The Commissioners shall have power to levy and
collect taxes in the town not exceeding, for general purposes in any
one (1) year, an amount as deemed necessary on each one hundred dollars
($100.) of assessable property, all of which taxes shall be levied
during the month of May in each and every year. The taxes so levied
shall be due and in arrears on the first day of October succeeding
the levy and shall bear such interest and penalty as the Commissioners
shall by ordinance provide.
The Commissioners shall, during the month of
May in each and every year, levy the taxes authorized to be levied
by law and shall enter upon their records their warrant to the Treasurer
for the collection thereof. Such taxes shall thereupon be collected
as herein provided.
The Commissioners of Hebron are hereby empowered
to levy a special assessment to the front-foot rule of apportionment
of the cost for public improvements for the construction of sidewalks,
gutters, ditches, drains and curbs which have been constructed or
may hereafter be constructed in the Town of Hebron. The levy of said
special assessment shall be made against the properties that have
been improved or benefited by said public improvement, and each assessment
shall thereupon become a lien upon such abutting property for the
amount of improvements or benefits assessed against said property.
The Commissioners shall give at least ten (10) days' notice of such
assessment and shall give to any qualified owner of real property
who is assessed as owner of any interest, jointly or severally, in
Hebron, the opportunity to be heard thereupon, and said owner shall
have a right to appeal therefrom within twenty (20) days to the Circuit
Court of Wicomico County on all matters pertaining to such assessments.
Such assessments shall be due and payable in equal semiannual installments,
the number to be determined by the Commissioners but in no event to
exceed ten (10) payments. The first installment thereof shall become
due and payable sixty (60) days next succeeding the date of notice
of such special assessment. Said special assessment shall be collected
in the same manner provided by law for the collection of delinquent
taxes and shall bear the same interest and penalties.
All money received on account of said special
assessment shall be treated as a special fund and shall be kept in
a separate account and fund and shall not be expended for any purpose
other than the liquidation and redemption of bonds or other evidence
of debt, and, after the payment of any indebtedness, the surplus,
if any, in such special fund or account shall be transferred to the
general fund of the Commissioners of Hebron.
In all cases where the property to be assessed
for public improvements, under the provisions of this Article, is
located at the intersection of two (2) streets, and in case the improvements
are extended along the side of said property, the Commissioners of
Hebron, in addition to the assessment made for such improvements along
the front of said property shall make such further assessment for
the benefit and improvements along the side of said property. In all
cases in which the question shall arise as to the street upon which
the said property may front, the decision of the Commissioners in
regard thereto shall be final and conclusive. The said Commissioners
are hereby authorized to make reasonable adjustments and allowances
in assessing benefits which, in their judgment, are equitable, fair
and just in such cases, as may be necessary to prevent the working
of undue and unnecessary hardships. The provisions of this section
or any other section relating to assessments for improvements shall
not apply to maintenance of improvements, for which there shall be
no special assessment made.
No part of any farmlands which are included
within the corporate limits shall be taxed hereunder without the consent
of the owners so long as said farmlands shall be used for agricultural
purposes; provided, however, that any farmland not previously taxed
shall be taxable by the Commissioners if said land shall be subdivided
into building lots, regardless of the use thereafter of all or part
of the land so subdivided for agricultural purposes.
The Commissioners shall not expend or contract
to expend in any one (1) fiscal year more money than the amount received
from taxes and other sources during that year, except from special
assessments and for the erection of buildings or purchase of equipment
for municipal purposes, provided further that the Commissioners shall
be authorized and required to create and maintain a sinking fund for
the repayment of any expenditure in excess of the amount received
from taxes and other sources in any one (1) fiscal year.
