CHAPTER III.

LOCAL FUNDS.

§ 93. The Comptroller, on the delivery to him of a local assessment-roll, shall enter the name of the same and the total amount thereof in his books. He shall publish a notice in the official paper stating that the assessment-roll, naming and describing it, has been received by him, and that it will be held by him for two weeks; after which it will be delivered to the Treasurer. After the expiration of said two weeks, he shall deliver said roll to the Treasurer, unless in the mean time notice has been served on him, pursuant to law, that a writ of certiorari has been issued or has been applied for, or an action has been begun to review said assessment-roll or to test the legality thereof; in which case he shall hold the said assessment-roll for two additional weeks, and shall, after the expiration of said additional time, deliver said assessment-roll to the Treasurer, unless the court or the Common Council shall order him to return the said assessment-roll to the Common Council; or the proceedings to collect or enforce said assessment-roll are stayed by the court.

§ 94. The Treasurer, upon the receipt of such assessment-roll, shall cause the same to be properly indexed in a book to be kept by him for that purpose, and when the work for which said roll was made shall actually begin, shall publish a notice in five successive numbers of the official paper, that such roll, naming it, has been received by him, and that any assessment therein may be paid to him at any time before the expiration of one month from the first publication of the notice, without any addition. The department having the work in charge shall notify the Treasurer of the beginning of any work.

§ 95. Upon the expiration of one month from the first publication of such notice, the Treasurer shall add

one per centum to each of the unpaid assessments in such roll, and a like percentage shall, at the end of every month thereafter, while the roll remains in his hands, be added to each unpaid assessment.

§ 96. The method of paying such assessment shall be the same as that prescribed for the payment of taxes of the general tax roll.

$97. The Treasurer shall obtain each local assessment-roll, so that at all times payments may be made thereon, until the assessment is added to the general roll.

§ 98. All local assessments, when added to the general roll, shall be liens to the same extent as taxes levied in the general roll, and the same interest be payable upon them, and the same remedies and methods of collection shall apply to them as to such taxes under this act, except as herein otherwise provided.

§ 99. Every assessment for local improvements shall become a lien upon the property assessed, upon the first publication, by the Treasurer, of the notice that he has received the roll containing such assessment.

§ 100. An action may be brought in any court having jurisdiction thereof to determine the legality of an assessment for local improvements, and in such action the owner of a separate parcel of land may unite with one or more of the owners of other parcels assessed or attempted to be assessed, in the same assessment-roll. Such an action may be brought at the same time as, or after a writ of certiorari is granted, pursuant to the next section, or while such certiorari proceeding is pending, but it must be brought within one year after said assessment shall have become an actual or apparent lien upon the property assessed. Such an action may be brought and maintained, although the party or parties plaintiff shall not have applied to the Board of Assessors to correct, amend or revise the said assessment, and shall not

have filed any objections to the said assessment-roll; and although the parties plaintiff, or some of them, have paid their assessments upon the said assessment-roll, in which case the parties who have so paid may ask for, and in a proper case the court may order restitution of the amounts paid by them with interest. But in such an action no relief shall be granted to the plaintiffs based upon any defects, irregularities or errors in the said assessment-roll which could have been reviewed and corrected by a writ of certiorari issued pursuant to the next section.

§ 101. A writ of certiorari may be granted to review and determine the legality of an assessment for local improvements by any court of competent jurisdiction upon the application of any person or persons aggrieved thereby. The owner of a separate parcel of land may unite with one or more owners of other parcels of land assessed or attempted to be assessed in the same assessment-roll in the application for such writ. Such writ shall be applied for in the form and manner, and the subsequent proceedings thereupon had shall comply with the provisions of article seven, of title two of chapter sixteen of the Code of Civil Procedure, relating to the writ of certiorari to review the determination of an inferior tribunal, except as is in this section expressly otherwise provided.

1. No such application shall be entertained unless the persons making the application, or some of them, shall have previously made complaint in relation to such assessment to the Board of Assessors, pursuant to law, or shall have filed objections to such roll with the City Clerk pursuant to law; but the proceeding to review such assessment by writ of certiorari shall not be confined to any grounds of complaint or objection which were presented to the said Board of Assessors, or in the said objections filed with the City Clerk.

2. Such writ may be applied for at any time after the said assessment-roll shall have been confirmed by the resolution of the Common Council, although such resolution may not have been approved by the Mayor, and before the expiration of two weeks from the publication by the Comptroller of the notice required by this act that such roll has been received by him.

3. The said writ of certiorari shall be directed to the city of Buffalo, which shall be known as the defendant. It may be served by delivering a copy thereof to the Mayor or the Corporation Counsel, and a copy to the Comptroller or his deputy, unless the court shall otherwise direct. Only one return to said writ shall be made and it may be verified by any one or more of said officers, or by any Assessor of the city. The return shall not be conclusive. Upon the return being filed, the cause may be heard at a general or a special term of the court, and either party may notice it for a hearing. If upon the hearing it shall appear to the court that testimony is, necessary to the proper disposition of the matter, the court may take evidence or may appoint a referee to take such evidence as the court may direct, and report the same to the court, and such testimony shall constitute a part of the proceedings upon which the determination of the court shall be made.

4. The court shall have power at any stage of the proceeding to order any necessary or proper parties to be brought in by amendment, upon such terms as shall be just, and to direct how notice, if required, shall be given to them by personal service or by publication, and thereafter all parties so notified shall be bound by the proceeding, and the court shall have power to appoint an attorney to represent unknown or unrepresented parties, and to order the reasonable costs and expenses of all parties so brought in, otherwise than upon their own motion, to be paid by the city.

5. If it is established that the assessment is illegal for any reason, the court may order that said assessment

be canceled, and the same shall thereupon be canceled by the Comptroller and other proper officers in the city. Where it is alleged or established that the said assessment is irregular or defective on account of any imperfect description of the land sought to be assessed, or any defect or irregularity which can be corrected without preju- . dice to any of the parties interested therein or affected thereby, the court may order the assessment-roll so corrected or amended, or may order that the assessment roll be returned to the Common Council to annul or correct it pursuant to law.

6. The parties applying for said writ of certiorari, or any of them, may pay their assessments upon the said assessment-roll at any time, notwithstanding the pendency of said writ. In case it shall be determined that the assessment-roll is illegal for any reason, after the assessments or any of them have been paid, the court may make such orders in regard to restitution to the parties to said proceedings and to others, as shall be necessary to protect the rights of all parties, and may enforce said orders as judgments in an action.

§ 102. On or before the fifteenth day of March in each year, the Treasurer shall return each local assessment-roll not payable in installments which shall have been received by him more than two months prior to such fifteenth day of March, with the additions, to the Comptroller, and certify that all uncanceled assessments therein are unpaid.

Thus amended by L. 1906, c. 8, Sec. 1.

§ 103. When any work or improvement shall be ordered by the Common Council, the expense whereof shall exceed the sum of five thousand dollars, and is to be defrayed by money raised by local assessment, ana in any case where such work or improvement shall be the paving of a street or alley whether the expense thereof shall be more or less than five thousand dollars, the