12-1808. Repairs by owner or city; notice; special assessments; payment from general fund or general improvement fund, when. It shall be the duty of the owner of the abutting property to keep the sidewalk in repair, but in cities of the third class no formality shall be required for the repairing of a sidewalk by the city and such repairs may be made without notice to the abutting property owner; and in cities of the first and second class the city engineer, or city clerk, may, after giving five days' notice to the owner or his or her agent, if known, of the necessity therefor, and without notice if the lot or piece of land is unoccupied, make all necessary repairs at any time. Repairs may be made by force account or by contract and an account of the cost thereof shall be kept and reported to the governing body.

The city shall by ordinance levy a special assessment against the lot or piece of land abutting on the sidewalk so repaired for the cost of repairs, and if the abutting property owner does not pay the assessment within thirty days, upon the city clerk mailing to the owner or his or her agent, if known, a printed or written notice of the amount of such repairs, the full amount shall be certified by the city clerk to the county clerk to be put on the tax rolls for collection like other taxes. The temporary financing of repairs may be borne by the city out of the fund for maintaining streets or out of the general fund or general improvement fund. In cities of the first class having a population of more than sixty thousand and less than ninety thousand, the cost of repairing sidewalks may, in the discretion of the governing body, be paid from the general improvement fund of the city when the costs of such repairs do not exceed three thousand dollars in any one calendar year, and no assessment shall be levied.

History: L. 1941, ch. 103, § 8; June 30.