§ 78 ariended with the amount of such instalments in arrears, if any, and shall collect the same, with the interest due thereon, at the same time and in the same manner as provided for the collection of city taxes, and the warrant attached to such roll shall provide for the collection of such instalment or instalments. Whenever payment of such assessment is permitted to be made in instalments, as herein provided, each instalment, except the first, shall bear interest at the rate of six per centum per annum, to be estimated from the day following the expiration of the forty days allowed in the collection of said first instalment, such interest to be in addition to the fee, percentage or interest provided for in section one hundred and five of this act. Provided, however, that the owner or owners of any parcel of land or real estate, franchises, right of way, easement or other property affected by said assessment may pay any or all instalments remaining unpaid, with accrued interest, fee or percentage, at any time; and, if any such instalments, including the first, shall not be paid within the period of forty days as provided in section one hundred and five of this act, the remaining instalments of the amount assessed against said parcel of land, real estate, franchise, easement, right of way or other property, together with any accrued interest, fee or percentage, shall immediately become due and payable and may be collected in the same manner as is provided in this act for the collection of county or city taxes by sale. § 2. Section seventy-eight of said chapter is hereby amended to read as follows:1 § 78. Collection of local assessments. The common council shall, provided that it determines that the whole of said assessment or the first instalment thereof shall be immediately collected, cause the proper warrant to be attached to one of said assessment-rolls, and to the other a copy of such warrant. Said warrants shall be signed by the mayor, or a majority of the members of the common council and delivered to the city clerk. Whenever the assessment-roll and the warrant for its collection for any local improvement shall be left with the city clerk, he shall, as ex-officio collector of taxes, receive the amount of the assessment thereon, or the amount of the instalment if such assessment be collectible in instalments, for the same time, and with the same fees as directed herein for the collection of city taxes, and shall give notice to that effect immedi 1 Section materially amended. ately upon receipt of said assessment-roll, by publication thereof in the official newspapers of the city, in the same manner and for the same time as provided herein for the collection of city taxes. If any such assessment or instalment, as the case may be, shall remain unpaid at the expiration of six months from the time of the delivery of said assessment-roll and warrant to the city clerk, the city clerk as ex-officio collector of taxes, shall make a return of his warrant to the common council who shall proceed in the same manner directed in this act for the collection of county or city taxes by sale. The whole amount of any such assessment shall be a lien upon the lands, real estate, franchise, easements and rights of way so assessed from the day of the confirmation of the same by the common council. The common council may, in its discretion, sue for and recover in a civil action, of the owner any sum which shall remain unpaid after the expiration of six months from the date of the attachment of the warrant to the assessmentroll. added. § 3. Said chapter is hereby amended by inserting therein two $$ 78a, 78b new sections to be sections seventy-eight-a and seventy-eight-b, to read as follows: where as divided into § 78-a. Whenever the common council shall at the time of the Bond Issue confirmation of any assessment determine that the same may be sessments divided into five equal annual instalments as herein provided, the instalments. said common council may authorize the issue of bonds or certificates of indebtedness to an amount not exceeding four-fifths of the total amount of such assessment, which said bonds or certificates of indebtedness shall be payable one-fourth in one year; one-fourth in two years; one-fourth in three years; and one-fourth in four years from and after a date to be fixed by it, and shall be of such denomination or denominations and shall bear interest at such rate, not exceeding six per centum per annum as the said common council may determine and shall be sold at not less than par, and which said bonds or certificates of indebtedness shall be paid as they become due by the city treasurer from the funds received by him from the collection of such assessments. bonds or of indebted neys. 78-b. The proceeds from the collection of the instalments as Payment of herein provided shall constitute a fund for the purpose of paying certificates the bonds or certificates of indebtedness issued as herein provided, but if sufficient money shall not have been realized upon any instalments to pay the said bonds or certificates of indebtedness when the same shall become due and payable, the common council may temporarily borrow on the credit of the city a sufficient sum 81 en.erded. to pay the same, and all moneys hereafter realized on account of said assessment-roll or from sales for the nonpayment of the said assessments shall be used and are hereby pledged for the payment of the amount so borrowed and for the payment of said bonds or certificates of indebtedness. § 4. Section eighty-four of said chapter is hereby amended to read as follows:2 84. Construction and repair of sidewalks, curbstones and gutters. It shall be the duty of the owners and occupants of lands fronting on or adjoining any of the streets or avenues in said city to construct and keep in repair the sidewalks, curbs and gutters in front of their respective lots, in such manner and at such times, and of such material as the common council may, by a bylaw, resolution, or ordinance for that purpose, legally direct. Whenever the common council shall deem it necessary that any sidewalk, curbstone or gutter be made, constructed, reset, relaid or repaired, it shall prescribe, by resolution or ordinance, the