If the owners or occupants of any land, lots or parts of lots abutting or fronting on any streets or alleys of the Municipality fail, within twenty days after having been served with notice to do so, to put down a suitable curb of concrete or other material along and for the footways and sidewalks of any of the streets or alleys of the Municipality, or fail to lay, relay or repair any sidewalks and gutters in, on or along any of such streets or alleys, or to plant, replant and care for shade trees along any of such streets or alleys, at such points, and in such manner as Council may have determined, or fail to keep such sidewalks clean and in good repair, or to grade the plot of ground on either side of such sidewalk between the street curb and property line, and to keep the same sodded with grass and free from weeds and obstructions and otherwise in good condition and repair, or to keep any land, lots or parts of lots abutting or fronting upon any of the avenues, streets, roads or alleys of the Municipality free from weeds and other vegetation, which may be unsightly or noxious, such work may be done by the Municipality, or Council may let such work to contract. In either case, the total cost of the work or such part thereof, as Council may direct or determine, shall be charged and assessed upon and against the land, lots or parts of lots abutting or fronting upon any of such streets or alleys, which assessment shall be and remain a lien upon such land, lots or parts of lots, the same as taxes levied upon real estate in the Municipality, which may be enforced by a suit in equity before any court having jurisdiction, as other liens against real estate are enforced, and shall also be a debt against the owners or occupiers of such land, lots or parts of lots, which may be collected as other debts are collected, in any court having jurisdiction, and shall be due and payable in ninety days from the completion and acceptance of such work as certified to by Council, with six percent (6%) interest thereon from the date of such record acceptance, and in addition thereto, such cost or expense, with interest at six percent (6%), may be collected from the owner, occupant, tenant, agent or assignee, by distress or sale in the same manner in which taxes levied against real estate are herein authorized to be collected. The costs or expenses with interest thereon at six percent (6%) for such work as may remain unpaid at the time of the making out of tax tickets, covering the taxes due in any year by such owners of such lots or lands, shall be placed on the tax tickets for that year along with the statement of other taxes due by such owners, and the Director of Finance shall collect such amounts at the time and in the manner as other Municipal taxes are collected by him from such owner, without allowing any discount thereon, and upon failure to pay the same on or before the last day of that year, there shall be added thereto the same interest penalties as are provided for the failure to pay other taxes assessed at such time against such owners. The Director, upon the failure to pay such amounts, shall return the real estate, against which such amount is a lien, delinquent for the nonpayment of taxes for such year the same as in the case of returning such lands delinquent for the nonpayment of other taxes assessed against such owner, and the real estate may be sold, at the time and in the manner provided for in the case of delinquent lands for the nonpayment of taxes.
In ascertaining the amount to be assessed upon or against any corner lot for the cost or expense of doing or causing to be done, any of the work herein mentioned, Council may assess the total cost of such work in front or alongside such lot and extended to the curb or gutter of the intersections of the streets or alleys at that point.