Chap. 405.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 4 and 19 of an act entitled
an act to provide a charter and special form of government for the city of
Hampton, approved March 16, 1920, as amended by an act approved Febru-
ary 13, 1924. [H B 516]

Approved March 24, 1926.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tions four and nineteen of the charter of the city of Hampton, ap-
proved March sixteenth, nineteen hundred and twenty, as amended
by an act approved February thirteenth, nineteen hundred and
twenty-four, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

THE COUNCIL

Section 4. The council of the city shall consist of five members
who shall be elected on the second Tuesday in June, nineteen hundred
and twenty, on a general ticket at large, from the electors of the city,
and who shall serve for a term of four years from the first day of
September next following the date of their election, and until their
successors shall have been duly elected and qualified; provided, that
in the first election hereunder the three candidates having the highest
number of votes shall serve for four years, and the two candidates
having the next highest number of votes shall serve for two years;
the successors to the two candidates elected for two years to be elected
by the qualified voters of the city on the second Tuesday in June,
nineteen hundred and twenty-two, for a term of four years,—an
election being held accordingly every two years to elect successors to
the councilmen, whose terms of office expire as herein provided; and
provided, further, that the members of the first council elected here-
under, shall have the power, and it shall be their duty, within ten
days after the date of the certification of their election, to qualify and
organize for the sole purpose of electing a city manager, as hereinafter
provided; and the said council shall, if practicable, elect a city manager
prior to the said first day of September, nineteen hundred and twenty,
whose active service shall begin on that day, at the same time as their
own. Thecouncil shall be a continuing body, and no measure pending
before such body shall abate or be discontinued by reason of the ex-
piration of the term of office, or removal of the members of said body
or any of them. The council shall elect one of its members to preside
over its meetings, and he shall be ex-officio mayor, who shall be
elected for a term of two years, in the year nineteen hundred and
twenty-eight, and each two years thereafter. He shall have the same
powers and duties as other members of the council and be entitled to
a vote on all questions, but shall have no veto, and he shall be the
official head of the city. With the exceptton of those officers required
by the Constitution of the State to be elected by popular vote, the
members of the council shall be the only elective city officials. Any
vacancy in the council, except as otherwise provided in this charter,
shall be filled by the remaining members. Each member of the coun-
cil shall receive a salary of one hundred dollars ($100.00) annually,
except the president, whose salary shall be two hundred dollars
($200.00) annually, such salaries to be payable quarterly. Absence
from three successive regular meetings shall operate to vacate the
ofice of a member, unless the absence is excused by the council, by
resolution setting forth the reason thereof, and entered upon the
journal.

Section 19. The revenue shall be under the control of the council,
and shall be derived from the following sources: Taxes upon all
property, real personal, and mixed, owned or taxable within the cor-
porate limits, except such as may be exempted from city taxation;
provided that the rate of city taxation for all purposes shail not ex-
ceed two dollars and fifty cents ($2.50) on each one hundred dollars
($100.00) valuation on all real and tangible property, and not to ex-
ceed the limit imposed by the State on other property, for all city
purposes. It may impose-and collect license taxes for the city;
license for the sale of merchandise upon manufacturers, traders,
lawyers, physicians, dentists, brokers, pawnbrokers, hotels, boarding
house-keepers, keeper of drinking or eating houses, keepers of livery
stables, photograph artists of all kinds, agents of all kinds, vendors
of medicine, theatrical and circus companies or other performances
or shows, menageries, jugglers, itinerant salesmen, and all shows and
exhibitions for which an entrance fee is required; upon keepers of pool
and billiard tables, tenpin alleys, shooting galleries, hawkers, peddlers,
sample merchants; upon the business of fire or bankrupt sales; upon
the business of commission merchants living within or without the
city and buying or selling therein; upon any and all business occupa-
tions, professions and pursuits; and upon all persons, firms, corpora-
tions or employments, whether of like kind with any of the foregoing
or not, which it may deem proper, and whether any such person, firm,
corporation or employment be herein specifically enumerated or not,
and whether any tax be imposed thereon by the State or not; upon
the wagons, drays, carts, hacks, automobiles, motorcycles and other
wheeled vehicles and delivery wagons, used for business within the
city, whether the owners reside, or their place of business is within or
without the limits thereof; upon dogs and other animals; and upon
all moneys owned by or credits due to any person living in the city;
all capital of persons having a place of business in the city and doing
business therein and employed in said business, though the said
business may be conducted beyond the city; provided that so much
of said capital as is invested in real estate, or employed in the manu-
facture of articles outside the limits of the city, shall not be taxed as
capital; all stocks in incorporated joint stock companies doing business
ACTS OF ASSEMBLY. 709

in the city and by whomsoever owned and not exempt by law from
taxation; income, interest on money, dividends of banks or other cor-
porations; provided that no capital, interest, income, or dividend shall
be taxed when a license or other tax is imposed upon the business in
which said capital is employed or upon the principal money, credit
or stocks from which the interest, income or dividend is derived; nor
shall a tax be imposed at the same time upon stock of corporation
and upon dividends thereof.

Assessment upon stocks and bonds shall be according to the market
value thereof.

As to all such business, firms, corporations or employments the
council may lay a direct tax, or may require a license tax therefor,
under such regulations as-it may prescribe; and from fines, penalties
and costs imposed for violation or non-observance of the ordinances,
by-laws and resolutions adopted pursuant to this act.

The council may subject any person who, without having obtained
a license therefor, shall do any act, or follow any employment, business
or profession in the city for which a license is required by ordinance
to such fine, penalty or imprisonment as it is authorized to impose for
any violation of its laws; provided that nothing in this section or else-
where in this act, shall be construed as authorizing the imposition of
taxes or license fees in any case where the imposition of said taxes or
license fees by cities and towns is prohibited by general law.

The foregoing provisions of this section are hereby qualified to this
extent, that they shall not be so construed as to conflict with the
general laws of this State in relation to the segregation of the subjects
of taxation.

2. An emergency existing, this act shall be in force from its
passage.