The Council shall have power to provide for the construction, repair and maintenance by contract, or directly by the employment of labor, of all things in the nature of local improvements, and to provide for the payment of any part of the cost of any such improvement by levying and collecting special assessments upon abutting, adjacent and contiguous, or other specially benefited property, or upon the property within the boundaries of a district in which the improvement is located. The amount assessed against the property specially benefited by such local improvements shall not exceed the amount of benefits to such property.
Provided, that whenever all of the property owners to be assessed for any improvement shall present a petition to the Council requesting the City to make any improvement directly by the employment of labor the cost of which is to be assessed on such abutting property owners, the Council by resolution shall instruct the Director of Public Service to proceed with the work of making such improvement, to employ the necessary labor, and purchase the necessary materials. Such petition shall be in the form prescribed by the Director of Public Service; but no notice shall be required, and publication of the same shall be dispensed with. When such improvement is completed, the cost of the same shall be assessed against the property benefited thereby.
Provided, further, that when bids are received for any contract work for any improvement, the cost of which is to be assessed upon the lands benefited thereby, the Director of Public Service shall fix a time not less than five days after the receipt of the bids for a public hearing. A notice of the same shall be mailed to the owners of the lands to be assessed, provided their addresses are known or can be ascertained.
Special assessments upon the property deemed benefited by a public improvement shall be by any one of the following methods:
(a) By a percentage of the tax value of the property assessed.
(b) In proportion to the benefit which may result from the improvement.
(c) By the foot frontage of the property bounding or abutting upon the improvement.
When it is deemed necessary to make a public improvement to be paid for in whole or in part by special assessment, the Council shall declare the necessity therefor by resolution, and such resolution shall state the method of assessment, the mode of payment, and the number of annual installments, whether the assessments shall be by district or upon abutting, adjacent and contiguous or other special benefited property; and such resolution shall be concurred in by three-fourths of the members of the Council. Such resolution shall be certified to the Director of Finance who shall thereupon proceed to make an assessment report, in accordance with the method of assessment provided for in the resolution, which report shall be filed with the Council, and shall show the lots and lands assessed, the amount of the assessment as to each, and the number of installments not exceeding ten in which such assessment shall be paid.
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