width and length of the sidewalk, the material to be used, the form and manner of the construction of the sidewalk, curbstone or gutter, and the time within which the work shall be done. Such improvements shall conform to the grade established, or to be established before which improvements are made. The common council shall cause to be served, at least twenty days before the expiration of the time so specified for such work to be done, upon the owners or occupants of the land adjoining such sidewalk, curbstone or gutter, so to be improved as aforesaid, a copy of such resolution or ordinance, with a notice that if the same is not done within the specified time by the owner or occupant of the adjoining land, it will be done by the said common council at the expense of such owner or occupant. Such notice shall be served upon such owner or occupant by delivering a copy thereof to him personally, or by leaving the same in his absence with some member of his family or some person of suitable age and discretion residing with him, if he be a resident of the city, or otherwise on his agent or other person having charge of the property, or by depositing the same in the post-office, properly enclosed and the postage prepaid thereon, and directed to such owner at his last known place of residence; in case such owner or his place of residence is unknown and there be no resident agent or occupant to the knowledge of the common council, such service 2 Section materially amended. may be made by affixing a copy of such ordinance or resolution and notice upon a conspicuous part of the premises. The common council shall also, in case service of such notice shall be otherwise than personal, cause a copy of such resolution or ordinance to be published at least once in the official newspapers of said city at least fifteen days before the expiration of the time specified for such work to be done. If there be two or more owners of any one piece of property, service upon one of the shall be sufficient. Affidavits of the publication and service of such resolutions or ordinances shall be filed and recorded, in the office of the clerk of said city, and the affidavits or the records thereof, or a certified copy of either, shall in all courts and places, actions and proceedings be prima facie evidence of the facts therein stated. In case any such improvement, act or thing so required shall not be made, done or completed as required within the time specified, the common council shall have power to make, do or complete the same, and having done so, shall, without giving any further or other notice, upon affidavits of the city engineer or the superintendent of streets and sewers, as the case may be, having the work in charge, showing the actual expense thereof, which affidavit shall be made and filed with the city clerk, proceed to assess upon each parcel or lot of land the expense of the sidewalk, curbstone or gutter immediately adjoining it, which assessment shall be final and conclusive upon all persons and parties interested in said real estate or affected thereby, and the amount so assessed, together with interest thereon, as herein stated, shall be a lien on the lands and premises against which such assessment has been made. Thereupon the common council shall cause to be sent to the owner of said property, if his address be known, an itemized statement of the expense of such improvement, and if such expense is not paid to the city clerk within thirty days, the amount thereof, with interest at the rate of twelve per centum per annum from the time of sending such statement shall be added to the amount assessed against such land for the next general city tax and the whole amount of such assessment and interest shall be collected in the same manner and with the next general city tax. If any such assessment shall remain unpaid at the expiration of six months from the time of delivery of said assessment-roll and warrant to the city clerk, the common council may proceed in the same manner directed in this act for the collection of county or city taxes by sale. The common council may also, in its discretion, sue for and recover in a civil action of the owner any supr.which the city may have paid in making such improvement. The gutters in those portions of streets paved, asphalted or matadinized, in whole or in part by local assessments, shall be kept in repair at the expense of the city. Whenever the grade of any sidewalk has been established by said city and recorded, and has been conformed to by the owner of such property, any change of grade thereafter made by the city shall be made at the expense of the city. 5. This act shall take effect immediately. L 1902, ch. 580. § 145, subd. 2 a'mended. When answer or be written; when an WE to be verified; exceptions. Chap. 73. AN ACT to amend chapter five hundred and eighty of the laws of nineteen hundred and two, entitled "An act in relation to the municipal court of the city of New York, its officers and marshals," in relation to pleadings. Became a law April 21, 1911, with the approval of the Governor. Passed, three-fifths being present. Accepted by the City. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: Section 1. Subdivision two of section one hundred and fortyfive of chapter five hundred and eighty of the laws of nineteen hundred and two, entitled "An act in relation to the municipal court of the city of New York, its officers and marshals," is hereby amended to read as follows: 2. In all cases where a written complaint, verified or unveridemurrer to fied, is served with the summons, a written answer, verified if the complaint be verified, or written demurrer, must be filed and issue joined on return day, except as otherwise expressly prescribed in this act, unless, the court further extends the time to answer or demur. In actions, however, in which the amount. claimed is fifty dollars or less, and the complaint is written, verified or unverified, and the defendant appears in person, the court may, in its discretion, permit the defendant to plead orally and indorse the substance thereof upon the summons. In effect Sept. 1, 1911. § 2. This act shall take effect September first, nineteen hundred and eleven. 1 Following sentence new. |