§ 1. Incorporation and corporate powers.

The inhabitants of the Town of Topsail Beach in Pender County, North Carolina, within the boundaries as established in section 3 of this Charter, or as hereafter established in the manner provided by law, shall be a body politic and corporate by name of the Town of Topsail Beach, and under that name shall have perpetual succession; may use a corporate seal; may sue and be sued; may acquire property within or without its boundaries for any municipal purpose, in fee simple or through interest or estate, by purchase, gift, devise, lease or condemnation and may sell, lease, hold, manage and control such property as its interest may require; and, except as prohibited by the Constitution of North Carolina or restricted by this Charter, the Town of Topsail Beach shall have and may exercise all municipal powers, functions, rights, privileges and immunities of every name and nature whatsoever. The following shall be deemed to be a part of the powers conferred upon the Town of Topsail Beach by this section:

(a)

To levy and collect an annual ad valorem tax on all taxable property at a rate not exceeding one dollar and fifty cents ($1.50) on the one hundred dollar ($100.00) valuation of said property, notwithstanding the provisions of G.S. 160-402 [G.S. 160A-209]; and to levy and collect special assessments for benefits conferred.

(b)

To furnish all local public services; to purchase, hire, construct, own, maintain and operate or lease local public utilities; to acquire, by condemnation or otherwise, within or without the corporate limits, property necessary for such purposes, subject to restrictions imposed by general law for the protection of other communities; and to grant local public utility franchises and regulate the exercise thereof.

(c)

To make local public improvements and to acquire, by condemnation, or otherwise, property within or without its corporate limits necessary for such improvements; and also to acquire an excess over that needed for any such improvement, and to sell or lease such excess property with restrictions, in order to protect and preserve the improvement.

(d)

To issue and sell bonds on the security of any such excess property, or of any public utility owned by the town, or of the revenue thereof, or of both, including in the case of a public utility, if deemed desirable by the town, a franchise stating the terms upon which, in case of foreclosure, the purchaser may operate such utility.

(e)

To adopt and enforce within its limits local police, sanitary and other similar regulations not in conflict with general laws.

Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the Board of Commissioners shall have authority to determine by whom and in what manner the powers granted by this section shall be exercised.

(S.L. 1963, ch. 67, § 1; S.L. 1967, ch. 363, § 1)