There annually shall be made a true, just and impartial valuation
and assessment of all real estate within the town, except such real
estate as is exempt from municipal assessment and taxation by virtue
of any state law or provisions of this Charter, and also of such personal
property as is subject to county assessment and taxation; provided,
however, that in no event shall household furnishings, bank accounts,
stocks, bonds, or automobiles be assessed or taxed.
In addition to the annual assessment provided herein, the Finance
Director may, at the option of the Council, provide quarterly supplemental
assessment rolls for the purpose of:
(1)
Adding property not included on the last assessment, or
(2)
Increasing or decreasing the assessment value of property which was
included on the last assessment. The supplemental assessment roll
may be used to correct errors on prior assessment rolls.
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It shall be lawful for the Town to enter into an agreement with
the Board of Assessment for the New Castle County to inspect and copy,
or to obtain copies, of the assessments made for county purposes.
Annually, the Council shall make a judgment regarding whether the
Town will utilize such county assessments and whether said county
assessments are a true, just and impartial evaluation. The Council
then shall order the adoptions of such county assessment for municipal
purposes or the adoption of assessments as determined by the Town
assessment authority; provided, however, that adoption of the county
assessment for municipal purposes shall not preclude the Town from
modifying the county assessment list to take into account new construction
or changes in ownership or use not reflected in the county assessment
list, or clear cases of inequitable assessment. (75 Del. Laws, c.
187, 7/12/05)
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A list containing the names of the taxables and, opposite the
name of each, the amount of his real and personal property assessment,
and the total amount of the tax, shall be prepared as soon as practicable
after the beginning of the tax year. All taxes shall be paid to the
Finance Director, subject to such discounts and penalties and rules
as the Council may direct.
It shall be the duty of the Finance Director to proceed forthwith
to collect all taxes in the calendar year in which assessed. In the
collections of said taxes, he shall have all the powers conferred
upon or vested in the receiver of taxes and the county treasurer for
New Castle County.
The provisions of Sections 2901 through 2905, inclusive, of
the Annotated Code of Delaware, as amended, with reference to tax
liens, shall be deemed and held to apply to all taxes laid and imposed
under the provisions of this Charter, except that any such lien for
taxes imposed shall continue for ten (10) years from the date such
lien commences.
In the event that any Town taxes remain unpaid during the last
day of December of the year in which such taxes were levied, the Town
of Elsmere may file, or cause to be filed, a Praecipe in the office
of the Prothonotary of the Superior Court in New Castle County, which
Praecipe shall contain the name of the person against whom the taxes
of assessments sought to be collected were assessed, a copy of the
bills showing the amount of taxes or assessments due, the property
against which the assessment was laid. The statement of the lot number
or numbers of the particular section in which said property is located
or the street number or numbers shall be sufficient identification
and description of said property. The Prothonotary shall make a record
on the same judgment records of said Superior Court against the property
mentioned or described in dais Praecipe. Thereafter, upon a Praecipe
for Monition filed in the office of said Prothonotary by the Town
of Elsmere through any person authorized on its behalf to collect
taxes assessments due to the Town of Elsmere, a Monition shall be
issued by the Prothonotary aforesaid to the Sheriff of New Castle
County, which Monition shall briefly state the amount of the judgment
for the taxes or assessments due and the years thereof, together with
a brief description of the property upon which said taxes or assessments
are a lien. A description of such property by street and number or
by lot number of numbers of the particular section in which said property
is located shall be a sufficient description. Said Monition shall
be in substantially the following form:
To all persons having or claiming to have any title, interest
or lien upon within described premises, take warning that unless the
judgment for the taxes or assessments stated herein is paid within
twenty (20) days after the date hereof, or within such period of twenty
(20) days evidence of the payment of taxes herein claimed shall be
filed in the office of the Prothonotary, which evidence shall be in
the form of a receipted bill, or duplicate thereof, bearing date prior
to the filing of the lien in the office of the Prothonotary for New
Castle County, the Town of Elsmere may proceed to sell property herein
mentioned or described for the purpose of collecting the judgment
for the taxes or assessments herein stated:
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Name of Person in Whose Name the Property is Assessed
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Description of Property
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Year or Amount of Years Judgement
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Said Monition, or copy thereof, shall be posted by the Sheriff
upon some prominent place or part of the property against which the
said judgment for taxes or assessments is a lien. The Sheriff shall
make due and proper return of his proceedings under the said Monition
to said Prothonotary within ten (10) days after the posting of said
copy of Monition as aforesaid. Alias or Pluries Monition shall constitute
notice to the owner or owners and all persons having any interest
in said property.
