AN ACT TO AMEND THE CHARTER OF THE TOWN OF MILLVILLE.
Sponsored By: Ronald E. Gray (Republican)
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
31 provisions identified: 10 benefits, 15 costs, 6 mixed.
Town damage claims require timely notice
People seeking damages from Millville for injury, death, or property damage must provide written notice within one year. This covers harm allegedly caused by the Town, its departments, or its personnel. The notice must describe the time, place, cause, nature, and extent of the harm. It must go to the Town Manager or designee by certified mail, with return receipt requested and postage prepaid. Without the required notice, a damages action cannot be brought or maintained.
Millville property tax liens last ten years
Town taxes and municipal charges create a lien on the property they are imposed against. The lien lasts 10 years from the levy date, and its priority follows Delaware law. For property held as a life estate, the life tenant’s interest is first liable for the tax.
Unpaid Town bills bring property liens
Millville can add listed water, sewer, trash, sidewalk, weed-cutting, and related debts to tax bills by annual resolution. The resolution must precede the assessment list’s posting; existing lawful Town debts remain due and collectible under the Charter. Listed unpaid service charges, fees, assessments, nuisance-abatement costs, and public-works charges become first liens on all the debtor’s Millville real estate. These liens outrank earlier liens for 10 years from the charge’s due date and use delinquent-tax collection remedies. The Council can add a collection charge up to 18% of the overdue amount, including interest and penalties.
Millville can tax property transfers
The Council can adopt an ordinance taxing transfers of Millville property or property interests. The tax can fall on the seller or buyer, even when settlement happens elsewhere. It cannot exceed 1.5% of the sale price, including assumed mortgages, or fair market value. Organizations exempt from real estate taxes and transfers with actual property value below $100 are exempt. The Town can arrange collection through the Sussex County Recorder of Deeds or another agent.
Adult residents can vote in Millville
Bona fide Millville residents who are at least 18 on election day receive one vote in the Annual Municipal Election. That election takes place on the first Saturday in March.
Town debts can be settled through service
Millville can let people settle Town debts by doing work or providing a service to the Town. Covered debts include taxes, fines, penalties, license charges, assessments, and fees. The Town does not have to offer this option, and people are not required to perform service. The law sets no amount of debt forgiven for each hour or task.
Town officials can receive pay
Millville can pay Council, Planning and Zoning Commission, and Board of Adjustment members. The Council must agree on compensation and set it by ordinance or resolution during the budget process. The Town can also repay duty-related expenses, including mileage for continuing education and off-site meetings. The law sets no payment amounts.
Local service groups can receive grants
The Council can fund qualifying volunteer fire, ambulance, and emergency treatment groups serving Millville. Total contributions to these emergency groups cannot exceed 6% of real estate taxes levied in a fiscal year. Millville can also give money to organizations providing community services. The Council can attach conditions to both types of contributions. Neither type of funding is guaranteed.
Millville gains police and emergency powers
The Council can create a police department and set its size, but is not required to do so. Officers can enforce Town and Delaware laws throughout Millville, including annexed property, and pursue offenders beyond Town limits. The Mayor can act without prior Council approval only when a sudden emergency requires prompt action to protect public health, safety, or welfare. A county, state, or federal emergency declaration qualifies only when it includes Millville.
Millville health rules reach beyond town
Millville’s public health, infectious disease prevention, and nuisance prevention rules extend one mile beyond Town limits. These rules cover people and places in that area. The law does not name a new service or set a household payment.
Residents can find current Town rules
The replacement Charter takes effect on enactment and establishes a council–manager government. Millville keeps existing ordinances until changed or repealed, and confirms prior lawful Town actions unless the Charter provides otherwise. State-granted Town powers continue when they do not conflict with the Charter. The Council must maintain an updated collection of ordinances, regulations, orders, and rules. The Town Manager or designee must provide official copies and make the collection available at Town Hall and online.
Residents can review annual Town audits
Millville must arrange an independent audit of all Town accounts each fiscal year and can audit more often. The fiscal year runs May 1 through April 30, unless changed by Council resolution. A Delaware-licensed CPA without a personal stake in Town finances must report within 120 days after year-end. The report and executive summary must be available at Town Hall, with a newspaper notice of availability. The Council can remove the accounting firm with or without cause, subject to its stated term of service.
