than three hundred dollars, and upon conviction for any subsequent offense under this act shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for a period of not less than one vear nor more than ten years.

Emergency.

Section 7. An emergency is hereby declared by reason whereof it is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace and safety that this act take effect from and after its passage and approval.

Approved March 16, 1910.

CHAPTER 64

TAXATION-LIMITATIONS UPON COUNTIES AND SUBDIVISIONS.

House Bill No. 14.

AN ACT to provide for the levying of taxes on an ad valorem basis for county, city, town, township and school district purposes.

Be It Enacted By the People of the State of Oklahoma:
Limit for current expenses.

Section 1. Except as otherwise provided in this act, the total levy for current expenses of each county, city, town, township or school district, shall not exceed in any one year the following:

County levy not more than five mills, provided that any county may levy not exceeding one mill additional in aid of the common schools of the county and in any county where a county high school is located, an additional levy of not more than one mill may be made for the county high school: provided that where the assessed valuation of any county is less than $4,000,000, the county levy shall not exceed six mills.

City levy, not more than seven mills.

Incorporated town levy, not more than five mills.
Township levy, not more than three mills.

School district levy for the support of common schools, not more than five mills.

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Section 2. Each board of county commissioners, the mayor and council of each city of the first class, or the officers exercising like powers in any city of the first class in this state, having a charter form of government, the board of trustees of each incorporated town, the directors of each township, the board of education in each incorporated city and the directors of each school district in the state, shall meet on the first Monday in July of each year, and shall respectively make out an itemized statement of the fiscal condition of their respective municipalities and of the estimated needs thereof for the current expenses of the ensuing fiscal year. Said estimate shall show, first, any unexpended balance on hand of the levy for any previous year or years for current expense purposes; second, the estimated income of the municipality from all sources other than from advalorem taxation and such estimated income for school district purposes shall include the apportionment of the income from the common school fund, based on the distribution for the next preceding fiscal year; third, an itemized estimate of the amount necessary for the current expenses of each such municipality for the ensuing fiscal year; fourth, the amount necessary for a sinking fund, sufficient to pay at maturity, all bonded indebtedness coming due of such municipality; fifth, the amount necessary to pay the interest coupons falling due on its outstanding bonded indebtedness. The estimate for county purposes shall be itemized so as to show the amount estimated to be necessary for salaries; for court expenses; for county supplies; for the support of the poor and insane; for roads and bridges; for aid of the common schools of the county; for contingent fund; for county high schools, if any; for a sinking fund which shall, with the money already in such fund, be sufficient to pay, at maturity, all bonded indebtedness of such county coming due; for the interest coupons falling due on outstanding bonds of the county and an additional sum equal to onethird of the original amount of all outstanding judgments against the county where one-third or more of such judgments remain unpaid and in case less than one-third remains unpaid, then the estimate shall include the unpaid balance. Each estimate for county, city, incorporated town, township and schools district purposes, as prepared in accordance with the provisions of this act, shall be published in some newspaper published in each such county, city, incorporated town, township and school district in four consecutive issues if in a daily paper and two consecutive is

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sues if published in a weekly paper and if there be no such paper published in such county, city, incorporated town, township or school district, then a copy of such estimate shall be posted in at least five public places therein, which posting shall be within five days after said first Monday in July. Said publication shall be made in each instance by the board or authority making the estimate. Said estimate so made out and published as aforesaid, shall as soon as completed, be certified to the excise board of the county hereinafter provided for, together with an affidavit showing the publication or posting thereof as required by this act.

County excise board created.

Section 3. There is hereby created in each organized county in this state an excise board to be composed of the following county officers, to wit: county clerk, county treasurer, county judge, county superintendent and county attorney, who shall perform the duties as herein provided without additional compensation. The county judge shall be chairman of the board and the county clerk secretary

Duties of board-estimates-tax levies.

Section 4. The excise board shall meet at the county seat on the last Saturday of July of each year for the purpose of examining the estimates of expenses for the county and for each city, incorporated town, embracing a city of the first class, township and school district therein. Their meeting shall be public and they shall keep a record of their proceedings. They shall have power to revise and correct any estimate certified to them where the amount thereof is in excess of the just and reasonable needs of the municipality for which the same is made. When they shall have approved each estimate, if the same shall be within the limits for current expenses, provided by section 1 of this act, and shall have ascertained the assessed valuation of property taxed advalorem in the county and in each municipal subdivision thereof, and shall have ascertained the probable income of the county and of each municipal subdivision thereof from all sources other than advalorem taxation, they shall thereupon make the levy therefor, adding thereto the amount ascertained to be necessary for a sinking fund which, with the money already in such fund, shall be sufficient to pay, at maturity, all bonded indebtedness of such municipality, and for the interest coupons falling due on the outstanding bonds of such municipality; to the total amount so ascertained to be necessary for current expenses, sinking fund and interest coupons shall be added ten per centum for

delinquent taxes. The levies so made for [by] them shall be certified to the county clerk, who shall extend the same upon the tax roll.

Election necessary for increased levy.

Section 5. If any estimate certified to the excise board for the current expenses of any county, city, incorporated town, town• ship or school district shall exceed the limits prescribed by section 1 of this act, and the excise board shall be of the opinion that such excess is reasonably necessary for the current expenses of the municipality for which the same is prepared, they shall enter such fact upon the record of their proceedings and shall give notice by publication in one issue of some newspaper, printed in the county that a special election will be held in the county, city, incorporated town, township or school district as the case may be, on the second Tuesday after the first Monday in August next thereafter, for the purpose of submitting to the qualified electors of such county, city, incorporated town, township or school district, the question of making such increased levy. Such election shall be held under the general election laws of the state and in each election held under the provisions of this act, the amount of each proposed levv shall be printed upon the ballot with the words, "for the levy" and "against the levy." to the left of which shall be printed a square in which the elector[s] shall stamp to indicate his.choice.

Provided: In school districts not in cities of the first class the election shall be conducted as is now, or may hereafter be provided by law for such elections in school districts.

Fifty per cent of electors must vote.

Section 6. No election for an increased levy for county, city, incorporated town or township purposes shall be valid unless fifty per centum of the qualified electors as shown by the last preceding election shall vote therein.

Canvass of returns-majority governs.

Section 7. The returns of such elections held under the provisions of this act shall be made to the excise board, who shall meet at the county seat on the Friday following such election for the purpose of canvassing the returns. If the levies voted upon shall be approved by a majority of those voting for each levy and the total number voting shall be the proportion of the qualified electors of the county, city, incorporated town, township, school district required by this act, the excise board shall certify the same to the county clerk, who shall extend the same upon the tax roll; and no levy for any purpose shall be valid unless made according to the provisions of this act, and any such illegal levy, and the collection of the tax thereunder may be enjoined at the suit of any taxpayer.

Elections in cities-procedure.

Section 8. The provisions of this act shall apply to each city whether having a charter form of government or not, to the board of education in each city, except that where an election is called for the purpose of voting a tax in excess of that pre scribed by this act, such election shall be called by the mayor and council in such city or the officers exercising like power in cities having a charter form of government and by the board of education, who shall canvass the returns thereof and make the levies and certify the same to the county clerk, who shall extend the same upon the tax rolls.

In school districts 30 per cent voting is sufficient.

Section 9. It shall be the duty of the school trustees in each school district to record in a book kept for the purpose, the names of all legal voters within such school district, and at the election where it is proposed to vote an additional levy above the five mills herein authorized for school purposes the election shall be held to be a legal election when 30% of the total number of legal voters living in such school district shall participate therein.

Approved March 17, 1910.

S. L. '10-8