17-1344.   Same; board of trustees; officers; bond; expenditures; taxlevies;election upon petition.Upon the establishment of said cemetery district, the cemetery conveyedthereto shall become the property of said district and the townshiptrustee of every township, a portion of which is included in saiddistrict, and the mayor of the city shall constitute a board oftrustees, having full power and control of said cemetery, except that ifany such cemetery district is formed by the joining of one city and onlyone township, the treasurer of such city shall be the third member ofsaid board of trustees. Said board of trustees shall elect from theirown membership a chairman and may select from their own membership orotherwise, a secretary, whose terms of office shall be fixed by theboard of trustees. The treasurer of the city of the second or thirdclass which is included in the cemetery district may be treasurer of thecemetery district and when said city treasurer shall act as treasurer ofthe cemetery district, the bond given by said treasurer to the cityshall also cover funds of the cemetery district which come into thehands of the said treasurer.

      Whenever the board of trustees shall select a treasurer for thecemetery district who is not the city treasurer, the board of trusteesshall provide such treasurer with a corporate surety bond in a sum fixedby the board and conditioned on the safekeeping of such funds and theaccounting for the same whenever called upon so to do by said board oftrustees. All expenditures made by the board of trustees shall be paidby warrants drawn on the treasurer and signed by the chairman andsecretary of the board.

      Said board of trustees may authorize a tax of not to exceed two (2)mills to be levied by such cemetery district for the purpose ofmaintaining and improving said cemetery. Such tax shall be levied withinthe city by the governing body of the city and in the district outsidethe city such tax shall be levied by the board of county commissionersupon certification to them, by the board of trustees, of the rate oflevy to be made, except that, if the amount of the levy fixed by theboard of trustees under this section is greater than one (1) mill and avalid petition in opposition to the amount of such levy in excess of one(1) mill, is filed with the county election officer of each such countywithin fifteen (15) days of the date such levy is certified to the boardof county commissioners of each such county, the amount of the levyauthorized to be fixed for such year by the board of trustees under thissection shall not exceed and the amount of such levy shall be deemed tobe one (1) mill. Any petition in opposition to the amount of such levyin excess of one (1) mill shall be valid if it is signed by at least twopercent (2%) of the qualified electors in said cemetery district. Thetax so collected shall be paid over by the county treasurer to thetreasurer of the cemetery district upon order of the board of trusteesof the cemetery district which order shall be signed by the chairman andsecretary of said board.

      History:   L. 1941, ch. 176, § 3; L. 1943, ch. 129, § 1; L. 1949, ch. 189, § 2;L. 1951, ch. 202, § 1; L. 1975, ch. 132, § 3;July 1.