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At any time after the expiration of twenty (20) days following
the return of the Sheriff upon such Monition, unless before the expiration
of said twenty (20) days the said judgment and costs on said judgment
shall be paid or evidence of the payment of such taxes evidenced by
a receipted bill or a duplicate thereof, bearing date therefor prior
to the filing of said lien for the record in the office of the Prothonotary
aforesaid, upon Praecipe filed by the Town of Elsmere, a writ of Venditioni
Exponas shall issued out of the office of the said Prothonotary directed
to the Sheriff commanding the Sheriff to sell the property mentioned
or described in said writ and make due return of his proceedings thereunder
in the same manner as is applicable with the respect to similar writs
of Venditioni Exponas issued out of the said Superior Court.
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NEW CASTLE COUNTY
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SS:
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THE STATE OF DELAWARE
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TO THE SHERIFF OF NEW CASTLE COUNTY
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GREETINGS
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WHEREAS, by a Monition issued out of the Superior Court, dated
at Wilmington, the ____ day of A.D., 19____ IT WAS COMMANDED, that
you should post the said Monition, or copy thereof, upon the real
estate therein mentioned and described, and make a return to the said
Superior Court within ten days after said posting. That on the _________
day of A.D., 19___ you returned a copy of the said Monition was posted
on the real estate therein mentioned and described on the ____ day
of A.D., 19___.
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We therefore now command you to expose to public sale the real
estate mentioned and described in said Monition as follows:
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And that you should cause to be made as well as a certain debt
of Dollars ($) lawful money of the United States, which to the said
Town of Elsmere, a municipal corporation of the State of Delaware,
is due and owing, as also the sum of Dollars ($) lawful money as aforesaid,
for its costs which it has sustained by the detaining of that debt,
whereof, the said was convicted as it appears of record and against
which said property it was a lien;And have you that money before the
Judges of our Superior Court at Wilmington, on Monday the day of next,
to render to the said Town of Elsmere, a municipal corporation as
aforesaid, for its debt and costs as aforesaid, and this writ;
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WITNESSETH, the Honorable at Wilmington the ____day of A.D.,
19__
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Prothonotary
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Upon the return of the proceedings under said writ of Venditioni
Exponas, the Superior Court may inquire into the regularity of the
Proceedings thereunder, and either affirm the sale or set it aside.
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Any real estate or interest therein sold under the provisions
hereof shall vest in the purchased all the right, title and interest
of the person in whose name said property was assessed, and/or all
right, title and interest of the person or persons who are the owner
or owners thereof and likewise freed and discharged from any dower
or curtesy, whether absolute or inchoate, in or to said real estate,
and from all equity of redemption and liens and encumbrance held by
persons and corporations against such property.
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The owner of any such real estate sold under the provisions
of this Act or his legal representatives may redeem the same at any
time within sixty (60) days from the day said sale thereof is approved
by the Court by paying to the purchaser or his legal representatives,
successors or assigns, the amount of the purchase price and fifteen
per cent in addition thereto, together with all the costs incurred
in the cause; or if the purchaser or his legal representatives, successors
or assigns shall refuse to receive the same, or do not reside or cannot
be found within the Town of Elsmere, by paying said amount into said
Court for the use of said purchaser, his legal representatives or
assigns.
