§ 2. Section one of title three of said act, is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

officers.

The officers of the city to be elected by general ticket Elective shall be the mayor, treasurer, police justice, three justices of the peace, one of whom and one only shall reside and keep his office in the first ward, and shall have power to issue warrants in criminal cases, returnable before the police justice of said city; two overseers of the poor, one of whom and one only shall reside and keep his office in the first ward, and three assessors.

§ 3. Section eight of title six of said act, is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

ney.

The common council may contract annually with an at- City attor torney and counsellor for said city, to advise with them and do whatever law business the city shall be interested in or may by its common council require to be done; and at the time of making said contract, they shall agree with him upon the amount of compensation which shall be paid him therefor.

ler.

§ 4. Section seven of title twelve of said act, is hereby Comptrolamended by striking out the words "attorney and counsellor," and inserting the word "comptroller" in their place.

§

5. The office of chief of police is hereby abolished, Police and all the powers and duties of said office in and by said justice. act conferred, shall apply to and devolve upon the police justice, and section one of title fourteen of said act, is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

The term of office of the police justice shall commence on the first day of January, next after his election and continue four years; the election of police justice to be at the next charter election, preceding the expiration of the term of office of the then incumbent. Vacancies in said office may be filled by the common council on a nomination by the mayor; and the term of office of the person appointed to fill such vacancy, shall expire on the last day of December, next after the first election for city officers takes place, at which a police justice can be elected to said office; all the provisions of law in reference to the present police justice, except such as are inconsistent with this act, shall continue and remain in force.

§ 6. Section five of title seven of said act, is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

Policemen.

Assessors.

There shall be appointed annually by the common council on the nomination of the mayor, such number of policemen, not to exceed eight, as he shall deem proper, who shall perform such duties as are by law prescribed to constables in towns and counties of this state in criminal cases, and shall be entitled to similar fees therefor; they shall also possess the same powers and authority as constables in civil cases, in all actions prosecuted by the city of Syracuse, and shall be entitled to the same fees therefor. Upon the failure of the common council to appoint any person nominated by the mayor for policeman, as in this section provided, it shall be the duty of the mayor upon being notified of the fact, immediately to make another nomination.

Section six of title seven of said act, is hereby amended by striking out the word "elected" and inserting the word "appointed" in its place.

§ 7. All powers of the assessors elected at the charter election in March, one thousand eight hundred and fiftyfour, are hereby abrogated, and section twelve of title seven of the aforesaid act, is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

The three assessors to be elected under the provisions of section two of this act, shall hold the office for three years, except that at the next election hereafter the assessors elect shall draw for the terms of one, two and three years; after which one assessor only (except to fill vacancies,) shall be elected annually; said drawing shall be by the city clerk, on the next Saturday after the election, in the presence and under the direction of the mayor and president of the common council. The assessors shall perform all the duties and possess all the powers conferred upon assessors in the different towns of the state, and be subject to the same obligations; they shall also perform all such duties as are specified in this act in reference to the assessment of property within the city, for the purpose of levying the taxes imposed or which may be imposed by the common council thereof. They shall make an assessment roll for each ward and on completing the same, (which shall be done by the first day of August in each year,) they shall leave the same with the city clerk, and thereupon give notice by posting hand-bills in each of the wards, and by publishing the same in the corporation paper or papers, that the assessment rolls are completed and left at the city clerk's

office where the same may be seen and examined for twen-
ty days, and that they will meet at the time specified in
such notice at the city clerk's office to review their assess-
ments. At such meeting they shall proceed in the same
manner to review and correct their assessments, as asses-
sors of towns, and they may adjourn from day to day, not
exceeding five days, until the same is completed. On
such review of their assessments, they shall have power
to insert or substitute the words "unknown owner," for
the name of the owner of any lands which they may be
required to assess, in all cases, where the assessors or either
of them shall make affidavit, that after diligent search and
inquiry they have not been able to ascertain the name of
such owner.
In the assessment of any lands in said city,
it shall be a sufficient description of the premises assessed,
to designate them by the number of the lot and block on
the map of the city, the name of the owner when known,
together with the name of the street on which the same is
situated, and a brief description of the premises. After
having completed and subscribed the said rolls they shall
deliver them to the clerk of the city to be filed, and a du-
plicate of each of the rolls for the several wards shall be
delivered by said clerk to the supervisor of each of said
wards, to be delivered by him to the board of supervisors
of the county.

