ty within the jurisdiction of said city, and shall only be levied upon such property, real, personal and mixed, and on capital on which the state imposes a tax; to impose a tax on all licenses, for which a tax is now or may hereafter be imposed for state purposes, in addition to the tax paid the state, and which said taxes are for the use of the city; the taxes so levied, other than upon licenses, shall be payable upon the twentieth day of December of the year in which the levy is made, or as soon thereafter as notice shall be given by the collector by publication for five days in one or more newspapers, published in said city, that he is ready to receive. all such taxes; the bills for such taxes shall be made out for each year, and when paid, receipted by the collector and delivered to the person paying the same. Any taxpayer may pay the whole amount of taxes assessed against him, including tithables, in December of any year, or as soon as the collector is ready to receive taxes as aforesaid, and receive a discount of two per centum; and the council shall have authority to subject any person or persons who, without having paid the taxes imposed by said council for the privilege, shall do any act or follow any employment or business in the said city, upon which the council is or shall be authorized to impose a tax to any fine or imprisonment which they are or may be authorized to impose or inflict for the enforcement of their ordinances; the council shall have authority to levy such tax or license on dogs within the city limits, as they shall deem proper, and enforce the payment of the same by such fines and penalties or both, as they deem proper.

The tax or license for dogs shall be paid in such manner and at such times as the council shall by ordinance prescribe.

CHAPTER 5.

(Senate Bill No. 17.)

AN ACT authorizing the city of Central City to pave the streets avenues and alleys and construct lateral or branch sewers therein, and authorizing the entire costs of such improvement to be paid by abutting property owners, except intersections, and the issuing of bonds or certificates to defray the costs thereof, and recording liens for the costs of such improvements against the lot owners.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

Sec. 1. Whenever a petition signed by a majority in interest on the basis of foot frontage of the owners of property abutting on any street, avenue or alley, in the city of Central City, is regularly presented to the common council of said city for the purpose, or whenever the said council shall deem it necessary to construct any sewer or pave any of the streets, avenues or alleys of said city, whether such petition has been filed or not, the council shall by resolution declare the necessity therefor, and shall cause to be prepared by the city engineer, and filed for inspection in the office of the city clerk, plans, specifications and profiles of the proposed work of improvement, with careful estimates of the costs thereof, and the costs of each running foot, and the names of the owner or owners of lots or parts of lots, abutting on the streets, avenues or alleys, or the part thereof to be improved, and shall cause notice thereof to be immediately published once a week for two successive weeks in some newspaper of general circulation in said city, which notice shall state the kind, size and location of the proposed improvement, and shall designate the terminal points thereof, and the estimated cost per foot front to property bordering on that part of the street, avenue or alley proposed to be improved, and shall require the owners of lots and parts of lots, abutting on the street, avenue or alley, or that part thereof proposed to be improv ed as aforesaid, to appear before the council of said city at a meeting thereof, not less than five days from the last publication of said notice, and show cause, if any they can, why said improvement should not be made; the said hearing may be adjourned from time to time. The sewers mentioned and included in this act shall be only branch or lateral sewers and this act shall not be construed to embrace trunk sewers.

Sec. 2. If upon the hearing, said improvement be still deemed necessary, the council, by a majority vote of all the members elected to said body, may order such street, avenue or alley between such designated points, between the sidewalks thereof, to be curbed, graded and paved with some suitable material, and a sewer to be constructed therein from one of such streets, avenues or alleys to the other, or to have such paving done without the construction of a sewer, or a sewer constructed without such paving being done, under such regulations as the council may provide by ordinance, and may let the contract upon the lowest and best terms to be obtained by advertisements for bids or for proposals therefor, and the entire cost of such grading, paving and curbing and the entire cost of such sewer and all expenses connected therewith, shall be assessed against the property abutting on such street, avenue or alley by the foot frontage of such property so abutting; each lot or fractional part of lot, to bear its proportion of said costs according to the distance it so covers on such improvement. The intersection of streets, or of a street and alley paved, or provided with sewer, under this section, shall be correspondingly paved or sewered at the sole expense of the city.

