Incorporation of Cities and Villages. INCORPORATION OF CITIES AND VILLAGES. ARTICLE XII. I Section I. It shall be the duty of the Legislature to pro2 vide for the organization of cities and incorporated villages, 3 and to restrict their power of taxation, assessment, borrowing 4 money, contracting debts, and loaning their credit, so as to 5 prevent abuses in assessments, and in contracting debt by 6 such municipal corporations. The Legislature shall establish a system of county governments, which shall be uniform throughout the State; and by general laws shall provide for township organization, under which any county may organize whenever a majority of the qualified electors of such county, voting at a general election, shall so determine; and whenever a county shall adopt township organization, the assessment and collection of the revenue shall be made, and the business of such county and the local affairs of the several townships therein, shall be managed and transacted in the manner prescribed by such general laws. 13. XIV. COLORADO. The General Assembly shall provide, by general laws, for the organization and classification of cities and towns. The number of such classes shall not exceed four, and the powers of each class shall be defined by general laws, so that all munici Sec. Art. Incorporation of Cities and Villages. Sec. Art. municipal corporations may be vested with authority to assess and collect taxes; but such taxes shall be uniform in respect to persons and property within the jurisdiction of the body imposing the same. 5. X. The General Assembly shall provide, by general law, for township organization, under which any county may organize whenever a majority of the legal voters of such county, voting at any general election, shall so determine; and whenever any county shall adopt township organization, so much of this Constitution as provides for the management of the fiscal concerns of the said county by the board of county commissioners, may be dispensed with, and the affairs of said county may be transacted in such manner as the General Assembly may provide. And in any county that shall have adopted a town organization, the question of continuing the same may be submitted to a vote of the electors of such county, at a general election, in the manner that now is or may be provided by law; and if a majority of all the votes cast upon that question shall be against township organization, then such organization shall cease in said county; and all laws in force in relation to counties not having township organization, shall immediately take effect and be in force in such county. No two townships shall have the same name, and the day of holding the annual township meeting shall be uniform throughout the State. 5. XII. KANSAS. Provision shall be made by general law for the organization of Sec. Art. Incorporation of Cities and Villages. cities, towns and villages; and their power of taxation, assessment, borrowing money, contracting debts and loaning their credit, shall be so restricted as to prevent the abuse of such power. 156. KENTUCKY. The cities and towns of this Commonwealth, for the purposes of their organization and government, shall be divided into six classes. The organization and powers of each class shall be defined and provided for by general laws, so that all municipal corporations of the same class shall possess the same powers and be subject to the same restrictions. To the first class shall belong cities with a population of one hundred thousand or more; to the second class, cities with a population of twenty thousand or more, and less than one hundred thousand; to the third class, cities with a population of eight thousand or more, and less than twenty thousand; to the fourth class, cities and towns with a population of three thousand or more, and less than eight thousand; to the fifth class, cities and towns with a population of one thousand or more, and less than three thousand; to the sixth class, towns with a population of less than one thousand. The General Assembly shall assign the cities and towns of the Commonwealth to the classes to which they respectively belong, and change assignments made as the population of said cities and towns may increase or decrease, and in the absence of other satisfactory information as to their population shall be governed by the last preceding federal census in so doing; but no city or town Sec. Art. shall be transferred from one class to another, except in pursuance of a law previously enacted and providing therefor. The General Assembly, by a general law, shall provide how towns may be organized, and enact laws for the government of such towns until the same are assigned to one or the other of the classes above named; but such assignment shall be made at the first session of the General Assembly after the organization of said town or city. 159. Whenever any county, city, town, taxing district or other municipality is authorized to contract an indebtedness, it shall be required, at the same time, to provide for the collection of an annual tax sufficient to pay the interest on said indebtedness, and to create a sinking fund for the payment of the principal thereof, within not more than forty years from the time of contracting the same. 180. The General Assembly may authorize the counties, cities or towns to levy a poll tax not exceeding one dollar and fifty cents per head. Every act enacted by the General Assembly, and every ordinance and resolution passed by any county, city, town or municipal board or local legisla tive body, levying a tax, shall specify distinctly the purpose for which said tax is levied. and no tax levied and collected for one purpose shall ever be devoted to another purpose. LOUISIANA. Art. 242. The General Assembly shall have power to enact gen. eral laws authorizing the parochial or municipal authori Sec. Art. Incorporation of Cities and Villages. ties of the State, under certain circumstances, by a vote of the majority of the property taxpayers in numbers and in value, to levy special taxes in aid of the public improvements or railway enterprises: Provided, That such tax shall not exceed the rate of five mills per annum nor extend for a longer period than ten years. 38. IV. MICHIGAN. The Legislature may confer upon organized townships, incorporated cities and villages, and upon the boards of supervisors of the several counties such powers of local legislative and administrative character as they may deem proper. 13. XV. The Legislature shall provide for the incorporation and organization of cities and villages, and shall restrict their powers of taxation, borrowing money, contracting debts and loaning their credit. MINNESOTA. 14 (b). IX. The Legislature shall not authorize any county, township, city, or other municipal corporation to issue bonds or to become indebted in any manner to aid in the construction or equipment of any or all railroads to any amount that shall exceed ten per centum of the value of the taxable property within such county, township, city, or other muncipal corporation; the amount of such taxable property to be ascertained and determined by the last essessment of said property made for the purpose of State and county taxation previous to the incurring of such indebtedness. The General Assembly shall provide, by general laws, for the organization and classification of cities and towns. The number of such classes shall not exceed four; and the power of each class shall be defined by general laws, so that all such municipal corporations of the same class shall possess the same powers and be subject to the same restrictions. The General Assembly shall also make provisions by general law, whereby any city, town or village, existing by virtue of any special or local law, may elect to become subject to and be governed by the general laws relating to such corporations. 8. IX. |