Town contracts generally require competing bids
Town contracts generally require advertised bids, selection of the lowest responsible bidder with a responsive bid, and Council approval. Purchases of $10,000 or less per fiscal year can bypass bidding. Purchases over $10,000 through $20,000 can use written quotes from at least three qualified sources. Exceptions cover specified professional and intergovernmental services, impractical competition, emergencies, and project materials; development-district contracts are generally exempt, with a direct public-improvement procurement exception. Property-owner development and funding agreements remain exempt, and State bid-advertising rules apply when the Town has no ordinance.
Millville tax collections face a cap
Millville’s yearly property and utility-structure tax collections cannot exceed 3% of the assessed value of taxable real estate and improvements. Property taxes used to pay bond principal or interest are outside this cap. This is a Town-wide collection limit, not a limit on each owner’s tax bill.
Council candidates face filing and screening
Council candidates must be at least 21 and meet the 90-day residency requirement before the election. They must file an application, certificate of intention, residency proof, Ethics Form, and background-check consent with the Town Manager or designee. Filing closes at the end of business on the first Friday in February. Candidates must pay for their criminal background check and provide results at least two weeks before the election.
Development and annexation can carry fees
Millville can charge impact fees for new development, construction, or first occupancy of new construction. Improvement costs must be reasonably calculated and linked to the new construction. These fees can also support operating costs of volunteer fire and ambulance or paramedic companies serving Town. Annexed property can carry fees and conditions tied to growth and public-improvement costs. The Council and applicant must accept those terms in an annexation agreement before annexation; the law sets no fee amounts.
Owners must complete ordered frontage work
Millville can order owners to build, replace, or repair paving, graveling, curbs, sidewalks, or paths next to their property. The notice must describe the required work. Owners have 30 days to comply before the Town can do the work and bill them. A bill unpaid 60 days after presentation can be collected like a delinquent tax.
Millville can add lodging taxes
Millville can tax hotel, motel, and tourist-home room stays within Town limits. The local tax cannot exceed 3% of room rent. It is added to Delaware’s lodging tax. The law does not require Millville to impose the tax or use the maximum rate.
Millville taxpayers get firm payment deadlines
Town taxes are due 90 days after the fiscal year begins. Taxes still unpaid 90 days after that due date are delinquent. The Town Manager or designee must collect taxes in the year assessed and pursue delinquent taxes with applicable penalties and costs. The Manager receives specified County tax-collection powers under Delaware law.
Property owners face assessment rules
Millville uses Sussex County property values unless the Council makes its own assessments. The Council cannot hear appeals of County values used for Town taxes. New buildings omitted from annual assessments qualify for supplemental taxation after an occupancy certificate or use for their intended purpose. When the Council seeks to tax them, the Charter requires semiannual supplemental assessments and specifies assessment work in December. The law sets no individual tax bill.
Businesses can owe annual license fees
Millville can require annual licenses, taxes, and fees for businesses, professions, and occupations carried on in Town. The Council sets the amounts. A Delaware resident needs no license to sell produce grown on their own farm. This exemption also covers a farm owned by a family member who lives with the seller.
Council members face conduct and removal rules
Millville officials must follow Delaware’s Code of Conduct and the stated principles of ethical public service. Council members must sign the Town’s Code of Decorum affirmation each March when Council officers are elected. A felony conviction or three consecutive unexcused regular-meeting absences automatically ends a member’s service. Loss of required residency or violation of an express Charter ban also grounds removal, but requires a unanimous Council decision. For those allegations, the member receives notice and can demand a public hearing.
Eligibility limits for Millville council candidates
Council candidates must be U.S. citizens and Millville residents for at least 90 days before the next Annual Municipal Election. They must be at least 21 by election day and current on Town taxes, utilities, and other debts. They must have no felony conviction and must not have been declared mentally incompetent by a court. An Ethics Form is required before election or appointment. Council members must continue to meet the qualifications while serving.
