An Act To Amend The Charter Of The City Of Rehoboth Beach.
SB306 amends the charter of the City of Rehoboth Beach in a broad set of governance, election, finance, and administrative provisions. The bill updates the structure and qualifications of the city’s seven-member Board of Commissioners, including the Mayor, by adding eligibility restrictions that bar candidates who are spouses, domestic partners, or cohabitants of sitting commissioners, or who share a financial interest with them. It also requires an affidavit of eligibility for candidates, removes mileage reimbursement for non-resident commissioners, and changes how commissioner salaries are set by allowing them to be fixed by ordinance, with delayed effectiveness for salary increases.
The bill also modernizes several outdated charter provisions. It removes the Mayor’s former civil and criminal judicial authority and related docketing/reporting duties, while preserving the power to solemnize marriages. It increases the maximum ordinance-violation penalty from $500 to $2,500 and eliminates imprisonment and forced labor as penalties. In addition, it revises the city auditor and tax assessor provisions, including creating a five-year independent auditor term, allowing county assessments, requiring periodic reassessments if county assessments are not used, updating supplemental assessment timing, and aligning budget and tax-levy deadlines with the city’s fiscal year. The bill further updates city budgeting and compensation procedures, removes obsolete powers such as Sabbath regulation, animal pounds, dog taxes, and per-capita voting taxes, and changes the real estate tax cap to 0.1% of assessed value.
SB306 would substantially revise the City of Rehoboth Beach charter by changing qualifications and procedures for municipal officeholders, modernizing the city’s court-related and financial administration, and updating property tax and assessment rules. It affects charter provisions governing elections, commissioner compensation, the Mayor’s powers, auditing, tax assessment, budgeting, tax levies, and enumerated municipal powers. The bill also incorporates references to current Delaware law, including county assessment procedures, rolled-back tax rate requirements, and reassessment practices, while replacing outdated charter language and obsolete penalties.
The available record suggests the bill was broadly supported and noncontroversial. It passed Senate Third Reading unanimously, 18-0, and the synopsis indicates the changes were requested by the Rehoboth Beach Commissioners. The overall tone of the bill is modernization-oriented, with the stated purpose of updating outdated charter provisions and aligning local procedures with current practice and state law.
No committee debate or recorded opposition is provided, and the vote history shows no dissent. The most notable substantive changes that could draw scrutiny are the new eligibility restrictions for commissioner candidates, the increase in the maximum ordinance fine, the shift in tax assessment and reassessment procedures, and the change from a fixed dollar real-estate tax cap to a percentage-based cap. However, the available materials do not identify any organized opposition or specific points of contention in the legislative process.