CHAP. 176.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 1041-a of the Code of
Virginia, 1904, as amended by an act approved March 14, 1910, entitled
“an act to amend and re-enact section 1041l-a of the Code of Virginia,
1904, as amended by an act approved February 25, 1908, entitled an
act to amend and re-enact section 1041-a of the Code of Virginia,
1904, as amended by an act approved May 20, 1903, entitled an act
to amend and re-enact chapter 44 of the Code of Virginia, 1887, in
relation to cities and towns, and to repeal sections 1039 and 1040 of
the Code of Virginia, and section 10438 of the Code of Virginia as
amended and re-enacted by an act approved March 4, 1896, and as
attempted to be repealed by an act approved March 7, 1900, entitled
an act to provide for local assessments in cities and towns.”

Approved March 13, 1912.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
section one thousand and forty-one-a of the Code of Virginia,
nineteen hundred and four, as amended by an act approved
March fourteenth, nineteen hundred and ten, entitled “an act
to amend and re-enact section one thousand and forty-one-a of
the Code of Virginia, nineteen hundred and four, as amended by
an act approved February twenty-five, nineteen hundred and
eight, entitled an act to amend and re-enact section one thousand
and forty-one-a of the Code of Virginia, nineteen hundred and
four, as amended by an act approved May twenty, nineteen hun-
dred and three, entitled an act to amend and re-enact chapter
forty-four of the Code of Virginia, eighteen hundred and eighty-
seven, in relation to cities and towns, and to repeal sections one
thousand and thirty-nine and one thousand and forty of the Code
of Virginia, and section one thousand and forty-three of the Code
of Virginia as amended and re-enacted by an act approved March
fourth, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, and as attempted to be
repealed by an act approved March seventh, nineteen hundred
entitled an act to provide for local assessments in cities and
towns,” be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

$1041-a. Providing for local assessments to pay for certain
public improvements in cities and towns.—No city or town shall
Impose any tax or assessment upon abutting landowners for
street or other public local improvements, except for making and
improving the walkways upon then existing streets, and improv-
ing and paving then existing alleys, and for either the construc-
tion, or for the use of sewers; and the same when imposed shall
not be in excess of the peculiar benefits resulting therefrom to
such abutting landowners. But such improvement may be of-
dered by the council, and the cost thereof apportioned in pursu-
ance of an agreement between the city or town and the abutting
landowners, and, in the absence of such agreement, improve-
ments, the cost of which are to be defrayed in whole or in part
by such local tax or assessment, may be ordered on a petition
from not less than three-fourths of the landowners to be affect-
ed thereby, or by a two-thirds vote of all the members elected to
the council, but notice shall first be given as hereinafter provided
to the abutting landowners notifying them when and where
they may appear before the council or some committee thereof,
to whom the matter may be referred, to be heard in favor of or
against such improvement. When _ the council consists of two
branches, any committee acting under this or subsequent provis-
ions of this section shall be composed of not less than three mem-
bers from the larger and two members from the smaller branch.
The cost of such improvement, when the same shall have been
ascertained, shall be assessed or apportioned by the council, or
by some committee thereof, or by any officer or board authorized
by the council to make such assessment or such apportionment
between the city or town and the abutting landowners where
less than the whole is assessed: provided, that except when it is
otherwise agreed that portion assessed against the abutting land-
owners shall not exceed one-third of the total cost: provided,
however, that in cities and towns having a population by the last
preceding United States census of not exceeding twelve thou-
sand, the amount assessed shall not exceed three-fourths of the
total cost of such improvement.

The amount assessed against each landowner, or for which
he is liable by agreement, shall be reported as soon as practica-
ble to the collector of taxes, who shall enter the same as provided
for other taxes. When the assessment or apportionment is not
fixed by agreement, notice thereof, and of the amount so assessed
or apportioned, shall be given each of the then abutting owners,
and he shall be cited thereby to apnear before the council, com-
mittee, officer, or board having the matter in charge, not less
than ten days thereafter, at a time and place to be designated
therein, to show cause, if any he can, against such assessment or
apportionment. The notice required by this section may be
given by personal service on all persons entitled to such notice,
except that notice to an infant or insane person may be served
on his guardian or committee, and notice to a non-resident may
be mailed to him at his place of residence, or served on any agent
of his having the property in charge, or on the tenant of the free-
hold, or, in any case where the owner is a non-resident, or where
the owner’s residence is not known, such notice may be given by
publication in some newspaper published in the city or town
once a week for four successive weeks. Or, in any case, in lieu
of such personal service on the parties or their agents and of
such publication, the notice to all parties may be given by pub-
lishing the same in some daily newspaper published in the city
or town, once a week for two successive weeks, the last publica-
tion to be made at least ten (10) days before the parties are
cited to appear. Any landowner wishing to make objections to
an assessment or apportionment may appear in person or by
counsel, and state his objections. If his objections are overruled,
he shall, within thirty days thereafter, but not afterwards, have
an appeal as of right to the corporation or hustings court of the
city, or, In case of a town, to the circuit court of the county in
which such town is situated. When an appeal is taken the clerk
of the council, committee, or board, or the officer having the
matter in charge, shall immediately deliver to the clerk of the
court Which has cognizance of the appeal the original notice re-
lating to said assessment, with the judgment of the council, com-
mittee, officer, or board endorsed thereon, and the clerk shall
docket the same. Each such appeal shall be tried by the court or
the judge thereof, in a summary way, without pleadings in
writing and without a jury, in term time or in vacation, after
ten days’ notice to the adverse party, and the hearing shall be
de novo. The amount finally assessed against or apportioned to
each land owner, or fixed by agreement with him, as hereinbe-
fore provided, shall be a lien on his abutting land, from the time
when the work of improvement shall have been completed; sub-
ject, however, to his right of appeal and objection as aforesaid,
and may be enforced by suit in equity; and provided, that as
against a purchaser for value and without notice, such assess-
ment or tax shall not be a lien except and until an abstract of
such resolution or ordinance is recorded in the judgment docket
of the clerk’s office, in which deeds conveying real estate in such
city or town are required by law to be recorded, showing the
ownership and location of the property to be affected by the
proposed improvements, and the same indexed in the name of
the city or town and of the owner of the property, or until the
resolution or ordinance of the city or town, as the case may be,
ordering such improvement shall have been recorded in a book
kept in the office of the clerk of the council for that purpose
only, and designated as record book of resolutions and ordi-
nances of the council ordering public improvements at the ex-
pense of abutting owners and the same indexed in the name of
the city or town and in the name of the owners of the property.

2. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act are
hereby repealed.