Delaware General Assembly

CHAPTER 78.

VALUATION AND ASSESSMENT OF PROPERTY.

AN ACT to amend Chapter 44 of the Revised Code of the State of Delaware In Relation to the Board of Assessment of New Castle County.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:

Section 1. That Chapter 44 of the Revised Code of the State of Delaware be and the same is hereby amended by striking out 1107 B. Sec. 10 B. of said Chapter, and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

"1107 B. Sec. 10 B. On and after the first day of July, A. D. 1917, the Board of Assessment shall forthwith proceed to make a general assessment of the assessable persons and property of persons in New Castle County, which said assessment shall be returned so as to be acted upon for the year 1918, mat every year thereafter as is hereinafter provided."

Section 2. By striking out 1108 B. Sec. 11 B. of said Chapter and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

1108 B. Sec. 11 B. The Board of Assessment of New Castle County shall annually make an assessment of all real estate, the persons and personal property of persons in New Castle County, liable to assessment.

It shall also in the said annual assessment revise the assessment with respect to all real estate which has been sold or transferred during the year."

Section 3. By striking out 1109 Sec. 12 of said Chapter and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

"1109. Sec. 12. The said Board of Assessment of New Castle County shall have the power and it shall be its duty to value and assess all property which by law is liable to taxation and assessment for public purposes, and to revise all valuations and assessments of such assessable property in said County, and to lower or increase said assessments and valuations and to take proceedings for the discovery of all unassessed property of every kind.

Whenever the Board of Assessment shall purpose to alter or change any assessment by increasing the same, or to make a new assessment, other than an annual assessment, it shall, before said alteration, change, or new assessment, is made, give ten days' notice in writing to time owner of the property affected thereby, and if such owner cannot be found within the County by reasonable inquiry, then to the person in possession of the property, or to the person ill whose custody the same may be, or if it be land and no one shall be in apparent occupancy thereof, then such notice shall be posted on said land."

Section 4. By striking out 1112 B. Sec. 15 B. of said Chapter and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

"1112 B. Sec. 15 B. The said Board of Assessment of New Castle County shall, on or before the first day of February of each year, post in some convenient place in each Election District of the County outside of the City of Wilmington and in the office of the Board of Assessment in the City of Wilmington, a copy of the assessment. And the said Board of Assessment shall sit during each secular day of time months of March and April of each year, to hear appeals and to make additions and corrections to said assessment. Notice of the places where said assessment is posted and of the time and places of sittings to hear appeals and to make additions and corrections to said assessments shall be given by advertisements published at least once each week for two weeks in at least two newspapers in said County, one of which newspapers shall be published in the City of Wilmington, and by such other means as will, in the discretion of the said Board of Assessment, best bring notice of the same to the parties interested.

If any taxables shall fail or neglect to prefer his appeal to the Board of Assessment, lie shall be liable for the tax for such year as shown by the assessment lists.

After the closing of the hearings and the settlement of all appeals, and the adjustment of the assessment list, the said Board of Assessment shall ascertain the total of the assessed valuation of the County and certify the same to the Levy Court on or before the first day of June, as basis on which to estimate and fix the tax rate.

It shall be the duty of the said Board of Assessment to ascertain and report to the Levy Court of the County the names of all persons liable to capitation tax, the said report to the said Levy Court being made at the same time that the report of the total valuation and assessment is made."

Section 5. By striking out 1113 B. Sec. 16 B. of said Chapter and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

"1113 B. Sec. 16 B. The Board of Assessment of New Castle County shall, immediately upon entering upon its duties, notify in writing every person, firm, association of persons, or corporation, who owns property liable to assessment, and every person, firm, association of persons, or corporation having the care, management or control of real or personal property liable to assessment, to deliver to said Board of Assessment within thirty days after such notice a particular account of the real or personal property owned by him, it or them, and of property,

real or personal, which is in his, its’ or their care, management or control, together with the correct name of such owner and his place of residence, with the parcels of real estate separated and identified and the articles of personal property itemized, and such other information as may be required by said Board. Such return by said owner or agent in respect to real estate and personal property shall be made in said manner in every year if required by said Board of Assessment. Accompanying such written notices shall be a form of schedule for the making of proper returns.

The said Board of Assessment shall have full power and authority to compel any other or further return as occasion may require for the purpose of =king additions, corrections or alterations to the assessment lists.