§8. Section thirteen, of title seven of said act, is hereby amended, so as to read as follows:

sessments.

Whenever the common council shall make or shall have Local ascontracted to make any local improvement, the expense of which may be or is required by this act to be assessed locally, in proportion to the advantage or benefit each owner of property shall receive, such assessment shall be made by the said assessors.

sessing, and

taxes.

Whenever said assessors shall be directed by the com- Mode of asmon council to assess any tax for any local improvement, collecting it shall be their duty to proceed to assess the amount di- local rected by the common council, to be assessed upon the property benefited thereby, in a just and equitable manner as nearly as may be, in proportion to the advantages which each owner of the property may be deemed to derive from such improvement, without reference to erections or improvements on the lots. The assessors shall make out a tax roll, and shall set in the last column of such roll, opposite the name of the person, corporation or

Rolls how corrected.

association, and description of property assessed, the amount assessed upon the same. When such assessment shall be completed, it shall be signed by the assessors, or a majority of them, and filed with the city clerk, who shall thereupon give notice in the corporation paper or papers, for ten days after the filing of such assessment, that the same has been filed, and that parties considering themselves aggrieved, may within that time file with the clerk, an appeal therefrom; which appeal shall briefly state the ground upon which it is made. In case there is no appeal therefrom, to the common council, within that time, the common council shall cause the proper warrant to be attached thereto, and the same to be delivered to the proper collector. In case of an appeal, the common council shall proceed to hear and determine such appeal upon view of the property assessed, or upon such evidence as the aggrieved party or the city may produce; and in determining such appeal, may affirm or reverse the same. In case of affirmance, the common council shall proceed in the same manner as if there had been no appeal to collect the tax. In case of reversal, the common council shall, by ballot, appoint three disinterested free-holders of said city, commissioners, who shall immediately proceed to make such assessment in the same manner, and shall be possessed of the same powers and shall perform the same duties in reference thereto, as the assessors had and were authorised to perform in the first instance. They shall make their tax roll in the same manner, and file the same with the city clerk, and it shall be conclusive between the parties, except in the case of clerical errors. The common council shall then cause the proper warrant to be attached thereto, and to be delivered to the proper collector. In case of an assessment made in two wards, there shall be a tax roll made for each ward. The city assessors, and the commissioners which may be appointed under this section, shall each be paid two dollars per day for their services, while necessarily engaged in the performance of their official duties.

§9. After the assessment rolls are completed, and during the twenty days, the same may be left with the city clerk to be seen and examined, and during the time the assessors are correcting and reviewing the same, as provided by section seven of this act, the said assessors shall have power to add to or insert in said assessment rolls, any

property liable to taxation and the assessment thereof,
which may have been through inadvertency or mistake
omitted therefrom, upon giving personal notice thereof to
the owner or agent of such property, that said owner or
agent may have an opportunity of appearing before them
in respect thereto.

§10. Section six, of title twelve of said act, is hereby
amended, so as to read as follows:

errors.

Whenever there is a manifest error in copying any as- Clerical sessment roll, or in levying and extending any tax, the common council shall have power at any time within six months, after the assessment roll shall be completed, by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected, to correct, cancel, remit or add to the same, but the common council shall have no power to alter any valuation made by the assessors; nor shall amended assessment operate in any way as a lien upon any real estate in the hands of purchasers or mortgagees in good faith, who shall become such subsequent to the time when said amended assessment shall be made.

§ 11. The chairman of the committee of the common Oaths. council on accounts, shall have the same powers as justices of the peace in the towns and counties of this state, to administer oaths and take affidavits, and proofs or acknowledgments, in relation to all matters in which the city or its officers or servants as such, are interested.

§ 12. In addition to the duties now imposed by section seven of title seven of said act, the several collectors of taxes in said city, shall immediately after receiving any warrant for the collection of county or state taxes in their respective wards, give notice in the official paper or papers, if more than one, of the city, that they will attend at the city hall in said city, or at such other place, and on such days as the common council shall designate, which shall be at least two days in each of the three following weeks, (which place and days shall be specified in said notice,) from ten o'clock in the forenoon until three o'clock in the afternoon, for the purpose of receiving payment of taxes; and it shall be the duty of such collectors to attend accordingly, and any person may pay his county and state taxes to the collector of the ward in which such tax is imposed at such time and place, by paying one per cent fees thereon.

Notice to be given by collectors.