CHAPTER 40
FORMERLY SENATE BILL NO. 113
AN ACT TO AMEND THE ACT TO INCORPORATE THE TOWN OF SOUTH BETHANY.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware (two-thirds of all the Members elected to each branch thereof concurring therein):
Section 1. Section 5 of the Act to Incorporate the Town of South Bethany, approved May 6, 1969, is hereby amended by:
(a) striking from the first sentence thereof the words "noon until eight o'clock" and substituting in lieu thereof "11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m."
(b) striking from the second sentence thereof the word "ten" and substituting in lieu thereof the word "thirty".
(c) striking from the third sentence thereof the words "held in the month of May."
(d) adding at the end of subsection (a) the following sentence:
"The term of office of Assessor and Treasurer shall be for two years."
(e) adding at the end of the first sentence of subsection (b) the following sentence:
"Thereafter the terms of the Commissioners shall be for two years."
Section 2. Section 6 of said Act is amended by adding after the penultimate paragraph the following sentence:
"Should voting machines be required by law, enacted subsequent to the enactment of this Act, the Commissioners shall make appropriate changes in the procedures for balloting which conform, as near as practicable, to the procedures outlined herein."
Section 3. Section 7 of said Act is amended to read as follows:
"Section 7. Qualification for voting
Every person who shall have reached the age of twenty-one years, who is a citizen of the United States, and who for at least three (3) months preceding the day of election has been the legal owner of real estate in the Town of South Bethany, or if not the legal owner of real estate in said Town has been a resident of the Town for six (6) months immediately preceding the date of election and meets the qualifications for voting in elections held for representatives to the General Assembly of the State of Delaware shall be entitled to vote in the annual municipal elections, special elections and referenda, except as otherwise provided in this Charter."
Section 4. Section 9 of said Act is amended by:
(a) amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
"(a) Commissioners
No person shall be eligible to hold office as a Commissioner except a person who at the time of filing as a candidate has been a real property owner in the Town for a period of one year immediately preceding the date of filing, or who, not the legal owner of real estate in the Town, has been a resident of the Town for one year immediately preceding the date of filing and who meets the qualifications for voting as set forth in Section 7, and who has attained the age of twenty-one years."
(b) amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
"(b) Treasurer and Assessor
No person shall be eligible to hold office as Treasurer or Assessor except a person who at the time of filing as a candidate has been a real property owner in the Town for a period of one year immediately preceding the date of filing, or who, not the legal owner of real estate in the Town, has been a resident of the Town for one year immediately preceding the date of filing and
who meets the qualifications for voting as set forth in Section 7, and who has attained the age of twenty-one years."
Section 5. Section 19 of said Act is amended by deleting the third sentence (relating to tax discounts and penalties) from the second paragraph of said section.
Section 6. The first sentence of the first paragraph of Section 30 of said Act is amended to read as follows:
"The Commissioners shall have the power to levy and collect taxes on real property within the limits of the Town except that which is not accessable and taxable by virtue of any law of the State of Delaware, which taxes shall not, with respect to each taxpayer, exceed that due by said taxpayer to the Sussex County Tax Collector in any one year unless such higher taxes are approved by a majority of the voters voting in a referendum conducted in the year prior to the year when such higher taxes would be levied."
Section 7. Section 30 of said Act is further amended by adding at the end thereof the following new paragraph:
"The Commissioners shall have the power by ordinance to allow credits to reduce the taxes otherwise imposed by this Section with respect to real property owned by taxpayers of low income who are over sixty-five years of age. Such ordinance shall not be effective unless approved by a majority of the voters of the Town voting in a referendum conducted in the year prior to the year when such credits are allowed."
Section 8. The paragraph numbered "5" of Section 31 of said Act is amended by striking out the second sentence and substituting in lieu thereof the following:
"At said referendum all persons qualifying under Section 7 of this Act shall be entitled to vote."
Approved April 18,1971.