Failure to render an account 'by any person liable so to do, within ten days after the time limited for the making of his return shall be a. misdemeanor and upon conviction such person shall be fined not exceeding one hundred dollars in the discretion of the Court. Provided, however, that the said Board of Assessment shall have the power and authority to stay a prosecution for any violation of the provisions of this section, upon the making and filing of a proper return and the payment of a sum of money not exceeding ten dollars for the use of the county by the person liable, to be fixed by the said Board of Assessment, and the costs of prosecution, if any. A copy of this section shall accompany all written notice under this section.

The forms and schedules for the return of taxable property, provided for herein, shall have appended thereto a. form of certificate to be signed by the person making said return, or in case of a firm, association of persons, or corporation, by a. member of such firm or association of persons, or by an officer of said corporation, that the return as made is a true, full and complete list of all real and personal property liable to assessment and taxation, as aforesaid, and that said return fairly and truly describes the said property and truly represents its true condition.

Nothing in this Section shall be construed to apply to a licensed real estate agent having the care, management or control of, for sale or for rent, property of another in respect to such property."

Section 6. By striking out 1123. Sec. 26, of said Chapter and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

"1123. Sec. 26. The said Board of Assessment of New Castle County shall, on or before the first day of June in each year, prepare and furnish to the Levy Court duplicates of all assessments and alterations and corrections thereof made by it, in books to be furnished by the Levy Court. The said Board of Assessment shall have its offices in the County Court House of said County, and the members thereof shall be present, in person, or by clerks duly authorized to act for them every secular day in the year, holidays excepted, to hear any and all questions that may arise in reference to said valuation and assessment, and the said Board shall have the power to correct said assessment lists at any time, subject, however, to the notices required by this act to be given. And for such purposes, the said Board shall have authority to sit at convenient places in said County.

The said Board of Assessment shall have the power to employ a clerk or clerks at salaries to be fixed by the Levy Court of New Castle County, whose ditties shall be as prescribed by said Board of Assessment. The Board of Assessment shall certify in writing the name of each person so employed and shall approve all bills rendered to said Levy Court by such person so employed before payment shall be made to such persons by the said Levy Court."

Section 7. By striking out 1 126 A. Sec. 29 A. of said Chapter and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

"1126 A. Sec. 29 A. 11 shall be the duty of every purchaser of real estate in New Castle County to make a report to the Board of Assessment of New Castle County of the conveyance made to him, with a description or the real estate and value in money or the full purchase price, and on so doing, the same shall be noted without charge on the deed of conveyance by the said Board of Assessment ; but if said purchaser shall omit said duty it shall then be the duty of the Recorder of Deeds to furnish the proper description of such real estate with the date of conveyance and the name of the grantor and grantee within ten days to the Board of Assessment; and it shall be the duty of each devisee by will or the heirs-at-law of any decedent to make a like return to said Board of Assessment or the property so devised or descending. And it shall be the duty of the Register of Wills of said County to furnish such descriptions of such real estate as is devised, or which descends, so far as the records in his office shall enable him to do, and whether the same, if devised, be in trust or a devise in fee, or otherwise. And it shall be the duty of the said Board of Assessment to procure and keep such books and records as it may deem necessary so that the owner of any particular piece of real estate in New Castle County and the description thereof can be readily ascertained."

Section 8. By striking out, 1130 B. Sec. 33 B. of said Chapter and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

"1130. B. Sec. 33 13. The Board of Assessment of New Castle County shall ascertain and assess according to law all the taxable property in each election district outside the City of Wilmington and in the City of Wilmington and make a written statement thereof showing the names of the owners, arranged alphabetically, and at least three consecutive letters of the last names thereof, or by street and number, the different kinds of property, the value of each kind, the amount of each owner's assessment, and the amount of assessment of said election districts and city."

"1130 C. Sec. 33 C. Any person or persons failing to comply with any or the provisions of this Chapter, for which no penalty is prescribed, shall be devilled guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be tined one hundred dollars, or be imprisoned not over one year, or both, in the discretion of the Court.

It shall be the duty of the New Castle County Board of Assessment, as well as any 3Iagistrate, to see that the provisions of this Chapter are enforced.

Approved April 14, A. D. 1910.