Any property owner, aggrieved by any assessment levied under this subchapter, may, within 60 days after service of notice of such assessment, file with the Mayor of the District of Columbia a protest in writing against such assessment, accompanied by affidavits if he so desires, and if said Mayor finds that the property of such owner so protesting is not benefited by the improvement for which said assessment is levied, or is benefited less than the amount of such assessment, or is unequally or inequitably assessed with relation to other property abutting such improvement, said Mayor shall abate, reduce, or adjust such assessment in accordance with such finding. In computing the 60 days provided in § 9-401.06, within which such assessment may be paid without interest, there shall be excluded therefrom the time between the date of the filing of any such protest and the date of action thereon by the Mayor.

(Feb. 20, 1931, 46 Stat. 1199, ch. 246, § 10.)

1981 Ed., § 7-636.

1973 Ed., § 7-631.

This section originated at a time when local government powers were delegated to a Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia (see Acts Relating to the Establishment of the District of Columbia and its Various Forms of Governmental Organization in Volume 1). Section 401 of Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1967 (see Reorganization Plans in Volume 1) transferred all of the functions of the Board of Commissioners under this section to a single Commissioner. The District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act, 87 Stat. 818, § 711 ( D.C. Code, § 1-207.11), abolished the District of Columbia Council and the Office of Commissioner of the District of Columbia. These branches of government were replaced by the Council of the District of Columbia and the Office of Mayor of the District of Columbia, respectively. Accordingly, and also pursuant to § 714(a) of such Act ( D.C. Code, § 1-207.14(a)), appropriate changes in terminology were made in this section.