J. MILLARD TAWES, Governor                         1729

district for the purpose of providing each of the following services,
which are hereby defined as and sometimes hereinafter referred to
as "urban services," to wit: water supply, sewage disposal, storm
drainage and surface water drainage, curbing and guttering, street
lighting, police protection, fire protection, and garbage and trash
collection, and disposal. The territorial limits of the district for each
urban service shall be the county boundaries and the district for
each urban service shall be separate and distinct except that each
district shall contribute a portion of its revenue to the general
expenses of the Commission.

(b)  Areas already served.—The Commission shall not institute
any urban service in any area where such service is already being
provided by the County Commissioners of Wicomico County, a
municipality or other political subdivision of the county or state
government, a public utility or a volunteer fire company except as
otherwise provided in this subtitle. Where such service is being pro-
vided by the County Commissioners, a municipality or other political
subdivision of the state or county government, the Commission may
take over and thereafter provide the service with the consent of the
governmental body or agency previously providing it after acquisi-
tion from said body of the property and facilities used by said govern-
mental body or agency in furnishing or performing such service;
where the Commission proposes to furnish fire protection in an area
served by a volunteer fire company, the Commission shall negotiate
the terms and conditions thereof with the volunteer fire company
affected both as to the acquisition of the property and equipment
of the company, and the services to be provided thereafter by its
members; where such service is provided or furnished by a privately
owned public utility, the Commission may acquire the property of
the utility by purchase or condemnation.

(c)  Areas not already served.—The Commission may provide any
urban service in an area where it is not already provided, and the
establishment of a sub-district may be initiated by the Commission,
by petition of the residents and property owners of the locality or
by order of the State Department of Health.

(d)  Expansion of existing services by others.—Nothing in this
subtitle, subject to the restrictions set forth in section 530 hereof,
shall prohibit the County Commissioners of Wicomico County, a
municipality or other political subdivision of the state or county
government, a public utility or a volunteer fire company from extend-
ing its existing urban service or initiating a new urban service into
an area or areas not yet served by the Commission for that service.

515. Procedures for Establishment of Services.

(a) By action of the Commission.—Where the Commission deems
it necessary for the health, safety and welfare of the residents of an
area of Wicomico County to provide any one of the urban services
enumerated in this subtitle, the Commission shall first determine
the exact boundaries of the area requiring such service and shall
then cause surveys to be made of the area and a complete engineering
and financial report prepared on the proposed service which shall
include the estimated assessed property valuation as fixed for county
taxation within the proposed sub-district, which estimated assessed