CHAPTER 156 - CITIES AND TOWNS—BETHEL
AN ACT TO FURTHER AMEND CHAPTER 216, VOLUME 24, LAWS OF DELAWARE, ENTITLED "AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE TOWN OF BETHEL", AS AMENDED BY CHAPTER 254, VOLUME 27, LAWS OF DELAWARE; AND FURTHER AMENDED BY CHAPTER 42, VOLUME 31, LAWS OF DELAWARE; AND FURTHER AMENDED BY CHAPTER 43, VOLUME 31, LAWS OF DELAWARE, BY INCREASING THE AMOUNT WHICH MAY BE RAISED BY TAXATION IN THE TOWN OF BETHEL, AND PROVIDING FOR LEVY AND COLLECTION OF TAXES ON TELEPHONE, TELEGRAPH, POWER POLES OR OTHER LIKE ERECTIONS TOGETHER WITH WIRES AND APPLIANCES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met (two-thirds of all the members elected to each branch thereof concurring therein):
Section 1. That Section 5 of Chapter 216, Volume 24, Laws of Delaware, be and the same is hereby amended by striking out said Section and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
That the commissioners herein named and their successors in office shall, at their first stated meeting in every year, determine the amount of tax to be raised in said town for that year, not exceeding One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) including tax on real and personal property and poll tax; and they shall appoint an assessor, who may or may not be one of their number, to make an assessment of persons and property in said town; and shall also appoint a collector and treasurer, who may or may not be one of their number.
The collector and treasurer may be the same person. It shall be the duty of the assessor of said town, within two weeks from his appointment, to make a true, just and impartial valuation and assessment of all the real estate and assessable personal property within the said town, and also an assessment of all the male citizens residing in said town above the age of twenty-one years, as well as those owning real estate as those not owning real estate, at least one dollar per head as tax, provided that all vacant lots, pieces and parcels of land within the limits of the town, as the limits may be determined and designated, exceeding one acre in quantity, shall be exempt from taxation for the uses and purposes of said town of Bethel, but all such lots, and pieces and parcels of land exceeding an acre as aforesaid, having a dwelling thereon shall be assessed and taxed as and for one town lot, and the said assessor shall forthwith, after making such assessment, deliver to the commissioners for the time being a duplicate containing the names of all persons assessed and the amount of assessment, distinguishing the real and personal assessment of each. When the assessment is returned, the commissioners shall give five days' public notice of the fact, and that they will sit together at a certain place, on a certain day, from two to four o'clock in the afternoon, to hear appeals from said assessment; they shall have power on such day to add to or decrease any assessment except that of poll which shall always remain at the figures above stated, one dollar per head. When the appeal day is passed, they shall without delay cause the assessment list to be transcribed and the transcript to be delivered to the collector, who shall thereupon collect from each taxable his proportion of the tax laid, and pay over the whole amount, deducting commission and delinquencies, which shall be allowed by the commissioners to the treasurer by the first day of June next after the receipt of his duplicate. The collector shall have the same power for the collection of said taxes as are conferred by law upon collectors of County taxes, provided, however, that in making said assessment for the town of Bethel all machinery in any factory now in said town, or that hereafter may be erected shall be exempt from taxation for town purposes, and that only the real estate and buildings belonging to said factories shall be taxed.
The Commissioners shall also have the right to levy and collect taxes upon all telephone, telegraph, power poles, or other erections of like character erected within the limits of the Town, together with the wires and appliances thereto or thereon attached, that are now assessable and taxable at a rate not to exceed One Dollar ($1.00) per pole, and to this end, may at any time direct the same to be included in or added to the Town Assessment. In case the owner or lessee of such poles or erections shall refuse or neglect to pay the taxes that may be levied thereon, the said taxes may be collected by the Collector as in case of other taxes and the commissioners shall have authority to cause the same to be removed.
Approved February 12, 1941.