to the chairman of the street committee of the Common Council or the Commissioner of Public Works in cities which have adopted, or may adopt, the Commission form of government, and another copy to the mayor, to be by him transmitted to the Common Council or the Board of Commissioners in cities which have adopted, or may adopt, the commission form of government. Upon receipt of such copies from the city engineer, the chairman of the street committee, or the said Commissioner of Public Works, shall by notice by one insertion in a newspaper of general circulation published in said city give at least three days' notice of the time and place fixed by it for the inspection and reception of the work, which notice shall state the cost per abutting foot of property as shown by the engineer's estimate and the amount apportioned to any railway company. No other notice shall be necessary. At the time and place fixed in said notice, the said street committee of the Common Council or the said Commissioner of Public Works shall inspect the work, and the owners of property liable for the cost of the improvement, and the contractor therefor, their agents and representatives may appear and be heard before said street committee, or Commissioner of Public Works, as to whether the work had been done and the cost thereof estimated in accordance with the ordinance and contract therefor. The said street committee, or Commissioner of Public Works, may adjourn such hearing and inspection from time to time, and of such adjournment all interested parties shall take notice without further publication of notice. Any protest against the acceptance of the improvement or the estimated cost thereof shall be made in writing to said committee, or Commissioner of Public Works, and be transmitted by said com mittee, or Commissioner of Public Works, to the council, or said Board of Commissioners together with a written report of said committee or Commissioner of Public Works, accepting or rejecting the work accordingly as it may be of opinion that the work had or had not been done and the cost thereof estimated in accordance with the ordinance and contract therefor. § 6. That section three thousand four hundred and fifty-seven of the Kentucky Statutes be, and the same is, amended and re-enacted to read as follows: Section three thousand four hundred and fifty-seven. Upon receipt of the engineer's estimate and the report of the street committee or Commissioner of Public Works in cities which have adopted or may adopt the commission form of government as provided in the preceding section, the Common Council, or the Board of Commissioners in cities which have adopted, or may adopt the commission form of government, shall carefully consider and investigate any protest which may have been filed against the acceptance of the work or the confirmation of the engineer's estimate of the cost thereof, and shall hear any competent and proper evidence which may be offered thereon prior to the acceptance of the work and conformation of the estimate, and the Common Council, or said Board of Commissioners, may then accept the work and confirm the engineer's estimate of the cost thereof, or if it be of opinion that the work had not been done in accordance with the contract, or that the engineer's estimate of the cost is incorrect, it may require the contractor to perfect or complete the work in accordance with the contract, or it may modify the estimate of the cost. of the work to conform to the facts, or both. The determination of the Common Council or of said Board of Commissioners shall be conclusive and binding on all parties and shall not be questioned or contested in any court, except on the grounds of fraud or collusion on the part of the Common Council or the Board of Commissioners. Upon acceptance of the work and the confirmation of the engineer's estimate of the cost thereof by the Common Council, or said Board of Commissioners, it shall by ordinance apportion the cost of the work, less any part to be paid by the city or any railway company equally among the owners of the abutting property on both sides of the street improved according to the number of abutting feet owned by them respectively, provided that the entire cost of sidewalks (including curbing and guttering), shall be apportioned among the owners of the property abutting on the side of the street on which the improvement is made, each corner lot having its sidewalk intersection included in its frontage, and shall assess and levy a local tax on the several lots or parcels of abutting property at a rate per abutting foot sufficient to produce the part of the cost of the improvement apportioned to such abutting lots or parcels of property. The Common Council or said Board of Commissioners shall apportion to the city such part of the cost of the improvement as it may be liable for, and shall likewise apportion to any railway company the part of the cost for which it may be liable as provided in section three thousand four hundred and fifty, and shall assess and levy a tax upon the property, assets and franchises of such company in the city for its part of such cost. The lien provided for in section three thousand four hundred and fifty shall take effect upon the publication of the ordinance making the assessment and levying the tax and shall take precedence over all other liens, whether created prior or subsequent to the publication of such ordinance except State and county taxes general municipal taxes and prior improvement taxes, and shall not be defeated or postponed by any private or judicial sale, or by any mortgage or by any error or mistake in the description of the property or in the names thereof. Nor shall any error of the proceedings of the Common Council, or said Board of Commissioners, exempt any property from the lien for, or payment of, such taxes after the work has been done and accepted as provided in this section; but the Common Council or said Board of Commissioners, or the courts in which suits are pending, shall make all corrections, rules and orders to do justice to all parties concerned, and in no event shall the city be liable for any part of the cost of such improvement except as provided in section three thousand four hundred and fifty. Such liens may be enforced as other liens on real estate by action brought in the name of the city or the contractor entitled thereto, and in any such action, an allegation in substance that the improvement had been made and the work accepted pursuant to and by ordinances of the city duly passed in accordance with law, shall be sufficient pleading of the ordinances and proceedings under which the work was done and accepted without setting out the same in full. Any number of lots or parcels of land on which any local tax or installment thereof is made in default the owners thereof may be joined in one proceeding, and the court shall make all proper and necessary orders for the enforcement and collection of the tax as to the several lots or parcels of land. Where a person is the owner of two or more lots subject to such tax, the court may direct that one or more of such lots be sold for the whole tax of such person, allowing such person to designate the lots to be sold first, if he so desires and indicates. § 7. That section three thousand four hundred and fifty-eight of the Kentucky Statutes be, and the same is, amended and re-enacted to read as follows: Section three thousand four hundred and fifty-eight. The Common Council, or the Board of Commissioners in cities which have adopted or may adopt the commission form of government may provide that any such improvement of the streets, alleys, public ways or sidewalks (including curbing and guttering), shall be made on the ten-year payment plan; and, thereupon, when any such improvement shall have been completed and accepted and the cost thereof apportioned to, and a tax therefor levied on, the property liable for the payment thereof as provided in the preceding section, the city treasurer shall give notice by one publication in a newspaper of general circulation published in such city, requiring all persons to pay the local taxes levied upon their property within thirty days from the publication of the ordinance accepting the work and assessing the cost thereof. Such local taxes may, at the option of the property owners, be payable in cash, without interest, within thirty days or in ten annual installments as herein provided. Any property owner who desires to exercise such privilege of payment by installments, shall, before the expiration of the said thirty days, enter into an agreement in writing with the city that in consideration of such privilege he will make no objections to any illegality or irregularity with regard to the taxes against his property, and that he will pay the same in the manner herein provided with specified interest. Any property owner entering into such an agreement or who exercises the option to pay in installments, shall be concluded |