Chap. 73.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 17 of the act of the gen-
eral assembly of Virginia. approved March 12, 1904, entitled an act to
incorporate and provide a charter for the town of Damascus, Virginia.

[H B 144]

Approved February 29, 1928.

]. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tion seventeen of an act approved March twelfth, nineteen hundred
and four, entitled an act to incorporate and provide a charter for
the town of Damascus, Virginia, be amended and re-enacted so as
to read as follows:

Section 17. The council shall control and manage the water
works of said town, either by itself or through such committees or
agencies as it may adopt: and the council shall prescribe and regu-
late the rate of charges to be paid for the use of water furnished
by the town to the citizens thereof, and to persons outside the
corporate limits thereof, who may wish to purchase water from the
town. They may impose fines and penalties for the injury and
abuse of said works, or property connected therewith, or for waste
of said water furnished by the town, and may enforce and collect
said fines and penalties and the charges for water by distress or
otherwise, as the council may determine.

For the execution of their powers and duties, the council of the
town of Damascus shall have the power to raise annually, by taxes
and assessments in said town, such sums of money as they shall
deem necessary to defray the expenses of the same, and in such
manner as they shall deem expedient, in accordance with the Con-
stitution and laws of this State and of the United States: provided,
however, that the rate of taxation shall not exceed one dollar upon
the one hundred dollars of the taxable value of property as herein-
after authorized.

The council may grant licenses to owners or keepers of wagons,
drays, carts, hacks, and other wheel vehicles kept emploved in said
town for hire; and may require the owners or keepers of wagons,
drays, carts, or other vehicles using them in the town to take out a
license thereon, and subject the same to such regulations as they
may deem proper, and may prescribe their fees and compensations.

The council shall annually order a levy upon all male persons
within said town over twenty-one vears of age, and on all real estate
within said town not exempt by law from State taxation, and on all
such personal property and other subjects as may at the time be
subject to taxation by this charter; provided, however, that the tax
on persons shall not exceed one dollar, and the tax levied for general
purposes shall in no vear exceed two dollars on the one hundred
dollars’ worth of property, real and personal, based upon the State
assessment, and this maximum rate of taxation shall not be 1n-
creased except by amendment to this charter.

The council may organize and maintain a fire department. for
the town, and make rules and regulations for the government of
the officers and men of said department, and may make such ord-
nances as they may deem proper to extinguish and prevent fires;
to prevent property from being stolen, and to require citizens to
render assistance to ie fire department in case of need.

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