CHAPTER 734.
OF FREE LIBRARY.
AN ACT respecting a Free Library and to increase the Usefulness of the Schools of Wilmington.
WHEREAS it is proposed to make the library and reading rooms of the Wilmington Institute, under such regulations as the managers of the said institute may adopt, free for the use of citizens of Wilmington, and as the free use of the library in connection with schools will add to their value; therefore,
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met (two-thirds of each branch concurring therein):
SECTION I. That from and after such time as the Wilmington Institute shall cause its library and reading rooms to be opened to the use of citizens of Wilmington, and shall thereafter keep the same open, without requiring any payment from individuals therefor, and shall apply the entire net income from the property of the institute to be used in their management, maintenance and extension, and shall cause the accounts of its treasurer to be open to the inspection and audit of the State Auditor, and also shall make the mayor and the president of the council, the chairman of the finance committee of the council, the president of the board of public education, the chairman of the committee on teachers of said board, and the superintendent of public schools, all of the city of Wilmington, members of its board of managers, and after the council of Wilmington shall by resolution have accepted the provisions of this a6t, it shall he the duty of said board of public education to pay monthly to said institute, on or before the 20th day of each month, a sum to be used in the management, maintenance and extension of such free library and reading rooms.
SECTION 2. The sum to be paid, as provided in Section 1, shall be, during the first year, at the rate of five thousand dollars a year, and shall increase each year thereafter by an addition of five per cent of the amount paid during the preceding year; provided such increase shall not at any time make the amount paid in a month greater than a stun equal to one cent for each inhabitant of Wilmington; in which case the sum to be so paid shall be equal to one cent for each inhabitant of said city; the estimate of the number of inhabitants to be made as the board of public education may direct, and the amounts-herein required to be paid shall be specified by the board of public education, and raised and appropriated by the council under the provisions of an act to revise and consolidate the statutes relating to the city of Wilmington, passed at Dover, April 13th, 1883, as additions to the sums required to be raised and appropriated for ordinary and current expenses of schools under the provisions of said act.
SECTION 3. That after the library and reading rooms of the Wilmington Institute shall have been made free, in accordance with the provisions of this act, the property of said institute used by or for the benefit of the library and reading rooms shall be exempt from all taxes imposed by authority of the State of Delaware.
SECTION 4. That the managers of the said institute shall have power to make by-laws and rules for the government of the library and reading rooms.
Passed at Dover, April 26, 1893.