notified to give bond, take oath, within ten days thereafter must give the official bond Overseers required by the Board of Supervisors in the order of appointment or confirmation, and take the usual oath etc. of office. The notice and certificate that the bond has been filed, and the oath taken and indorsed thereon, or a certified copy thereof, constitutes a commission, and authorizes the person named in and holding the same to discharge the duties of Overseer until superseded. NOTE.-Stats. 1855, p. 192, Sec. 3. Road 2650. Road Overseers, under the direction and Duties of supervision and pursuant to orders of the Commis- Overseer. sioner of Highways or the Board of Supervisors appointing them, must: 1. Take charge of the public highways within their respective districts; 2. Keep them clear from obstructions and in good repair; 3. Cause banks to be graded, bridges and causeways to be made where necessary, keep the same in good repair, and renew them when destroyed; 4. Give two days notice to the inhabitants of his road district liable to do work on roads, when, where, with what implements, and under whose direction to work, and superintend the same; 5. Collect, from each inhabitant notified to work and who fails to work or prefers to pay it, the commutation fee; 6. Make semi-annual reports of all labor performed in his district, and how all road poll tax and commutation moneys were expended, to the Commissioner of Highways or Board of Supervisors, under oath; 7. Receive and present petitions for new roads, recommend or disapprove the same, and assist in laying them out; 8. Collect all road poll taxes in the mode provided Same. Commissioner of duties. for the collection of other poll taxes, and faithfully account for and pay over the same; 9. Pay over to his successor, or into the Fund of his road district in the County Treasury, all road moneys in his hands and unexpended; 10. Receive for his services, from money coming into his hands belonging to his road district, the sum of three dollars for each day's service performed by him, to be audited and ordered paid by the Board of Supervisors. NOTE. This Chapter changes materially the old law on the subject of roads and highways, under which decisions of our Supreme Court have been rendered, but such decisions are here referred to for comparison and consultation.-See following cases as to Road Overseers. His relation to the county is not that of servant to his master.-Crowell vs. Sonoma Co., 25 Cal., p. 313. Responsibility for neglect to repair roads and bridges.-See Huffman vs. San Joaquin Co., 21 Cal., p. 426. 2651. The Commissioner of Highways must atHighways, tend each session of the Board of Supervisors, when road matters of the county are under consideration, and consult with and advise them of all matters pertaining to the roads of the county; and must supervise and correct the list of inhabitants liable to road service in each district in the county; distribute to Road Overseers their respective lists of assessments; see that they collect and apply the same; receive reports from Road Overseers and report the same semi-annually to the Board of Supervisors. Compensation of Commis sioner of 2652. The Commissioner of Highways must receive a salary of one thousand dollars per annum, to Highways. be paid quarterly by order of the Board of Supervisors from the aggregate road tax collected and paid into the County Treasury for road purposes, which must be set apart for such purpose prior to the distribution. of the same among the road districts. 2653. From the road tax collected from all sources the Board of Supervisors may annually set apart a sum not exceeding fifteen per cent of the aggregate for general county road purposes, from which they may direct such amounts to be paid as may be found necessary for such general road purposes in which the inhabitauts of all the districts are more or less interested. The object of the appropriation must be specified in each order made therefor. SECTION 2657. Who owe a road poll tax. 2658. Overseers to make a list of inhabitants. 2659. Levy of road poll tax, when and how made. 2661. Tax list made out; tax collected and applied. 2662. Overseers to add omitted and new inhabitants. 2657. Every male inhabitant of a road district over twenty-one and under fifty years of age must perform two days labor annually, to be known as the road poll tax, upon the roads and highways of the district, under the demand and direction of the Road Overseer thereof; or pay to such Overseer a commutation fee of four dollars, or such smaller amount as may be fixed as the commutation fee by the Board of Supervisors. NOTE.-Stats. 1858, p. 192. who owe a tax. road poll to make inhabi 2658. Each Road Overseer must, within twenty Overseers days after being notified of his appointment and quali- a list of fication, deliver to the Clerk of the Board of Super- tants. visors, or to the Commissioner of Highways, a list of the inhabitants of his district liable for the road poll Levy of road poll tax therein. This list must be laid before the Board of Supervisors at their first meeting held thereafter. NOTE.-Stats. 1862, p. 394. 2659. The Board of Supervisors must each year, tax, when prior to the meeting at which they are required to and how made. Road poli tax receipts. Tax list made out. Tax collected and applied. levy the property tax for county purposes, estimate the probable amount of property tax for highway purposes which may be necessary for the ensuing year over and above the road poll tax, and must regulate and fix the amount of property highway tax, and levy the same thereby; and, at the same time, the Board of Supervisors must fix the commutation fee for the road poll tax at an amount not exceeding four dollars. NOTE.-Stats. 1855, p. 492; 1861, p. 394. 2660. At the time of fixing the commutation fee the Board of Supervisors must provide proper blank road poll tax receipts, to be signed by the Clerk of the Board; and must deliver to each Road Overseer, or the Commissioner of Highways for such Overseers, a number to each equal to the number of inhabitants of their respective districts liable for road poll tax, take receipt therefor, and charge the road office receiving the same therewith; but credit must be given to each Road Overseer for all unsold blank road poll tax receipts returned to the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors. 2661. In counties of the first class the Commissioner of Highways, and of the second class the Road Overseers, must make out lists of the inhabitants of the road districts liable for road poll tax, and require of each the performance of the labor or the payment of the commutation fee fixed by the Board of Supervisors, and apply such labor and commutation money in the opening, maintenance, and repair of the highways and adjuncts in their respective road districts. The lists, when prepared by the Commissioner, must be placed in the hands of the Road Overseers for the purposes in this section named. to add and new inhabi tants. 2662. The Commissioner of Highways and Road Overseers Overseers must from time to time add to the lists the omitted names of persons liable for road poll tax who were omitted or who have become inhabitants of his district since the original list was made, and enforce the road poll tax or collect the commutation fee therefor, and apply the same as herein before provided. property road tax. how levied collected, etc. 2663. The annual property tax for road purposes Annual must be levied by the Board of Supervisors at their session when the tax is by them levied for county purposes, and must not exceed thirty cents on each one hundred dollars in value of taxable property. This property road tax, when levied, must be annually assessed and collected by the same officers and in the same manner as other State and county taxes are levied, assessed, and collected, and turned over to the County Treasurer for the use of the road districts from which it is respectively collected. NOTE.-Stats. 1856, p. 144, Sec. 1. 2664. The road poll and property tax herein provided for must not be levied or collected from the inhabitants or property of incorporated towns and cities which by municipal authority levy such taxes for the streets and alleys thereof. Bridges crossing the line between cities or towns and road districts must be constructed by the cities or towns and the Road Fund of the road districts into which such bridges reach, proportionally. NOTE.-Stats. 1856, p. 144, Sec. 1. Cities and towns not to pay tax. |