Chap. 484.—An ACT to amend and reenact Section 20, as amended, and Section 9,
of Chapter 52 of the Acts of Assembly of 1887-88, approved January 30, 1888,
being the charter of the town of South Boston, Virginia, and to add thereto
a section numbered 30, so as to authorize the appointment and fix the powers
of a police justice for the town, to provide a maximum tax rate and to
authorize the levy and collection of taxes on amusements and clectri¢ Pe

41]
Approved April 2, 1948

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia :

1. That section twenty, as amended, and section nine, of chapter
fifty-two of the Acts of Assembly of eighteen hundred eighty-seven-
eighty-eight, approved January thirty, eighteen hundred. eighty-eight,
being the charter of the town of South Boston, be amended and reenacted,
and that a section numbered thirty be added thereto, all as follows:

Section 9. The mayor shall take care that the by-laws, ordinances
and resolutions of the council are faithfully executed. He shall have power
to issue process, hear and determine all prosecutions, cases, and con-
troversies which may arise under the by-laws and ordinances of the town;
impose fines and inflict’ punishments when and wherever they are
authorized by the said by-laws and ordinances, and to issue executions
for the collection of such fines; and appeals may be taken to the circuit
court of the county of Halifax from his decisions in both civil and criminal
matters, (except in the case of a judgment for a fine not exceeding ten
dollars for the violation of a by-law or ordinance of the town) in the
same manner, upon the same terms, and be tried in the same way as
appeals from the decisions of the trial justice court of the county of
Halifax.

The council shall have power to elect a legally qualified person to
be known as the police justice of the town of South Boston, who shall
have the same powers as the mayor to issue process, hear and determine
prosecutions and controversies which may arise under the by-laws and
ordinances of the said town, impose fines and inflict punishment when
and wherever they are authorized by the said by-laws and ordinances;
and to issue executions for the collection of fines. Appeals may be taken
from the decision of the police justice to the circuit court of the county
of Halifax, except in case of a fine not exceeding ten dollars for violation
of a by-law or ordinance of the town.

Such police justice shall qualify in the same manner as the mayor
and shall hold office until and including August thirty-first, nineteen
hundred forty-nine. The term of office shall thereafter be two years,
beginning September first, nineteen hundred forty-nine. Such police
justice shall be paid a salary by the town to be fixed by the council.

Section 20. To meet any expenditures that may be lawfully charge-
able to the said town, the council may annually levy a town levy of so
much as in its opinion may be necessary upon all taxable persons and
property resident or situate within the said town, not exempted from
taxation by the laws of this State; provided, that a capitation tax not
greater than one dollar per head on the inhabitants of the said town
over the age of twenty-one years shall not be levied in any one year; and
provided, that the tax so to be levied for general town purposes as dis-
tinguished from school levies on the real and personal property within
the said town, do not exceed one dollar eighty-five cents on every one
hundred dollars of the assessed value thereof for any one year.

Section 30. The council shall have power to require the payment
of a tax to the town of not exceeding two cents upon every ticket or paid
admission to moving picture theaters, or other theaters, and to any place
of amusement, show, carnival, fair, baseball game or other sport. and
the council shall have power to provide for the collection of such tax
through the management or other person in charge of any place subject
to the terms of this section. The council may exempt from such tax any
show, game or performance conducted for religious, educational or
charitable purposes.

The council shall have power to require the payment to the town of
a tax not exceeding five per centum of the gross amount of any bill,
statement or account made up for the collection for services rendered
in furnishing electric light or power used within the corporate limits of
the town of South Boston, and may require that such tax be added to
the statement rendered for such service and that it be paid to the town
upon collection thereof at regular intervals to be prescribed by the
council.
2. An emergency exists and this act is in force from its passage.