House Bill 431 Summary

• Repeals the existing Town of Wyoming Charter and adopts a comprehensive new municipal charter with updated governance, election, and administrative procedures.

• Expands mayoral term from 2 to 3 years, increases disqualifying crimes for office to include fraud/embezzlement/dishonesty in addition to felonies, and establishes new procedures for filling council vacancies through interim appointment within 45 days.

• Modernizes election procedures to align with state Municipal Elections law (15 Del.C. Ch. 75), including voter registration requirements, standardized voting machines, expanded Election Board authority, and increased ballot preservation period from 10 to 30 days.

• Reduces short-term borrowing limit from $125,000 per fiscal year to $125,000 aggregate outstanding principal (requiring 4 council votes) and long-term borrowing cap from 10% to 5% of assessed property values, with new public hearing and special election requirements for amounts exceeding $125,000.

• Authorizes town regulation of subdivision and land development with impact fees, expands realty transfer tax authority from 1% to 1.5%, increases maximum fines for ordinance violations from $500 to $1,000, and adds new provisions for Mayor emergency powers and street/alley management procedures.