Sec. 3. The council may make the assessments provided in the preceding section, before the work is done, or contracted for (using the estimate of the city engineer as a basis therefor) or make such assessments during the progress of said work, or after the completion thereof; but the council shall immediately after making such assessments, cause to be published once a week for two successive weeks in some newspaper of general circulation in said city, a notice which shall name and describe the location of the street, avenue or alley upon which said paving shall, or has been constructed; give the name or names of owner or owners of each lot abutting on said street, avenue or alley, if known, if unknown, such lot or lots shall be described with reasonable certainty for identification, and the fact that the names of the owners of such lots are unknown, shall be stated; the number of feet that each lot, or fractional part of lot, of each known as well as unknown owner or owners abuts on such streets, avenues or alleys, shall be stated; the amount assessed upon each lot, or part of lot, and when the same shall be payable; said notice shall require all owners of lots and parts of lots, abutting on the street, avenue or alley to be improved as aforesaid, to appear before the common council of said

city at a meeting thereof, within twenty days from the first publi cation of said notice (the time and place of said meeting to be designated in said notice) and show cause, if they can, why said assessment should not become final; the council may alter or amend any assessment made against the property of any such owner for good cause shown therefor.

The said hearing may be adjourned from time to time. In case any of the owners of said lots shall fail to appear before the said council before the expiration of said twenty days from the first publication of said notice, and show good cause for having such assessment corrected, said assessment shall become final, and the decision of the said council shall be final and conclusive.

Sec. 4. The assessment provided in sections two and three with the interest accruing thereon, shall be a lien upon the property so assessed, to the same extent that taxes are a lien, and shall remain a lien until fully paid, and shall have precedence over all other liens excepting taxes, and shall not be divested by any transfer or conveyance of the property, or by judicial or other sale thereof, and any mistake in the description of the property or location thereof, or in the name of the owner or owners thereof, shall not vitiate the lien of said assessment; provided, that said lien shall be void, as to purchasers of any such real estate for value and without notice, who shall have purchased the same at any time after the expiration of twelve months from the date of said assessment, unless an abstract of such assessment, giving the location of the real estate, the name of the owner or owners thereof and the date and the amount of the assessment against the same shall have been first recorded in trust deed record, in the office of the clerk of the county court of Cabell county, council shall provide for releasing said liens when the amount secured thereby shall have been fully paid, in the manner that other liens are released.

The said assessments against said property shall be paid as follows: Ten per cent of the entire assessment, with interest thereon, from the date of assessment shall be paid to th city treasurer within thirty days after the completion of the work or improvement, or at such time as the council may prescribe, and the remainder shall be in equal annual installments, not exceeding ten, payable at a certain stipulated time, as council may by ordinance prescribe; each installment of such assessment shall bear interest

from the date of the assessment at the rate of six per cent per an

num.

Sec. 5. If the payment is not made by the time stipulated for payment of such assessment, or any installment thereof, the amount assessed and due as aforesaid, together with interest and costs thereon, may be recovered by suit before a justice of the peace, or other court of competent jurisdiction, in the name of the city, against the owner or owners; but the owner shall not be liable beyond his interest in the property assessed at the time such assessment was made; proceedings for the recovery of assessments may be instituted by the city, in a court in chancery, against the owners or any number of them, who are in arrears, to enforce the lien against any lot or parcel, or any number of them embraced in any one assessment; but the judgment or decree shall be rendered severally or separately for the amount assessed; if in any such action it shall appear that by reason of any technical irregularity, the assessment has not been properly made against any lot or parcel of land sought to be charged, or against the owner of such lot, the court may nevertheless, on satisfactory proof that expense is to be or has been incurred, which is a proper charge against such defendant, or lot or parcel of land in question, render judgment or decree for the amount properly chargeable against such defendant or on such lot of land.

Sec. 6. Each installment of the amount so assessed, including interest from date of assessment to the time when payable, shall be placed on the tax books of the city for the year in which it is payable, and it shall be collected by the city in the same way that taxes are collectable, or in such way as the council may prescribe, and the law governing the collection of taxes, so far as applicable, shall govern the collection of such assessments, and the proceeds arising therefrom shall constitute a special fund for the payment of the costs of such street or alley improvement, and the bonds and certificates hereinafter provided for, and for no other purpose; provided, that any person may pay the whole or any part of such assessment, before the said bonds or certificates are issued, in which event the interest on said assessment, or the part thereof paid, shall be collected only to the date of such payment; if the assessment proves insufficient to pay for the improvement and expenses incident thereto, the council may make an additional pro rata assessment to supply such deficiency. When it appears to the