Delaware General Assembly


CHAPTER 347

FORMERLY

SENATE BILL NO. 296

AS AMENDED BY SENATE AMENDMENT NO. I

AN ACT TO AMEND AN ACT BEING CHAPTER 504, VOLUME 57, LAWS OF DELAWARE, AS AMENDED, ENTITLED "AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE TOWN OF HENLOPEN ACRES" TO PROVIDE ALTERNATIVE METHODS FOR COLLECTION OF UNPAID TAXES, FEES AND OTHER CHARGES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE (Two-thirds of all members elected to each house thereof concurring therein):

Section 1. Amend Subsection (b) of Section 24, Chapter 504, Volume 57, Laws of Delaware, As Amended, by striking said Subsection (b) in its entirety and substituting the following in lieu thereof:

(b) The Mayor or the Town Manager, when any tax becomes delinquent, may, in the name of the Town of Henlopen Acres, institute suit before any Justice of the Peace or in the Court of Common Pleas of the State of Delaware, in and for Sussex County, or in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware, in and for Sussex County, for the recovery of the unpaid tax in an action of debt, and upon judgment obtained, may sue out writs of execution as in case of other judgments recovered before a Justice of the Peace or in the Court of Common Pleas, or in the Superior Court, as the case may be.

Section 2. Amend Subsection (c) of Section 24, Chapter 504, Volume 57, Laws of Delaware, As Amended, by striking said Subsection (c) in its entirety and substituting the following in lieu thereof:

"(c) Should the Mayor or Town Manager so elect, he is empowered to sell the lands and tenements of the delinquent taxpayer or the lands and tenements of the delinquent taxpayer alienated subsequent to the levy of the tax by the direction of the Town Commissioners using any of those procedures specified for the sale of land for the collection of taxes on the part of the individuals charged with the responsibility for the collection of taxes for Sussex County, and all such procedures and methods available for the sale of land, as aforesaid, as they are presently enacted and hereafter amended, are included herein and made a part hereof by reference thereto, including the method of sale by monition, as the same is set forth in the statutes made and provided, substituting the Town of Henlopen Acres for Sussex County therein."

Section 3. Amend Section 24, Chapter 504, Volume 57, Laws of Delaware, As Amended, by adding a new Subsection (d) to read as follows:

"(d) All taxes imposed by the Town shall be and constitute a lien for a period of ten (10) years from date so levied upon the real property against which such charges are imposed. In the case of a life estate, the interest of the life tenant shall first be liable for the payment of any charges so levied. Such lien shall have preference and priority to all other prior liens on such real property, although such lien or liens be of a time and date prior to the time of attaching of such lien for taxes."

Approved May 23, 1996