New Carrollton                                     2285

assessment shall be payable in twenty equal semi-annual installments from
the date of the assessment, and at the time of the payment of each of the
installments there shall also be due and payable the interest on such
installment and on the balance of the principal then unpaid. The rate of
interest shall be as determined by the Council in levying the assessment,
and it shall not exceed the rate of interest stated in the notice of the
proposed assessment mailed to the owners of assessable property as pro-
vided in this section.

d. Collection. All assessments shall be billed and collected by the
City Treasurer, who shall be charged with the custody of all proceeds
therefrom. All collections shall be maintained in a separate fund in the
accounts of the City. No part of the proceeds collected may be used except
to liquidate the notes, bonds, or other evidences of indebtedness, and to
pay the interest thereon, which may have been issued to finance the im-
provements for which the assessment was levied. When such notes, bonds
or other evidences of indebtedness have been paid in full, any remaining
balance in the special assessment fund may be used for general municipal
purposes as directed by the Council.

New Carrollton Charter Amendment No. 71-7

An amendment to the Charter of the City of New Carrollton, Prince
George's County, Maryland, amending Section 27, entitled "Referendum,"
and Section 29, entitled "Initiative," to make the provisions of these sec-
tions applicable to resolutions as well as ordinances to liberalize the signa-
ture verification requirements for petitions, to add a provision authorizing
advisory referenda, and to renumber Sections 27 and 29; to add a new
Section 21 entitled "Recall of Elected Officials" to provide for recall of
an elected official by petition of 25% of the registered voters for failure
to perform duties required under the Charter.

SECTION [27.] 19. REFERENDUM.

a. Petition. If, before the expiration of twenty (20) calendar days
following approval of any ordinance or resolution, a petition is filed with
[an officer of the City] the Board of Elections containing the signatures
of not less than fifteen per centum (15%) of the registered voters of the
City and requesting that the ordinance [,] or resolution, or any part
thereof, be submitted to a vote of the registered voters of the City for
their approval or disapproval, the Council shall have the ordinance [,] or
resolution, or the part thereof requested for referendum, submitted to a
vote of the registered voters of the City at the next regular City election
or, in the Council's discretion, at a special election occurring before the
next regular election. Each person signing the petition shall indicate thereon
both his name and residence address. Upon receiving the petition, the
Board of Elections is directed to verify that it has been signed by the
required number of registered voters. A minor variation in the signature
of a petitioner between his signature on a petition and that on the City
voter registration records shall not invalidate the signature. The invali-
dation of one signature on a petition shall not serve to invalidate any
others. If the petition fails to contain the required number of valid sig-
natures, as determined by the Board of Elections, the petitioners may
submit as an amendment to their original petition the additional number
of valid signatures to meet the requirements of this section. The provisions
of this section shall not apply to any ordinance, or part thereof, levying
property taxes for the payment of indebtedness, but the provisions of this
section shall apply to any ordinance, or part thereof, levying benefit assess-
ment charges.