360                               LAWS OF MARYLAND                        [CH. 243

paid for by the Commission. Every public service corporation, com-
pany or individual before it or they shall begin any excavation or
construction in any street, road, alley or public highway within any
sanitary district shall file with the Commission plans of such work
and construction showing the location and depth in such street, road,
alley or public highway of the proposed main, conduit, pole, pipe or
other structure, and such construction or work shall not be begun
until said plan shall have been approved by the Commission, nor
shall any change be made in said approved plan or in the work or
construction as shown upon said plan, except on further approval of
the Commission. Whenever any main, conduit, pole, pipe or other
structure is put in without the filing of plans with the Commission
and the approval thereof by it, or when any change is made in the
location of such main, conduit, pipe, pole or other structure as shown
upon the plans approved by the Commission, or any approved change
therein, the Commission may, if and when such conduit, main, pipe
or pole, or other structure, interferes with the construction of or
operation of its water or sewerage system, or other works, remove
such conduit, main, pipe, pole or other structures or change the loca-
tion thereof at the cost and expense of the party so putting them in,
or their heirs, assigns, or successors, and without any liability upon
the part of the Commission for damage that might be done to the
same by reason of the Commission's operations in constructing or
maintaining its systems or works. Any violation of the provisions
of this section shall be a misdemeanor punishable under Section 445
of this sub-title.

445. Every act or omission designated as a misdemeanor in this
sub-title, unless otherwise provided, shall be punishable by any trial
magistrate or the Circuit Court of the County within which such
offense is committed, and the offender shall, upon conviction, be sub-
ject to a fine of not exceeding One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) or
to confinement of not more than thirty (30) days in the county jail,
or both, in the discretion of the magistrate or Circuit Court. Where
such costs or omission is of a continuing nature and is persisted in,
in violation of the provisions of this sub-title or of any rule or regu-
lation formulated thereunder, a conviction for one offense shall not
be a bar to the conviction for a continuation of such offense subse-
quent to the first or any succeeding conviction.

446. Any land owned by a church, and constituting the premises
occupied by such or its parsonage, and used exclusively for public
worship or for other religious or customary purposes of a church or
parsonage and not for investment gain or other secular purposes,
shall be exempt from the benefit assessments provided for by this
sub-title in respect of a frontage not exceeding one hundred and fifty
(150) feet. The Commission may, in its discretion, exercise in each
individual case, grant or withhold a further exemption of the land
so owned and used in respect of any frontage thereof in excess of one
hundred and fifty (150) feet hereinbefore provided for.

447. The Commission each year shall file its budget with the
County Commissioners of Wicomico County, and after the Commis-
sion has been allowed a hearing on said budget, the County Commis-
sioners shall have the power to amend, alter or reduce said budget, in
their discretion.