67-1-505 - Surety bond.
67-1-505. Surety bond.
(a) (1) Each county assessor, before entering into the duties of office, shall enter into an official bond prepared in accordance with the provisions of title 8, chapter 19, payable to the state of Tennessee, in the sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000), to be approved by the county mayor, conditioned in such manner as required by § 8-19-111. The bond shall be approved by the county legislative body, recorded in the office of the county register of deeds and transmitted to the comptroller of the treasury for safekeeping.
(2) The governing body of any county, by a two-thirds (2/3) vote, shall elect whether or not the county assessor of the county shall make a surety bond or a bond with two (2) or more good sureties, approved by the body, prior to the time such county assessor is inducted and sworn into office.
(b) Each county assessor of the state shall, on or before the January 1 following election, execute and enter into a new bond in the amounts provided by law and conditioned as directed in subsection (a), and it is unlawful after that date for any assessor to perform the duties of assessor without giving such bond. If such bond is not made by that date, that office shall become vacant and shall be filled as may be provided by law.
(c) (1) Before any county mayor shall approve or accept any bond of any assessor, the county mayor shall read the bond required of the assessor to the assessor and the assessor's sureties, and direct their attention to the duties and penalties prescribed by law.
(2) It is a Class A misdemeanor for any county clerk to fail or neglect to keep and preserve such bonds in a well-bound book, or for the county mayor to accept or approve of any bond designated in this section without complying with the provisions of this section.
[Acts 1973, ch. 226, § 3; 1976, ch. 616, § 2; 1977, ch. 270, § 22; 1978, ch. 689, §§ 11, 12; impl. am. Acts 1978, ch. 934, §§ 7, 16, 22, 36; T.C.A., §§ 67-304 67-306; Acts 1989, ch. 591, §§ 1, 6; 1998, ch. 677, § 19; 2003, ch. 90, § 2.]