mined. what to average rate SEC. 7. Said board shall tax the property of the several To tax at companies as assessed by it, at the average rate of taxation as determined. determined by it, and the amount of tax to be paid by each of Tax to be paid, said companies shall be extended upon said assessment roll opposite the descriptions of their respective properties, and the tax so extended shall be paid to the State Treasurer by said how recorded. When to be paid. Tax, what to include. companies respectively on or before the first Monday in January following the assessment and levy aforesaid, which tax when so assessed and levied shall be in lieu of all other taxes for State and local purposes, not including special assessments on property particularly benefited made in any Taxes a lien on county, city, village or township. The taxes so extended against said companies shall constitute a lien upon all the property of said companies, real, personal and mixed from the time of the extension of said taxes until the payment thereEnforcement of of, which lien may be enforced by the State like other iiens in any court of competent jurisdiction. companies' property. lien. Railroad company, definition of. Express company, how defined. Telegraph company, how defined. Telephone company, definition of. Annual statement under with the Auditor General. what to contain. SEC. 8. Any person or persons, joint stock company or corporation owning and operating a railroad in this State, or owning and operating a union railroad station and depot in this State, whether under special charter or the general railroad law or the act to authorize the incorporation of union railroad stations and depots, or any other act of this State or any other state or country, shall be deemed a railroad company within the meaning of this act. SEC. 9. Any person or persons, joint stock association or corporation, wherever organized or incorporated or wherever residing, engaged in the business of conveying to, from or through this State, or any part thereof, money, packages, gold, silver, plate, or other articles by express, not including the ordinary lines of transportation of merchandise and property in this State, shall be deemed an express company within the meaning of this act. SEC. 10. Any person or persons, joint stock association or corporation, wherever organized or incorporated or wherever residing, engaged in the business of transmitting to, from, through or in this State, telegraphic messages, shall be deemed a telegraph company within the meaning of this act. SEC. 11. Any person or persons, joint stock association or corporation, wherever organized or incorporated or wherever residing, engaged in the business of transmitting to, from or through or in this State telephonic messages, shall be deemed a telephone company within the meaning of this act. SEC. 12. Every railroad, express, telegraph and telephone oath to be filed company defined in the preceding sections, doing business in this State, shall annually, between the first and thirty-first days of May in each year, under the oath of such person or persons, or under the oath of the president, secretary, treasurer, superintendent or chief officer of such association or corporation, make and file with the Auditor General, for the use of said board, in such form as the Auditor General may prescribe, a statement containing the following facts: First, The name of the company; Second, The nature of the company, whether a person or persons, an association or corporation, and under the laws of what state or country organized: Third, The location of its principal office; Fourth, The name and postoffice address of the president, secretary, auditor, treasurer and superintendent or general manager; Fifth, The name and postoffice address of the chief officer or managing agent of the company in Michigan; Sixth, The number of shares of the capital stock; Seventh, The par value and market value, or if there be no market value, the actual value of the shares of stock on the first day of May; Eighth, A detailed statement of the real estate owned by the company in Michigan, where situated, and the value thereof as assessed, if it is assessed for taxation under any other law; Ninth, A full and correct inventory of the personal property including moneys and credits owned by the company, in Michigan, on the first day of May, where situate and the value thereof; Tenth, The total value of the real estate owned by the company, situate outside of Michigan; Eleventh, The total value of the personal property of the company and situate outside of Michigan; Twelfth, In case of railroad, telegraph and telephone companies, the whole length of their lines and the length of so much of their lines as is without and as is within Michigan, which lines shall include what said railroad, telegraph and telephone companies control and use as owners, lessees, or otherwise; Thirteenth, A statement of the entire gross receipts of the company, from whatever source derived, for the year ending the first day of May, from business wherever done; Fourteenth, A statement of the gross receipts for the year ending the first day of May from whatever source derived and the total gross receipts of the company for such period in this State; Fifteenth, In case of express companies, the whole length of the lines of rail and water routes over which the company did business on the first day of May, and the length of so much of said lines of land and water transportation as is without and is within this State, naming the lines within this State, excluding all ocean lines from such statement; Sixteenth, Such other facts and information as said board may require, in the form of the returns prescribed by the Auditor General. Blanks for making the above statement shall be furnished to such companies on application to the secretary of said board: Provided, however, That the reports hereby provided for shall not in any way relieve any of said companies from making the reports now required to be made to other State officers: Provided further, That the report herein required to be made for the year eighteen hundred ninety-nine shall be made on or before the first day of September, eighteen hundred ninety-nine. Franchises, how considered. Assessment, how made. Action of board on failure or statement. SEC. 13. The franchises of the companies assessed under this act shall be considered in connection with the other things mentioned in section five of this act in determining the value of the property to be assessed, and in case any of said railroad companies own and operate railroads partly within and partly without this State, said board shall, for the purpose of taxation only, assess said company for the fair proportion which its property in this State bears to its entire property, and to ascertain such cash value the earning capacity of such corporate property may be considered. SEC. 14. Said board shall ascertain and assess the value of all property of railroad companies, express companies, telegraph and telephone companies doing business in this State at its true cash value, and in determining the property for such purposes in this State to be taxed within the State and assessed as herein provided, the board shall be guided by the value of said property as determined by the entire capital stock of said companies and such other evidence as will enable said board to arrive at the true cash value of the entire property of said companies within this State in the proportion which the same bears to the entire property of said company, as determined by the value of the capital stock thereof and such other evidence. SEC. 15. In case any company fails or refuses to make the refusal to make statement required by this act, or to furnish any information requested, the board shall inform itself as best it may on the matters necessary to be known in order to discharge its duties with respect to the assessment of the property of said company. Right of those interested to board. SEC. 16. At any time after the meeting of said board in appear before September as above provided, and before the final assessment of the property of any such company is determined, any company or person interested shall have the right, on written application, to appear before said board and be heard as to the valuation of the property of said company, and said board may, on such application or on its own motion, correct the assessment or valuation of the property of any such company or person in such manner as will in its judgment make the valuation thereof just and equal. Penaly for failure to make and file statement. SEC. 17. In case any company required to file a statement under the provisions of this act fails to make and file such statement on or before the thirty-first day of May, or in the year eighteen hundred ninety-nine on or before the first day of September, such company shall be subject to a penalty of five hundred dollars and an additional penalty of one hundred dollars for each day's omision [omission] after the day prescribed for the making of such report, to file such statement, such penalty to be paid to the State and to be recovered in an action in the name of the people of the State of Michigan in any court of competent jurisdiction. |