New rules for Millville annexation requests
Property owners seeking annexation must include a concept plan when requesting zoning other than R-1 or R-2 Residential. A petition seeking a referendum on Council acceptance of an annexation petition needs signatures from more than 10% of eligible Millville voters. The referendum petition must be filed within 30 days after the Council’s acceptance vote.
Utility owners face local infrastructure taxes
Millville can assess and tax gas mains, pipelines, telephone and telegraph lines, power poles, rail lines, and related equipment. Specified lines and poles owned or operated by interstate railroad companies are exempt. The Town can remove taxable structures when an owner or lessee refuses or neglects to pay. The law sets no tax rate.
Development assessments with limited owner liability
Millville can use tax increment financing and special development districts under Delaware law. Property buyers are responsible only for obligations set by their property’s individual assessment, not the full bond debt. The bonds are payable only from permitted assessments, and the Town is not responsible for repayment beyond those funds. The Charter’s tax and debt limits do not apply to taxes or debt tied to these financing tools. For special development districts, the law’s definition of municipality also includes state agencies, counties, other local governments, and related entities.
Owners can appeal street damage payments
An owner can challenge compensation or damages from a Town street action by giving written notice within 20 calendar days of assessment notice. The owner must request a review commission within 15 calendar days after serving that appeal notice. Five Millville resident property owners assess the damages. The Town may pay or tender the final amount within 30 calendar days, or deposit it in a Sussex County bank for absent or nonresident owners. The Town pays appeal costs only if damages increase; otherwise, the appealing owner pays.
Town utilities offer services and obligations
Millville can operate water, sewer, electric, and gas systems, including buying and reselling these services. The Town sets and collects user charges but the Charter sets no actual rates. Millville can provide or refuse service outside Town limits. For public health, it can require properties within Town to connect to the municipal sewer. The law sets no sewer connection price or deadline.
Residents get input on street changes
The Council can open, widen, change, vacate, or abandon Town streets when it finds this serves the Town’s interests. Its authority operates alongside the Delaware Superior Court’s authority over public roads and rights-of-way. Proposed actions must be presented at a Council meeting with an opportunity for public comment. A written, acknowledged petition from at least five affected or abutting property owners triggers an investigative committee. The committee must report within 90 days of appointment.
Town borrowing funds projects with limits
Millville can borrow for municipal facilities, utilities, infrastructure, property, and permanent improvements, using its credit or other security. Total Town debt cannot exceed 25% of assessed real property value; the bond limit uses the last assessment before debt creation. The bond process requires a resolution describing the borrowing, a public hearing, and a special election 30 to 60 days after it is ordered. Residents receive one vote, and each property-owning person or entity also receives one vote. The Town must budget and set taxes for principal and interest; its bonds are exempt from State, County, and municipal taxes.
Town revenue borrowing has dollar limits
A Council majority can authorize borrowing against expected revenues when Town needs require it. Borrowing is capped at $500,000 per year and $500,000 outstanding at any time. Council-authorized notes must be repaid from the general fund, with interest, by the end of the 20th fiscal year after the first borrowing year. Millville can levy property taxes for repayment without other tax-rate limits. The notes and their interest are exempt from Delaware and local taxes.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
Ronald E. Gray
Republican • House
Cosponsors
Gerald W. Hocker
Republican • Senate
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
Actions Timeline
HS 1 for HB 376 - Signed by Governor
9/16/2026GovernorHS 1 for HB 376 - Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 ABSENT
7/1/2026SenateHS 1 for HB 376 - Reported Out of Committee (Elections & Government Affairs) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits
6/18/2026SenateHS 1 for HB 376 - Assigned to Elections & Government Affairs Committee in Senate
6/9/2026SenateHS 1 for HB 376 - Passed By House. Votes: 35 YES 1 NO 5 ABSENT
6/9/2026HouseSubstituted in House by HS 1 for HB 376
6/4/2026HouseReported Out of Committee (Administration) in House with 5 On Its Merits
5/13/2026HouseIntroduced and Assigned to Administration Committee in House
4/22/2026House
Bill Text
Current
4/22/2026
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