CHAPTER 78
RECEIVER OF TAXES AND COUNTY TREASURER KENT COUNTY
AN ACT to Amend Chapter 84 of Volume 33, Laws of Delaware, Relating to the Collection of Taxes in Kent County.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State
of Delaware in General Assembly met:
Section 1. That the Act entitled "An Act in relation to the Collection of Taxes in Kent County providing for the election of a Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer, and prescribing the duties of said office" being Chapter 84, Volume 33, Laws of Delaware, be and the same is hereby amended by striking out Sections 8, 9, 12 and 21 and by inserting the following new Sections to be known as Sections 8, 9, 12, 15A and 21.
Section 8. Except as hereinafter provided it shall be the duty of the Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer to collect and pay to the County all taxes on the duplicates delivered to him within one year next after the date of the warrant attached to the tax duplicates. He shall each week carry the funds collected by him to the credit of the County, or to the credit of such county fund as the Levy Court shall direct. If the Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer shall fail, in any year, to make full and complete settlement with the County for the taxes which it shall be his duty to collect, excepting such allowance as may be made to him, his salary as such officer shall be withheld and he shall not be entitled to accept or receive any salary or other compensation until such full and final settlement be made.
Section 9. In the month of May in the year following the year of the date of the warrant of the tax duplicates, as aforesaid, the said Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer shall compile a list of the taxables in each representative district, the taxes of whom he has been unable to collect, stating therein briefly the reason why the said taxes were in each case uncollectable, and shall present the same to the Levy Court and the Levy Court shall make an investigation of such list, and shall make a full and complete settlement with the said Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer for all taxes received by him for the year, and at such settlement shall, after investigation as aforesaid, make all just and proper allowance to said Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer for such taxes as they shall find to be uncollectable by reason of errors in the assessment list or otherwise, and not due to default or neglect of said Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer, such taxes as may be extended under the provisions of Section 21 hereof, and the taxes derived from tax sales which said sales have not been confirmed by the Superior Court, such settlement shall be final and conclusive, and no other allowance, in any form or guise, shall be made to said Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer. The settlement as aforesaid shall be made on or before the first Tuesday in June in each year. The Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer shall settle for such taxes as may be in his hands from tax sales immediately after the confirmation of such sales. The said Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer shall publish a list of the taxables of each representative district whose taxes he has been unable to collect, stating therein the reason why the said taxes were uncollectable, in two newspapers of Kent County, one of which shall be published in the town of Dover; and he shall in at least two public places of each representative district post a like list of the taxables of such district whose taxes he has been unable to collect. Such publication and posting of the lists as aforesaid shall be done in each year at least one week prior to the day of settlement aforesaid.
Section 12. All taxes assessed and levied shall be due and payable on the first day of June in each year and no demand therefor shall be necessary.
Section 15A. Liens or encumbrances against lands and tenements sold for taxes by the Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer under the provisions of this Act which were valid and subsisting liens or encumbrances at the time of the sale for taxes, (other than the lien for the taxes for the collection of which such sale is made) shall not be discharged or anywise affected by such sale, and such sale shall be subject to such liens or encumbrances.
Section 21. The lien of any taxes upon property may be extended against the owner thereof in the manner following, namely : Any Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer shall, prior to the expiration of the lien of said taxes, file with the Prothonotary of Kent County a certificate containing the name of the taxable, the amount of the assessment, distinguishing the real and personal property and capitation tax, the year for which the taxes may be levied, the rate of taxes, the total tax levied, the date from which the penalty for non-payment of tax shall begin, and the rate of such penalty per month. The Prothonotary shall thereupon file said certificate and enter an abstract thereof upon a record to be by him kept in his office and to be known as "Tax Lien Record." The lien of said tax shall thereupon be extended and remain a lien against all the real property of said taxable within Kent County, inclusive of all real property, alienated by said taxable subsequent to the levy of said tax, and shall extend back to the date of the levy of said tax, and shall continue in force for a period of five years from the date of said levy, subject to the same conditions and limitations as of a judgment recovered in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware, and a writ of levari facias may issue thereon for the sale of the Taxable's real estate at the direction of any Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer, or at the direction of the Levy Court, as on any such judgment, and shall be in the name of the State of Delaware against said taxable. The same provisions of law respecting the sale of lands under a writ of levari facias or execution process as in other cases shall apply to the sale of lands made under this Section.
Approved May 24, 1933.