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In the event that the owner of said property or his legal representatives
shall fail to redeem said property as herein provided, the purchaser
of said property or his legal representatives, successors or assigns
may present a Petition to the Superior Court setting forth the appropriate
facts in conformity with this Act and pray that the said Superior
Court make an order directing the Sheriff, then in office, to execute,
acknowledge and deliver a deed conveying the title to said property
to the Petitioner and thereupon the said Superior Court shall have
the power, after a hearing upon said Petition, to issue an order directing
the Sheriff to execute, acknowledge and deliver a deed as prayed for
in said Petition, and a description of said property by street number
or by lot number of numbers of the particular section in which said
property is located, together with a description of said property
by metes and bounds.
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If the owner of any real estate sold under an order or his legal
representative shall redeem said real estate, he may prefer to said
Superior Court a petition setting forth the facts and thereupon the
said Superior Court, after hearing and determining the facts set forth
in said petition, shall have power to cause to be entered upon the
record of the Judgment, under which said real estate was sold, a memorandum
that the real estate was entered has been redeemed, and, thereafter,
the said owner shall hold such redeemed real estate subject to the
same liens, and in the same order or priority as they existed at the
time of the sale thereof, excepting so far as the said liens have
been discharged or reduced by the application of the proceeds by the
said Sheriff from the said sale.
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No Monition proceedings shall be brought under this Act unless
the tax or assessment sought to be collected hereunder shall, at the
time of the filing of said Petition in the office of the Prothonotary,
be and constitute a lien on the property against which the tax or
assessment was assessed or laid. All taxes for Town purposes which
may hereafter be lawfully assessed on real estate in the Town of Elsmere
shall constitute a prior lien thereon for a period of ten years from
the first day of July succeeding the assessment of said taxes, but
if the said real estate remains the property of the person to whom
it is assessed, the lien shall continue until the tax is collected
and may, with all the incidental costs and expenses, be collected
by sale thereof as hereinbefore provided. The said tax lien and costs
and reasonable counsel fees for the collection thereof shall be fully
paid and satisfied before any recognizance, mortgage, judgment, debt,
obligation or responsibility which real estate may be charged with
or liable to. The Town of Elsmere shall have the authority to authorize
any person or persons to make a bid or bids at the sale of any real
estate under the provisions of this Act, and, in the event that such
person or persons is the highest and best bidder of bidders therefor,
the title thereto shall be taken in the name of the Town of Elsmere,
a municipal corporation of the State of Delaware. The Town of Elsmere,
by resolution duly adopted, is authorized and empowered to sell and
convey any real estate purchased under the provisions of this Act.
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Whenever the Superior Court is mentioned in this Statute the
same shall be held to embrace the Judges or any Judge thereof, and
any act required or authorized to be done under this Act may be done
by the said Superior Court or any Judge thereof in vacation thereof,
as well as in term time.
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The fees and cost to be fixed in all Monition proceedings under
this Act, where not otherwise provided for, shall be set by the Council
by ordinance. All other charges not covered by this and the preceding
section shall be the same as are provided by law.
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The foregoing method for enforcing the collection of Town taxes
shall not preclude the enforcement of payment thereof by appropriate
civil suit against the person or persons personally liable for their
payment by reason of said person or persons having been the owner
of said real estate at the time when the said taxes became a lien.
(76 Del. Laws c. 225, 5/22/08)
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The Town of Elsmere is hereby authorized and empowered to levy
and collect special assessment upon property in a limited and determinable
area, including such real estate as would be otherwise exempt from
county and municipal assessment and taxation by virtue of any law
of the State of Delaware, for special benefits accruing to such property
as a consequence of any municipal public work or improvement and to
provide for the payment of all or any part of the costs of the work,
service or improvement out of the proceeds of said assessments.
The Council may provide for the payment of special assessments,
for whatever purpose levied, by installments, but assessments for
permanent improvements shall be payable within ten (10) years in annual
or more frequent installments, and assessments for current service
shall be payable within one (1) year.
The amount assessed against any property for any work or improvement
shall not exceed the value of the benefits accruing to the property
therefrom.
