346                               LAWS OF MARYLAND                        [CH. 243

requested in the original petition and the Commission shall cause the
plat of such locality to be made under the supervision of its chief
engineer, showing the proposed water or sewerage systems, one copy
of which plat shall be filed in the office of the Commission, one in
the office of the County Commissioners and one in a plat book in-
dexed "Wicomico County Sewer and Water Commission", in the
office where the land records of Wicomico County are kept; and upon
the filing of said plat and the approval of said locality by the County
Commissioners of said County and the Commission, such sanitary dis-
trict shown on said plat shall be and the same is hereby designated
and constituted for the purpose of this sub-title to be a separate sani-
tary district, and shall be given by the Commission a distinctive name
and shall be subject to all the provisions of this sub-title, and the
filing of said plat shall constitute legal notice to the public of such
action of the Commission. for the purpose of providing for the
organization and preliminary expenses of any newly constituted
sanitary district, the County Commissioners shall furnish the Com-
mission with a sum not exceeding Twenty-five Thousand Dollars
($25,000.00), which shall be repaid out of the first bond issue or in-
come of the particular district.

425. Whenever fifteen (15) property owners residing in any sub-
district constituting part of any sanitary district in Wicomico County,
as now or hereafter constituted, in which either water or sewerage
services have been established by the Commission, or if there are not
fifteen (15) property owners in such sub-district then twenty-five
(25) per cent of the owners therein shall petition the Commission for
the establishment, in addition to the existing service, of water or sew-
erage facilities, as the case may be, the Commission shall prepare with-
out cost to the petitioners a preliminary estimate to determine the
approximate cost of providing such facilities. The Commission will
also submit an estimate of the cost of making surveys and preparing
a complete engineering and financial report, which shall include the
estimated assessed property valuation as fixed for County taxation
purposes, within the sub-district involved, which estimated assessed
valuation shall be furnished to the Commission by the County Com-
missioners. Whenever such preliminary estimates are completed, the
Commission shall give notice by publication in one or more news-
papers published within the County, and by hand bills posted and
circulated in the locality where said proposed facilities are contem-
plated, which notice shall specify the proposed area to be served,
together with the time and place of the hearing to be held, at which
hearing those present shall be given the probable cost of the proposed
facilities in the area to be served, as shown by the preliminary
survey, the probable cost of the preparation of the complete engineer-
ing and financial report incident thereto, and a statement of the
unamortized balance due on facilities theretofore installed by the
Commission in the sub-district involved. If the estimated cost of the
proposed facilities, including the cost of the engineering and financial
report incident thereto, plus unamortized balance of the cost of
facilities already installed by the Commission in the sub-district
involved, shall exceed fifteen per centum (15%) of the assessed
property value as fixed for County taxation purposes in said sub-
district, or if the project is not feasible from an engineering or a
financial standpoint, then the Commission may, in its discretion, deny
the petition. If the Commission shall deny the petition, a majority